Joe Paterno returned to his usual self at yesterday's press conference, cautioning that Youngstown State is a "good, solid football team" while getting visibly irritated with some reporters' questions.

When asked if Anthony Morelli's mistakes against Notre Dame were just part of the maturing process, Paterno fired back with his own assessment of the question.

"What mistakes are you talking about? When you get aggressive, yeah, he made a fumble. Are they correctable? Sure they're correctable -- that's a stupid question, to be honest with you," he said, raising his voice.

Paterno said the offensive line improved from week one, and that the secondary performed well but just didn't come up with the big play on Saturday.

And, of course, he got a few chuckles when explaining special teams.

"The snaps were not perfect, but I think certainly hand-able -- is there a word called hand-able? My wife'll be on my back," Paterno joked, mumbling "old english grammar" at the end.

The 79-year-old coach acknowledged Saturday's 41-17 loss to the Fighting Irish wasn't what he was hoping for, but he recalled the Nittany Lions were in a similar position quite a few years ago.

In 1982, the Lions lost to No. 4 Alabama, 42-21, but rebounded with seven straight wins. Penn State ended up winning the national championship that season, with a Sugar Bowl victory against Georgia.

And, if the Lions want to repeat that, Paterno said his team couldn't overlook the Penguins -- even if they are Division a I-AA team.

"Northwestern just got licked by New Hampshire," Paterno said about last week's 34-17 upset. "When we start labeling people Div. I-A and Div. I-AA, that bothers me a little bit. Youngstown's won four or five national championships."

Paterno complimented the Penguins' quarterback, tailback and punter, saying Youngstown State "has a good operation." The Penn State coach also acknowledged the Penguins boast a quarterback that even the Lions had their eye on -- Ohio native Tom Zetts, who has 296 passing yards and five touchdowns so far this season.

The press conference took on a different tone when Paterno started grinning ear-to-ear after his first team, the 1966 Lions, was brought up.

The 1966 Penn State squad will reunite this weekend and be honored at the Youngstown State game. Paterno took a moment to collect himself after the question, smiling while saying, "40 years." After the brief pause, Paterno couldn't resist the temptation to crack a joke about the occasion.

"It will be great to see those old guys," Paterno said, laughing. "I may see if they can beat me sprinting out on the field."