It's one of those things over which the fog never quite seems to lift.

It started at the 2003 Capital One Bowl, continued all of spring 2003 and persisted through a 3-9 season. And at Penn State football coach Joe Paterno's spring press conference a month ago, it was clear there was no answer to the quarterback situation.

"[Zack Mills and Michael Robinson] will go at it, have a little fun in the spring," Paterno said. "Maybe something will happen in the spring that will establish one or the other."

As the Nittany Lions football team will put itself on display in its annual Blue-White game at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow at Beaver Stadium, determining whether or not anything has happened is what outsiders of the program have been waiting for all winter. But the game, for which admission is free, marks the end of spring practice, and, at this point, it seems that the competition is still raging on.

"It's one of those other things I have to put up with and deal with," Mills said. "But that's fine; I'm not scared of competition."

If the team had to name its starting quarterback today, it would be Mills, who receives all his snaps with the first team, with the exception of one drill during which he and Robinson split time, Mills said. And Mills approaches the situation as if the starting job is his to lose as, he says.

But as Paterno has opened up the spring yet again to a quarterback competition, Robinson has been taking advantage of this chance to nab the role of starting signal caller.

"He's gotten a lot more accurate, he makes reads a lot quicker," Mills said of Robinson. "The older we get, I'm gonna improve, and he's gonna improve."

Just as the coaches have expressed no Blue-White indication of who they prefer under center, the wide receivers have been adamant that it doesn't matter who is throwing the ball or when they find out who will be throwing it -- just as long as they can catch it.

"Robinson, Mills and Chris Ganter -- I'm comfortable with all three," wide receiver Terrance Phillips said. "It's not distracting [not knowing the starter]. You never know who's going to be in the game, so you have to be ready for anything."

And though Mills maintains that dealing with this coach-induced competition is old hat for him now, he couldn't help but admit that it does frustrate him at times. After all, he's the faithful No. 7 who's been starting since his freshman year, the guy who has more total offense than anyone in Penn State history.

"At times, yeah, I do feel like [let's get on with it]; I'm not gonna lie," Mills said. "I've been playing and starting the majority of the last three seasons, and sometimes I feel like I've earned the right to start. But I just have to go out and prove myself again like I have ... last spring and the spring before. If I do that, it'll take care off itself."

But if past precedent is a good indicator, any sort of "taking care" of the situation will likely not come until after the spring. Because with two quarterbacks, one starting job and a persistent competition, the Blue-White game is just another battlefield.