Penn State football coach Joe Paterno will tell you it's still too early to get a grasp on the quality of this year's team.

"I know we have two wins, thats about all I know," Paterno said.

One of those two wins came Saturday afternoon against the University of Central Florida in front of 101,715 fans at Beaver Stadium.

When the clock showed triple zeros at the end of the fourth quarter, the Nittany Lions (2-1) came away with a 37-17 victory over the Golden Knights.

Penn State quarterback Zack Mills became the school's all-time leader in passing yardage, surpassing former Lions quarterback Tony Sacca who finished his career with 5,852 passing yards. Mills broke the record in the second quarter when he hit senior Paul Jefferson on a 20-yard pass.

The Lions ran the ball well throughout the day. Leading them in rushing was sophomore running back Tony Hunt, who finished the day with 125 yards on the ground and three touchdowns.

Michael Robinson, the man who does everything for the team, caught seven passes for 93 yards and completed one pass of 38 yards to quarterback Zack Mills who was split out wide right. The Robinson to Mills combination, and vice versa, has been very effective for the Lions early in the 2004 campaign.

Defensively the Lions were solid all day, giving up no offensive touchdowns to UCF and holding them to 60 total rushing yards. They gave up six points on two field goals only because of miscues by the offense that caused them to be backed up deep in their own territory.

But the defense wasn't an issue in this game — it was the predicaments given to it by an offense that was careless with the football.

In a game that saw eight turnovers between the two teams, the Lions committed six of them: four fumbles and two interceptions. That gives them a total of 11 turnovers in the last two games.

It's something Paterno knows won't suffice as the Lions move into the Big Ten season.

"We should never have a fumble on an exchange," said Paterno. "I hope most of it's correctable."

Some of the Lion players seem to feel this problem is correctable. E.Z. Smith, the junior center who had mishaps on two different occasions with senior quarterback Zack Mills, thinks so.

"We're going to get it straightened out, we'll be fine," Smith said.

Mills's record-breaking day was over-shadowed by the turnover-woes the Lions had on offense. "Its kind of ironic or whatever but you know I really can't think about the record after a game like that."

The Lions are on the road for the next two games as they open up the Big Ten season in Wisconsin on Saturday. The Lions have lost three out of the last four to the Badgers.