CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Ron Zook stood on the field, somewhere amid the frenzy and smiled. His Illinois team had just upset Penn State.

The Fighting Illini won because Penn State couldn't take advantage of all its second-half chances. They won, simply, because they had a few leaders. Penn State's so-called leaders couldn't come through when it mattered. Illinois is building. Penn State simply does not have the mettle of a championship-caliber team. Saturday became a portrait of two teams headed in opposite directions.

One picture was of Zook on the turf, staring with wonderment at what he's created. The Illinois players were singing in the student section. The fans were chanting and cheering his name. Illinois (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten) defeated a ranked team for the first time since 2001.

"Everybody's happy," Illinois running back Rashard Mendenhall said. "We're gonna kick it, party, have some fun."

Let the sold-out celebration begin in this flat, sun-parched farm town. Let all 57,078 of them sing and dance. Zook has led a dramatic shift here. "If you could see it, it wouldn't be believing -- it would be seeing," he tells his players. He's instilled something. And it's sticking.
Penn State (3-2, 0-2) is left just looking for answers. What happened? Wasn't this team supposed to challenge for a Big Ten title? Kiss it goodbye.

Hop off that bandwagon before it rumbles into oncoming traffic. Penn State is having problems.
And you can start, first, with the quarterback.

No, this one doesn't fall on the coaches. For as stubbornly boring as Penn State's game plan was against Michigan, this was the turnaround the Lions needed from an offensive-playcalling standpoint. The coordinators stretched things out, especially early.

You can instead start with Anthony Morelli.

The senior co-captain, who was not made available to the media after the game, threw three interceptions and made a key fumble late.

Two of three of the interceptions killed Penn State opportunities deep in Illinois territory. The fumble prevented a first down with about two minutes remaining.

It hasn't been the breakout season that could've been expected. Instead, Saturday was the second consecutive week in which he's severely underperformed.

So the questions for Penn State continue: Is he fit to lead this team? Can he win the big game? Will he be the starter come Saturday?

It looked like Morelli was devolving. Flip over that coin, and Illinois had a large arsenal of key players who could make the big plays.

Illinois' Benn lived up to the high-school hype on Saturday with a 90-yard kickoff return touchdown in the first quarter. The Juice Williams-Mendenhall combination baffled the Penn State defense. Linebacker J Leman and cornerback Vontae Davis, Illinois' defensive leaders, each had interceptions.

It was just two year's ago that Illinois hit a low point, Zook said, against a superior Penn State team. The Illini were embarrassed, 63-10, at Memorial Stadium in a night game.

"There wasn't much seeing or believing back then," said linebacker Brit Miller, repeating Zook's refrain.

And it was just a year ago that Zook sat in a tiny media room underneath Beaver Stadium and fielded questions with his head buried in his hands, despondent after losing a close game to the Lions.

That's almost ancient now. The image from this weekend will be of Zook surrounded by reporters with his arms extended skyward in victory. Illinois won a game Saturday it definitely deserved. It got production from its biggest players and it scored an upset.

Penn State got nothing. And so the Lions' future, at least in the short term, is muddled with uncertainty. The enduring image for the Lions this weekend will be Morelli's reckless dive and subsequent fumble, which stopped a late drive deep in Illinois territory.

"We had every opportunity to win the football game, but you have to give Illinois credit," Joe Paterno said. "They made plays in the clutch and we didn't. Simple as that."

The enduring questions for the Lions will be about Morelli's leadership on big stages.

At this point, it looks like Penn State isn't all it was cracked up to be. It simply doesn't have the right mix.

Mark Viera is a junior majoring in journalism and English and a Collegian football writer. His e-mail address is mcv5009@psu.edu.