A belated and choleric Joe Paterno was more than eager to talk up Penn State football's Week 1 opponent at his weekly press conference yesterday.

But off-the-field disciplinary actions were off limits yet again.

"I'm not going to get into that, all right? We haven't done anything since the last time I saw you," Paterno said referring to the last time he was available to the media, on Friday. "You want to talk about my football team? Or what do you want to talk about? I'm not going to get into any speculation and all that stuff."

It is not clear whether sophomore linebacker Dan Connor, who was indefinitely suspended earlier this month but has resumed practice with the team, will be available for Saturday's game vs. South Florida.

Paterno said the Bulls are perfect season-opener material because they show so many different formations and styles on both sides of the ball.

"I'm tempted to use the word 'fascinating' ... about opening games, but it's not fascinating, it can be disturbing," Paterno said.

"South Florida is a very disturbing team for me to evaluate because they have so many people back and it appears that they have not made up their mind about their quarterback."

Two quarterbacks are listed on the first team of the Bulls pregame depth chart, which is precisely the problem Paterno was talking about.

Last year junior Pat Julmiste started 10 of the Bulls' 11 games and is a more standard drop-back passer.

But the talented sophomore transfer from Auburn, the more run-oriented Courtney Denson, was the man projected by many in the Big East to take the reins.

According to preseason practice reports, Julmiste still has a slight edge thanks to his experience, but Denson could still be first out of the opposing tunnel in Beaver Stadium this weekend.

"They've got 18 kids coming back, I think, who are starters," Paterno said. "And there are some junior college kids in there that we don't really know anything about, so it's going to be a 'Let's wait and see' kind of thing as far as the game goes."

Paterno won't have to wait and see, though, to prepare for the Bulls tailback Andre Hall, who set his school's single season rushing record last year with 1,357 yards on 210 carries.

Hall, who Paterno called a "really big-time tailback -- one of the better ones in the country," gives the Bulls both an interior or exterior rushing attack. Combine that with the Bulls' quintessentially Floridian speed at the other offensive skill positions, and you've got a prime team to run the spread offense.

"It's a problem," Paterno said. "It's one of those things when you look at a lot of tape of them sometimes they're in two-tight with two backs or they're in a spread offense.

"When I looked at them against Pittsburgh, they did some things differently then they had done earlier in the year. I don't know what we're going to get."

More Morelli?

Paterno responded shortly when asked if he wanted to give sophomore backup quarterback Anthony Morelli some playing time on Saturday.

"I think I'd like to," Paterno said. "I think Morelli's ready to play."

Paterno also said senior quarterback Michael Robinson is "pretty well where he oughta be" after a "heck of a practice yesterday," and that Robinson will only improve the more he plays this season as the starter.

Kicking cleats

The trademark black Nike cleats Paterno busts out for every Penn State football game could get a little extra warm-up time on Saturday, Paterno joked yesterday when asked about naming a starting kicker.

"We kicked a little bit yesterday, we're going to kick a little today, we're going to kick a little bit Wednesday, we're going to kick a little bit Thursday, and then Saturday morning I'll wake up and I may go out there and practice."