Zack Mills has surprised us. At times, the freshman quarterback has amazed us. He's done nothing a freshman quarterback is supposed to do.

He hasn't made many big mistakes.

Mills has led the Penn State football team twice from being down in the second half. At Northwestern, it was with 1:39 as he came in cold for injured junior quarterback Matt Senneca, who kept the Lions close against the Wildcats and played admirably until he was knocked out of the game by Northwestern linebacker Napoleon Harris.

Against Ohio State, Mills played every offensive down except the first four, passed for 280 yards, ran for another 138, threw two touchdown passes and ran for a 67-yard score himself. Not your typical Saturday for a freshman quarterback.

Mills is good and he deserves to be the solid starter.

Senneca has been decent, not great but not terrible, and has shown he is a player with a will to win. But in Big Ten football it's all about the better players getting the chance to play.

And although Mills is still only a teenager, there is no better time than now when Penn State needs a spark from someone. What better than a redshirt freshman quarterback to start to provide that spark?

Coach Joe Paterno can look at all the film he wants on both his quarterbacks, but Mills is clearly the better one, and that's no disrespect to Senneca. Mills throws the deep ball with accuracy, throws the short out pattern well and is patient in the pocket.

He leads his teammates in the huddle and calms the fans' fears by completing third-and-long passes and throwing touchdowns. Mills already has 980 yards passing and five touchdown scores.

He was the quarterback both of the times Penn State came out on top and he is the quarterback who hasn't been injured, even after getting leveled multiple times.

Mills makes his fair share of freshman mistakes like losing field goal position by getting sacked and throwing interceptions, but that is expected. He's done things already in his career that not many Penn State quarterbacks have done in recent memory.

Not many times do freshman quarterbacks get a standing ovation when they enter the game. Nor do freshmen usually deal with the amount of media attention that Mills has this season. Nor do freshmen quarterbacks anywhere in college football run for so many yards and throw for so many more.

But that's the perfect thing about a guy like Mills. All the attention, excitement and hoopla that goes with Penn State football doesn't affect him. He never shows his emotion, always gets his offense ready and is a true leader on the field.

Mills has been asked where he gets his uncanny leadership ability. He says, in his typical whisper tone that he has always had it, back during his high school days and even before. He is showing, despite his age, that he can lead this Penn State team to more victories.

Games that can put the Lions in contention for a bowl game. Penn State played better in its last two games than it did in its first four combined. They left a lot of their sloppiness, inconsistency and inexperience on the field against Michigan, way back on Oct. 6.

The players see their record as 2-0, with five games to play. If the Lions play like they did against Northwestern and especially Ohio State, all of those games are winnable.

And if Mills plays the way he has against the Wildcats and Buckeyes, the player's families will be traveling during Christmas time because Penn State will be going to a bowl game.

But Mills has to be on the field to do that.

What would be the only bigger story than Penn State coming back from 0-4 to salvage its season? Allowing a freshman quarterback the opportunity to try and do it.