"L-O-U-S-Y"

'Lousy' most fitting word for performance

Joe Paterno needed just six words to perfectly describe his team's performance during a 26-12 win against Illinois on Saturday.

Lousy, lousy, lousy, lousy, lousy, and for good effect, lousy.

"We're just lousy," Paterno said for the sixth and final time during a brief postgame press conference. "Can I get that across? It's spelled L-O-U-S-Y."

A graduate of Brown University's English program, Paterno probably has other words in his vernacular to sum up the Nittany Lions' effort.

Disgusting, horrendous and miserable come to mind.

"We struggled a little bit today," senior running back Tony Hunt said before reconsidering. "Well, a lot."

For the second straight week, Penn State's rushing attack faltered behind a porous offensive line. The last two games, Penn State has rushed for 26 yards on 49 attempts.

"I didn't feel like most guys out there -- including myself -- were making the second effort to get on blocks and things like that," All-America tackle Levi Brown said. "You can't have that if you want to win games."

The lack of effort was clear, as the Lions had just 184 offensive yards.

"[Paterno] used the word lousy for our offense, and I have to totally agree," said sophomore wide receiver Derrick Williams, who finished with 26 receiving yards and seven rushing yards. "Everybody needed to pick it up everywhere."

But nobody did. For Penn State's offense, momentum was nonexistent. Even after sophomore safety Anthony Scirrotto intercepted a Juice Williams pass on the Penn State 17-yard line and returned it to the Lions' 47-yard line, the offense started with no drive -- literally.

The next three plays, Penn State moved three yards, all on a run by Hunt on first down. Two incomplete Anthony Morelli passes later, Jeremy Kapinos punted, his fourth of eight eventual punts.

Subtract Dan Connor's safety, Tony Davis' fumble return for a touchdown and Scirrotto's kickoff return for a score, and Penn State's offensive production was nine points.

And while it's easy to credit Penn State's defense with the win, Juice Williams constantly confused the Lions' defense with the option, helping his team to 202 total rushing yards. Over and over again, the Illini ran the option to defensive end Tim Shaw's side, usually with success.

This week, Mike Hart, Brent Bracket and walk-on wide receiver Patrick Mauti all tried to play Juice Williams' role on the scout-team offense. Defensive end Josh Gaines even said Mauti broke a few runs for touchdowns in practice. With that said, it's not so surprising the defense couldn't stop Illinois.

If Penn State hadn't had a few timely defensive plays and a solid special teams performance, Illinois would have easily spoiled a perfect homecoming weekend in Happy Valley. In fact, the Fighting Illini should have. Penn State didn't deserve a victory Saturday, and the alumni didn't deserve an abysmal performance.

And at the end of the day, Paterno didn't even need six words to accurately judge the Lions' play. He could have done it in one -- lousy.