Extra Points

After a 1-4 start, Penn State coach Joe Paterno has opened up his offense, by giving quarterback Rashard Casey more freedom to move out of the pocket and allowing him to spread the ball around more. Casey accounted for 302 yards—208 of them passing—and three touchdowns in the Nittany Lions' 39-25 rout of Illinois last Saturday. "What the coaches have done is let Rashard move around a little," says tight end Tony Stewart. "That has given him confidence and given the offensive line confidence. It has allowed him to make these big plays, and that gets everyone pumped up." Penn State (3-5, 2-2 in the Big Ten) has won two of its last three games and still has an outside shot at the conference championship....

The charter plane carrying Arizona State home from its 23-20 overtime defeat of Washington State was struck by lightning twice as it neared Phoenix. Although most interior lights went out, the jet landed without difficulty. When the lightning first hit, the onboard power outage blacked out the inflight movie, Gone in 60 Seconds....

Texas sophomore quarterback Chris Simms, who has split time with junior Major Applewhite this season, said last week that he may ask to be redshirted next season, which would allow Applewhite to play full time as a senior. What Simms didn't say is that he could use the extra time to work on reading defenses....

When it coughed up a 17-0 lead and lost to No. 5 Clemson, North Carolina dropped to 0-32-1 against opponents ranked among the Top 5. The Tar Heels are the lone ACC team never to have beaten a team rated that high....

Not only did Indiana junior quarterback Antwaan Randle El become only the third quarterback ever to rush for 200 yards and pass for 250 in the same game (finishing with 210 and 263, respectively), he also recovered an onside kick with less than two minutes remaining to seal the Hoosiers' 51-43 upset of No. 22 Minnesota.