After labeling Saturday's performance "lousy," Joe Paterno seemed in better spirits yesterday at his weekly press conference.

After reviewing tape and speaking with his players, the 79-year-old coach said there were basically two main causes to Penn State's subpar play against Illinois.

"If you held me against a wall, I'd have to say there's a couple things -- and I'm not sure I'm right on them," Paterno added as a caveat.

The Penn State coach believed he might have worked his players too much last week, since he was uncertain whether Anthony Morelli or Daryll Clark would start. It forced him to get the backups more reps as well.

According to Paterno, several players told him that "their legs were very tired" and that lack of "bounce" or "zip" didn't help matters.

"Another factor is the combination hasn't been consistent," he said. "We're not doing anything different from week to week, but we're doing it with different people."

Paterno might have been referring to the offensive line, in which Chris Auletta and Gerald Cadogan replaced the starters in the second half of Saturday's game. The line allowed only two sacks, but the running game couldn't get started and Morelli rarely had time to throw.

It was difficult, Paterno said, to throw in the middle of the field because the pocket would start collapsing before Morelli's receivers could get into position.

"Our problem is not the pass game, our problem is the running game," Paterno said. "If we run better, then play-action passes and things like that make themselves available to you. But if you can't run, then I think it's going to be tough to throw the football."

And Paterno said the Big Ten's decision to play without any
byes isn't making life any easier.

The head coach labeled the 12-games-in-12-weeks idea as "a very bad decision" and disagreed with NCAA President Myles Brand, who said the decision wouldn't affect academics.

"I don't know what he's talking about," Paterno said of Brand.

The 41-year head coach said he
didn't understand how, years ago,
he was forced to cut spring practice from 20 days to 15 days and
then he had to cut the maximum amount of full-pad practices to limit injuries.

"Then, you let them schedule 12 games in a row?" Paterno asked. "The Big Ten's the only [conference] that you can't get a bye, and I don't know why the reason is we can't play a game after Thanksgiving. I wish we had a bye week."

Notes

Offensive lineman Greg Harrison is no longer on the team, Paterno confirmed ... The coach also said Donnie Johnson will be OK and should play Saturday ... On the light side of the press conference, Paterno also said he celebrated the birthday of his son, quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno, on Saturday -- when asked how old he was, Paterno had a pretty memorable reply: "To be honest, I don't know. When you got as many kids and grandkids as I got running around the house, you don't really know how old any of them are."