Playing No. 14 Ohio State at home and Michigan on the road would agitate any coach's nerves.

At his weekly press conference yesterday, though, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said his biggest concern was ensuring his team's overall endurance.

"We have to be careful we don't work them too hard in practice, in fact we didn't practice yesterday," Paterno said.

Since the Nittany Lions' flight home from Ann Arbor, Mich., was delayed for several hours, Paterno kept his team off the practice field Monday. He said he wasn't able to get back into his house in State College until 2:45 a.m.

The biggest question mark preceding the Lions next game against Illinois on Saturday is fairly obvious: how will the Lions offense bounce back from the loss of wide receiver Derrick Williams for the rest of the season?

"You can't lose a player the caliber of Derrick Williams without trying to figuring out what you have to do to offset the loss of a guy that can make the big play that he can," Paterno said. "We've got some other fine young players, and we're just going to have to plug them in and go from there."

Paterno mentioned wide receivers Deon Butler, Jordan Norwood, Terrell Golden and Ethan Kilmer as players who will help fill the Williams void, but Paterno was reluctant to say whether or not freshman cornerback Justin King would spend more time with the offense in practice.

"There again, Justin King has been ready to play more offense than we've used him," Paterno said. "You have to be careful again with a young player

how much you practice him. Running back and forth offensive field, defensive field, he's running here, he's running there and first thing you know he's running 60 plays a day in practice, and he'll end up having 200 plays, reps, in a week and that's too much for a kid that age."

Penn State's kickoff coverage surrendered half the football field to Wolverines kick returner Steve Breaston, a move Paterno said cost his team the game.

Although he's been pleased with the overall performance of special teams, including kicker Kevin Kelly who missed two field goals last Saturday, Paterno said the kickoff coverage still needs work.

"The only part of our game that's really not been what I would like it to be would probably be the kickoff game," Paterno said, while giving credit to Michigan's strong special teams performance and Breaston, too.

"We're doing as well, probably, as we can do," Paterno said.

Scouting report

The Fighting Illini, like the Buckeyes two weeks ago, face the Lions directly after a bye week. More rest and more preparation means the last place team in the Big Ten won't be a mere pushover.

"As I said earlier, we're not tired," Paterno said. "Because Illinois certainly isn't going to be tired."

Just like the first few weeks, the Lions defense will face another pseudo-spread offense against the Illini.

Infirmary report

Freshman wide receiver Jordan Norwood, who suffered a bruised foot during the game last Saturday, was going to work out with the team yesterday, Paterno said, and will go full speed in practice today.

Point after

On Kevin Kelly's two-point conversion, where he picked up the botched snap and ran the ball into the end zone ... "I didn't know he was that quick," Paterno said. "I kept yelling 'Throw it, throw it, throw it.' And then when he scored the two, I said, 'Hey, nice goin' Kevin.' "