Smoker's day was good; Paterno's day was bad

Penn State lost nine games for the first time in school history.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Jeff Smoker grinned from ear-to-ear as the 70,000 fans at Spartan Stadium gave him a roaring ovation prior to kickoff on Saturday.
His smile was even wider when he left the field.
The senior threw for 357 yards and four touchdowns, leading Michigan State to a 41-10 victory over Penn State.
The win improved the Spartans' bowl standing and ended the worst season in Joe Paterno's 38 years as coach of the Nittany Lions.
Penn State (3-9, 1-7 Big Ten) lost nine games for the first time in school history and is only the fourth losing team in Paterno's career.
Nadir
"This is as bad a football game as we've played in a long time," a sullen Paterno said afterward.
"I want to get out of here, get on a plane, go home and hug my wife."
One of the main reasons for Paterno's disappointment was the play of Smoker, a Manheim, Pa., native who the coach tried to recruit four years ago.
Smoker, in his final home game, picked apart the No. 2 pass defense in the nation. He completed 29-of-50 passes with one interception, and became the first Michigan State quarterback to top 3,000 yards passing in a season.
The Spartans (8-4, 5-3) snapped a three-game losing streak and clinched a tie for fourth place in the Big Ten.
"I was having a blast. It was the last time I'll be out here with a uniform on," Smoker said. "And to win the way we did today, I'll never have more fun than this."
The loss will do nothing to dissuade those who have called for Paterno's departure this season. Some Penn State fans believe it's time for the 76-year-old coach to retire.
That, Paterno again said this week, is out of the question.
Will think
Paterno said he would spend about two weeks thinking about what went wrong this season and then begin planning for next year.
"I'm glad this game is over," he said. "Nothing quite worked out the way we had hoped it would work."
"I thought we were getting close, but today was one of those games where nothing goes right."
The Spartans, who won just four games in 2002, completed their turnaround under new coach John L. Smith, whose spread offense confused the Nittany Lions.
"When we started this thing off, everybody said that if we could win four, it would be an amazing year," Smith said. "I think we overachieved in every game, even though we didn't win them all."
Smoker's fourth scoring pass, a 5-yarder to Jason Randall in the back of the end zone, made it 35-3 with 13 minutes to go.
Michigan State went ahead 28-3 seven minutes earlier on a 17-yard TD pass from Smoker to Jerramy Scott.
The drive that resulted in the Scott TD was kept alive when backup quarterback Drew Stanton ran 29 yards on a fake punt on fourth-and-4 from the Michigan State 43.
Penn State quarterback Zack Mills was benched in favor of Michael Robinson at the beginning of the fourth quarter after completing 11-of-24 for 114 yards.
Phillips catches TD
Robinson threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Terrance Phillips (Sharon, Pa.) with 11 seconds to go in the game.
"A season like this -- you can't forget this," Robinson said. "I'm exhausted -- physically, mentally and emotionally."
Robinson, who started at running back, carried 16 times for 54 yards, caught three passes for 36 yards and completed 5-of-8 for 69 yards and one interception.
He said he expects to compete for the starting quarterback job next season against Mills, who became the school's all-time leader in total offense. Mills now has 6,007 yards of total offense, passing Tony Sacca (6,000).