EAST LANSING, Mich. -- One quarterback stood in front of reporters and television cameras, answering questions with a child-like grin that indicated he knew he'd just done something sneaky.

Winning a close game was new to Brian Hoyer, Michigan State's first-year starter, and he wanted to talk about it.

The other quarterback snuck from the visitor's dressing room inside Spartan Stadium to the team bus without speaking to the media. Either team officials didn't allow Anthony Morelli to talk or he chose to make himself unavailable to field reporters' questions on his own.

Whatever the reason, the dichotomy of the situation was clear. One quarterback was eager for what lies ahead: a bowl game and another full season of starting games. The other quarterback, near the end of his college career, was tired of explaining of what went wrong in the past.

It wasn't the first time Morelli had failed to lead a comeback, even this season. The helpless look of the Penn State offense that surfaced at the end of games on the road at Michigan and Illinois reared its head again in the final moments versus Michigan State.

Surely, Penn State's senior starting quarterback would have been asked about the Nittany Lions' latest malfunction. Yes, Morelli did guide an offense that had just scored 31 points, but his team needed one more touchdown to win. There must have been some insightful explanation as to why they were unable.

From his perspective, what happened during the four consecutive incomplete passes from the Spartans' 24-yard line? How did a drive that looked like it would surely result in the winning points conk out against a Michigan State defense that had been unable to close out so many games this season?

Facing those inquires wouldn't have been fun, a word that, conversely, was worn all over the face of Hoyer and the rest of the Spartans after Michigan State dramatically improved its likelihood of playing in a bowl game for the first time since 2003.

Hoyer was asked the types of questions a player from the winning team gets, one in particular that would seem laughable to pose to Morelli, even after a win.

Is being a college quarterback as fun as you thought it might be?

"Yeah, definitely," said Hoyer, a junior in his first full year of starting duty for the Spartans. "When you start winning some games, some big games, there's nothing like it."

It was then mentioned that the quarterback who Hoyer shared the field with Saturday probably would not give a similar response to the same question. His grin grew larger.

"He's still going to a decent bowl game," Hoyer said.

But making a decent bowl game, in context of the expectations of the Penn State football program, is an ugly phrase. Morelli, with his highly-touted recruiting stock and live arm, was supposed to keep the Lions at a better-than-decent level after taking over for Michael Robinson following the 2005 season.

A 7-5 season that is acceptable and now enjoyable for Michigan State, doesn't exude the same joy at Penn State.

This thinking, rightly or wrongly, frames how a quarterback's career is judged in Happy Valley. How will Morelli be remembered?

As the one who couldn't win the big games (0-4 versus Michigan and Ohio State), but the player who could light up the proverbial walkovers?

These are questions that Morelli doesn't care to face. Time and time again, when he does speak on this topic, he's said outsiders will say what they want and that whatever they do say isn't important to him.

Perhaps in the long run, that's a healthy brand of thought. But in the present, Morelli's silence, at the very least, made you wonder why he didn't talk.

Perhaps it was obvious what had happened on the field. Another fruitless set of passing plays to end a game. Another 'could have won.'

But it would have been nice to hear his explanation; about what it all really meant.

Is being a college quarterback as fun as he thought it might be?