Anthony Morelli was seated in the center of a crowd of reporters after Penn State's loss to Michigan, its first defeat in a span of 321 days.

One of the reporters asked the senior quarterback what his goals were for the rest of the 2007 campaign.

"To win every other game," Morelli said. "It's as simple as that."

That goal suffered a setback last week in Illinois, when Morelli was sacked four times and threw three interceptions in Penn State's loss. But if you ask his teammates, that loss hasn't bogged Morelli down -- the quarterback has done everything possible to keep himself and his team moving.

"Critics like you one day, hate you the next," offensive lineman Gerald Cadogan said. "We hear it, but we're focused on what coaches say."

Morelli will need all the resilience he can muster tomorrow, when he tries to save a sputtering Penn State offense and prevent the Nittany Lions' first three-game losing streak since the 2004 season.

He'll be tested by an Iowa defense that has allowed only four touchdowns through the air this season and picked off six passes.

After last week's loss, the questions about Morelli's status as the starter grew louder and more frequent, but Joe Paterno did everything he could to protect his senior quarterback's image.
Paterno withheld Morelli from interviews with reporters and insisted, each time he was asked, that Morelli would be this weekend's starter.

On conference calls this week, players fielded more questions than usual about the readiness of backup quarterbacks Daryll Clark and Pat Devlin.

"Daryll has become a lot more patient making his reads," senior wide receiver Terrell Golden said this week. "He's become a much smarter quarterback since he came here. Morelli's our starting guy, of course, but if something were to happen -- God forbid -- to Anthony, we wouldn't miss a step."

Lydell Sargeant, a junior cornerback, agreed with Golden's view.

"They're both really good quarterbacks," Sargeant said of Clark and Devlin. "They're working their way through the program. They're taking snaps in practice, and, whenever they're ready to step up and play, they're going to be really good players."

Part of Penn State's offensive problems lie in its ineffectiveness in the red zone the last two weeks. The Lions scored on 17 of their first 18 trips inside the 20, but have converted on only six of their last 10 opportunities since.

The difference, Paterno said, has been an increase in penalties, dropped passes and fumbles -- those are crucial mistakes, the coach said, that the offense has to eliminate.

"I think we need to execute better," Golden said.