Joe Paterno's work is never done.
At his weekly press conference yesterday, the coach assessed Penn State football as a work in progress, while he prepares the Nittany Lions (4-0, 1-0 Big Ten) for Saturday's game against No. 18 Minnesota (4-0, 1-0).
"We're a decent football team," Paterno said. "But, we're a project yet."
Long drives with seconds remaining, converting long fourth downs to stay alive, game winning touchdown passes -- consistent play under pressure was what Paterno thought would determine just how good the Lions will be over the rest of this season.
"A lot of it will be whether we can make big plays in the clutch," he said.
The biggest obstacle of continued success has been the overabundance of turnovers.
Quarterback Michael Robinson turned over the ball four times against Northwestern last Saturday -- three interceptions and one fumble. The latter Paterno attributed to recklessness.
"He wants to get every inch and sometimes he gets a little careless with the ball, but he'll get better at that," Paterno said.
"They say there's two things that create fumbles. One is a lack of courage, and the other is a lack of concentration. I think in our case it's just a lack of concentration."
Special teams was another area of disappointment last week. The Wildcats ran a successful fourth-down conversion on a fake punt and recovered a squib kickoff.
"Most of the time if you lose the turnover battle, then you lose the kicking game as we did Saturday, you're going to get licked," Paterno said. "We haven't done a good job being alert in the kicking game."
Paterno added some of the players the Lions use in those situations might need to be reassessed, but he said there's never a quick fix when it comes to special teams.
This week, preparations for the Golden Gophers -- especially their outstanding tailback, Laurence Maroney -- will be equal parts mental and physical.
"This is a different type of offensive football team -- psychologically a little different type of football team in the sense that they want to really knock your brains out all day," Paterno said. "If you're a good football team you measure up to each challenge each week. Everything's a little different, and it's going to be interesting to see how we handle it."
Shout outs
Tailback Tony Hunt had a quiet almost-100-yards of rushing last week, meaning Paterno showered him with praise instead of grumbling about fumbling -- a problem last season.
"He's getting better all the time," Paterno said. "He's had two or three good football games, and maybe four good football games. I wanna give him all the credit he is due."
Memory lane
In 1999, Minnesota dashed any hopes of a national championship for then-No. 1-ranked Penn State, and it has won each of the last four games between the two teams.
"Sure, I remember it," Paterno said. "Not with fond memories, obviously."
Infirmary report
Redshirt sophomore Chris Auletta, an offensive guard who Paterno said got "knocked a little silly last week," should be ready to play if needed on Saturday.
Redshirt freshman guard Greg Harrison is rehabbing a leg injury that Paterno indicated will keep him out of the lineup for at least a "couple more weeks."
