By midseason, Daryll Clark should be the Nittany Lions' starting quarterback.

That's not my opinion. No way.

But during Penn State's 41-17 loss to Notre Dame Saturday, a few Penn State beat reporters did suggest that junior quarterback Anthony Morelli should be benched in favor of Clark.

A friend of mine even told me his brother boarded the Clark bandwagon after the redshirt freshman ran for 28 yards and a touchdown during garbage time against Notre Dame's second-team defense.

Sure, Clark showed some nice footwork, but he was just 3-of-8 passing for 36 yards. Morelli, on the other hand, completed 21 passes for 189 yards and a score in his first start away from Beaver Stadium.

Morelli did have a costly fumble and a pick against Notre Dame, but to say that you'd rather have Clark throwing to Derrick Williams, Deon Butler and Jordan Norwood instead of the cannon-armed Morelli is ludicrous.

"Daryll is going to be good one of these days," Joe Paterno said, "but our quarterback is Anthony Morelli."

As he matures, Morelli's going to hit some tough times. He'll make some bad passes, and he'll get picked off on occasion. That should be expected.

But a good quarterback needs more than just an accurate arm. A quarterback needs a presence within the team. Morelli's has that.

This spring, Morelli organized weekly sessions with his receivers to work on timing. Even better for Penn State, he's made sure everyone knows he's in charge of the huddle.

Against Notre Dame, center A.Q. Shipley remembers it was Morelli who kept Penn State believing there was a chance for a comeback, telling his team to slow down and take the game one play at a time.

"He got more fired up trying to get us going," Shipley said. "I was very impressed with the way he handled himself, having a little adversity hit him and be able to keep his poise."

It may have been a losing effort, but that kind of presence is exactly what the Lions need out of their quarterback.

And what Morelli needs is time.

Time to mature, time to develop into the elite quarterback he was at Penn Hills High School in Pittsburgh, where he threw for 57 career touchdowns.

Last year, nobody bought into Michael Robinson at first, either. And he turned out to be the 2005 Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year. It wasn't until after Robinson led a Penn State trouncing of Minnesota that reporters and fans realized Robinson was the real deal.

Now this year, Morelli's in the same situation. But with four touchdown passes and only one pick, Morelli is ahead of Robinson's pace this year in the passing game.

And Robinson just had one season with a talented crop of receivers. Morelli has this year and next to enhance his rapport with Williams, Butler and Norwood. He'll even have freshman Chris Bell to throw to again.

"It's his team and he knows that," Shipley said of Morelli.

But the media and fans are not patient. For some odd reason, the back-up quarterback always seems to be the most popular player on the team. Fans always think the Beaver Stadium grass would be greener with the backup in.

Morelli was in that position for the two years he backed up Zack Mills and Michael Robinson, back when fans used to yell, "peanut butter Morelli time," when he entered the game.

But now that he's a starter, those skeptics have moved on, happy to think of what Clark could do if Paterno would just stop being loyal to Morelli.

Welcome to the life of a starting quarterback, Anthony.