His team got the win it's been pining after for weeks, but forget about any talk of momentum or confidence from Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

No, to him, there's no time for that -- not with the next opponent, anyway.

Sure, it's a 5-5 Michigan State team, but Paterno is sold on the idea that the Spartans are considerably better than their record reflects.

"I really think this is the best team we have played so far," he said yesterday at his weekly press conference. "I am not trying to blow smoke. I really do."

Of course, after Michigan State's dominating 49-14 defeat of Wisconsin Saturday, Paterno does, indeed, have reason to be concerned. The Badgers were previously touted to have one of the best defenses in the nation, but the Spartans managed to score on them mercilessly.

"What they did to Wisconsin," Paterno said, "you wouldn't believe could be done."

"I think the two best teams in the conference right now are Michigan State and Purdue. We've gotta concentrate on Michigan State; we've got a tough job this week."

And though the Nittany Lions' defense had that remarkable goal-line stand against Indiana Saturday, and though the offense was more effective than in any other Big Ten game, that still didn't make Paterno feel better about playing the Spartans that are seemingly so hot right now.

"I think that the way they are playing right now, offensively, it will be a real challenge to us defensively," he said. "And I think we are going to have to score points in order to win this football game, which we have not been able to do, to a degree."

In terms of scoring points, Paterno will rely on senior quarterback Zack Mills to lead the offense for most of game Saturday, as expected, but once again vowed to put true freshman quarterback Anthony Morelli into the game.

"We are going to play Morelli," Paterno said. "How much? I haven't decided yet."

Paterno played Morelli for three series in the second quarter against Indiana until he rolled his ankle. He was, however, back for practice yesterday and split all the snaps with junior quarterback Chris Ganter, as Mills missed practice to attend the funeral of his grandmother.

But though Paterno was anxious about his team's ability to compete, offensively and defensively, with the Spartans, there was one aspect of Michigan State that had him even more perplexed -- coach John L. Smith.

"I don't understand those cowboy boots he wears, but other than that he is all right," Paterno joked. "He climbs mountains, too. In God's name, why does a coach climb mountains? We have enough problems without trying to climb mountains."

Paterno can't seem to say enough about true freshman linebacker Dan Connor, even quoting Shakespeare in his praise of the relentless tackler who always seems to be able to zoom to the football.

"Connor makes plays that you would think he is a fifth-year guy making," Paterno, enormous grin spreading across his face. "How and why he makes them ... if I took him out and said, "How come you did that?" he wouldn't have the slightest idea what led him to that play. He did it because he did it. Shakespeare wrote, 'To be or not to be' because he did it and it was appropriate."

According to NCAA rules, Paterno is not allowed to discuss specific recruits, but he did comment on his optimism about the incoming class -- fitting the day after highly ranked Gateway High School senior Justin King committed to Penn State.

"We have had two good groups and, I think, we are going to have a really good year this year," he said. "We might have a great year this year because we have had some people commit that a lot of you don't know much about and some who have committed that have not announced."

When asked why he has not taken steps to make the punt return game more dynamic, Paterno got a bit heated.

"That really is a dumb question," Paterno said. "Most of the questions I get are halfway dumb, but that one is a dumb one. There are two things involved: the people who kicked the ball to us covered well, and we don't have a guy that is a dynamic punt returner, but he has done a really good job."