Two weeks off was all it took.

After entering the game at the start of the fourth series against Iowa, it took Zack Mills another week before appearing totally comfortable running the offense.

He regained his old form against Ohio State on Saturday despite the Lions losing 21-20. Mills was injured on the final play of the first quarter against Minnesota on Sept. 27. The junior then sat out the Wisconsin and Purdue games.

The time off gave Mills an opportunity to reflect on his season and the team. Apparently, his reflecting paid off.

Mills was more accurate and had more velocity on his throws.

Penn State football coach Joe Paterno thought his veteran quarterback played a good game on Saturday.

"I thought Zack played a great game," he said. "We had some mistakes in lanes and so sometimes Zack looked a little bit off, but I thought Zack played a pretty darn good football game."

Mills' receivers also stepped up and made some tough catches on passes that earlier in the season they wouldn't have made.

"It took a little longer than expected but [the receivers] made plays," Mills said. "[Terrance] Phillips made two great plays, along with the other guys, they stepped up against the biggest team we played."

Mills completed 27-of-42 passes for 253 yards and a touchdown. The one thing that Mills did differently was watching more game tape of the Buckeyes. He said he made most of the reads that he had to make.

When the receivers weren't open, instead of trying to force the ball, he threw it away, except for one time. He paid for it.

Phillips ran a hook pattern, Mills fired the ball in there and Dustin Fox, who was beaten most of the game, jumped the pattern and intercepted the pass.

"Off the top of my head there is probably one or two throws that I could have made," Mills said. "I made a bad pass and Fox made a nice play for the interception. I could have made a better throw."

Going into Saturday's game, Mills had only two touchdown passes. He threw a two-yard touchdown to fullback Sean McHugh, in the first quarter. With all of his early season struggles, Mills said that it felt good to be effective, but the loss was the overriding memory of the game.

"It would have been much more redemptive, if we would have won," Mills said. "It's nice to throw for more than 100 yards, I'm not going to lie. We didn't win that's the bottom line."

Mills played from the first snap until the final horn sounded and Michael Robinson didn't get on the field. Paterno said earlier in the week that both of the quarterbacks would play, but the coach stuck with the hot-hand and never made the change to Robinson.

The offense under the direction of Mills found an answer for all but one of the Buckeye's drives.

"We responded to Ohio State scoring points, we haven't done that much this season," Mills said.

The Lions haven't scored much at all this season. But that might be changing with its quarterback.