It was business as usual in Beaver Stadium yesterday.

As the always candid yet savvy football coach gave his weekly report, praises and cautions were dished out with their usual fury. Perhaps even more furiously than usual.

"Little things make the difference," Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said when outlining the areas of his team that needed to improve the most. Paterno used the example of a game changing penalty flag and a punt return in Sunday's North Carolina State-Virginia Tech game to bring home his point.

"When Robinson got sacked and fumbled the ball without knowing and it was a backside guy coming, we did a terrible job. I won't mention names but somebody just thought it wasn't important and, as a result, when you have a chance to put the game away, you don't put it away."

Paterno said he "fell asleep" last night while watching a taped copy of the Wolfpack-Hokies game. But Paterno was more savvy than candid when deflecting questions about off-the-field disciplinary actions, something he's slowly becoming more comfortable sharing with the public.

On the question of center E.Z. Smith's status, Paterno admitted Smith was in practice but ricocheted with an "I'll determine whether I'm going to play him."

The comment on linebacker Dan Connor's status was slightly more insightful, but equally guarded.

"Right now, I'm having a little problem with Judicial Affairs as to what they want to do with him," Paterno said. "As soon as they make up their mind, then I'll go from there."

Director of the Office of Judicial Affairs Joseph Puzycki said he could not comment on the specifics of any case currently under review by Judicial Affairs, including Connor's.

Even though Tony Hunt finished with 140-yards rushing on 15 carries against South Florida, 70 of those yards came from one play. Hunt also succumbed to an old habit, fumbling once on the Nittany Lions' first drive of the second half.

"The one thing about Tony I always worried about is he has a tendency to be careless with the football," Paterno said. "If he pays attention to the little things and spends a little more time maybe with tapes and watching blocking schemes and things like that, he can be better than just a good back."

Paterno continued to say he hoped to give Hunt's backup, Austin Scott, more playing time in the future, in addition to backup quarterback Anthony Morelli. Though, to be fair, Paterno said that even if Morelli "plays two plays ... that's more than he played last week."

Speaking of backups, depth on the defensive line has become a concern since the injury to starting tackle junior Jim Shaw.

Shaw's brother, junior John Shaw, has moved from the offensive line to the defensive line in order to help out the replacement efforts -- one of the reasons Paterno stayed optimistic about defensive line depth issues.

Paterno did frankly call out defensive tackle Steve Roach, criticizing his reluctance and drag recently while praising his talent and ability.

"He hasn't taken the bull by the horns and gone after it," Paterno said.

Memory lane

Paterno lawyerly maneuvered his way out of addressing whether or not his players had been overlooking Cincinnati in much the same manner as South Florida. A few players admitted the Bulls took them by surprise last weekend.

"You're talking apples and oranges now," Paterno said. "Back in 1983, Cincinnati beat us. They almost beat Ohio State the year we won the national championship."

Granted, Paterno was the coach in '83, the year after he won his first national championship. But it's questionable whether anyone outside of Ohio would recall a Cincinnati-Ohio State game more than 20 years later.