No longer is Penn State's mixed signals strong. But through the static came a loud and clear message from Coach Joe Paterno after the latest road loss, 16-7, at Minnesota.

"I was happy with everybody's effort," Paterno said. "I told them, 'I don't need have to teach you how to fight, I have to teach you how to win.' "

The game marked the fifth anniversary of Penn State's decline. Penn State is 25-31 over all since losing at home to a Minnesota rally by 24-23 on Nov. 6, 1999. Penn State was 9-0 at the time, ranked No. 2 and hoped to compete for a national championship. It finished No. 11 and has not been ranked since finishing No. 16 in 2002.

Worse, Penn State is 6-20 on the road since that crushing setback: 1-1 in 1999, 1-5 in 2000, 2-3 in 2001, 2-3 in 2003, 0-5 in 2003 and 0-3 now. That's eight road losses in a row. At home Penn State is 19-11 since the Minnesota massacre, which is portrayed in a huge photo in the Gophers' weight room.

Four of Penn State's six road victories were by 5 points or fewer: 27-24 over Indiana in 2000, 38-35 over Northwestern in 2001, 42-37 over Michigan State in 2001 and 34-31 over Wisconsin in 2002. The only comfortable road victories were 24-0 over Texas A&M in Penn State's next-to-last bowl game in 1999 and 58-25 over Indiana in 2002.

This season Penn State has only two touchdowns and a total of 17 points in the three road losses.

What is distracting Penn State on the road? Erratic starting times? Bad biorhythms? Air turbulence? Cellphones? "Cellphones are a disease," Paterno said during his Thursday night radio show.

He was upset Saturday night with another wasted effort after Zack Mills, with his separated right shoulder taped, had one of the more courageous performances by a Penn State quarterback. Without a running game that netted only 21 yards on 22 carries, Mills completed 24 of 46 passes for 250 yards and a touchdown -- Penn State's first in six quarters. But Penn State lost a fumble and Mills threw an interception into the end zone, raising Penn State's Big Ten-leading turnovers to 16 in 5 games.

The best receiver was a tailback, Tony Hunt, who caught 7 balls for 110 yards. But he also lost the fumble that led to a Minnesota field goal.

Addressing the news media behind a garage-sale folding table outside the dressing room in a corridor of the Hubert H., Humphrey Dome, Paterno said:

-- "I'm not anxious to talk about the play of anybody."

-- "I don't think we had a lot of opportunities today. We dropped a lot of passes. The more they're in games like this they'll realize how important things are."

-- "We just have to find some people who can make a play. We're going to have to bite the bullet on some people who had a chance but didn't get the job done when it's on the line. We'll take a good look and see where we are."

--"We're not as bad as some people think we are at stopping the run. We dropped passes, sure I'm frustrated. If we catch the ball and hold them to 16 points . . . it's a different ball game."

--"There are no highlights when you lose."

For the second consecutive road game, Penn State played top-10 defense, blocking two field-goal attempts and an extra point, and intercepting Minnesota on its 132nd pass attempt this season.

Laurence Maroney ran for 144 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries. Marion Barber III, the son of the former Jet, had 88 yards on 21 carries, but Minnesota's 401 yards were a season-low.

On the first play, Minnesota again embarrassed Penn State with a replay of the onside kick it completed a year ago at Beaver Stadium. That led to a 3-0 lead. After last year's game Paterno invited Minnesota Coach Glen Mason to dinner at his home with Penn State alumni and friends. While introducing Mason, Paterno teased him, according to Mark Wogenrich of The Morning Call of Allentown, Pa. ''I want to tell you just one thing," Paterno kidded. "To start a game with an onside kick is cheating.''

Minnesota extended Saturday night's lead to 10-0 in the first quarter when on third-and-11 from his 13, Maroney ran a reverse 64 yards to the Penn State 23, setting up a touchdown that helped to make it 10-0.

The Minnesota defensive coordinator Greg Hudson had the best metaphor for the Big Ten. "Conference play is a lot like Nascar; everyone has the same engine. So it comes down to who’s tuning it the best and making the least number of mistakes."

Mason, a candidate for the Penn State job if he does not turn 65 before Paterno retires, was skeptical of Penn State's engine before the game.

“Penn State is 2-2; I only say that because you have to discount their record," Mason said. "I look at the film and they have talented football players. They’re a well-coached team, they play extremely hard.”

About Paterno, he said: “The guy never ceases to amaze me quite frankly. I coached against Coach Paterno for years; when I was a young coach, an assistant coach recruiting, I’d run in to him at schools. I went out to his spring practice one time. I used to coach at Allegheny College, in Meadville, Pa., which isn’t that far from Penn State. I had a chance to watch him. Obviously, he’s been a giant in our profession for a long, long time. I saw a different side of Joe Paterno at the C.F.A. meetings . . . the College Football Association meetings made up of 63 schools, and most of the meetings are long and boring. Most of the giants in our profession didn’t come to those meetings. They were too busy. There were two guys, Coach Paterno and Coach Osborne from Nebraska that were there every time. I looked at those guys and thought that there are two guys who are not trying to help Penn State and Nebraska. They are trying to help college football."

Recalling the 1997 game he lost to Paterno by 16-15, Mason said: "Here’s a guy who has the No. 1-ranked team in the country losing, 15-3, in the fourth quarter against a nobody. A couple things happened, one of which was a very, very bad missed call, and that put them in a position to win, and they won. I could only imagine my reaction in that situation; I’d be so excited that we didn’t lose and we’re still No. 1 with national championship hopes still alive. The first thing he says to me is, ‘You got robbed -- the worst call I’ve ever seen in coaching. It’s a shame that your team didn’t win. Your kids outplayed mine; your coaches outcoached us.’ I couldn’t believe it. Then he said, ‘I want to talk to your team and tell them the same thing.’ ”

Mason added: " I've heard Coach Paterno say his a long time: They’re kind of like their uniforms, they’re old-fashioned. That’s not a negative, they’re fundamentally sound, they’re well-coached, they play extremely hard, and they’re classy. You don’t have to worry about cheapshots against Penn State; you don’t have to worry about trash-talking and all that stuff. If you are really not fundamentally sound, he couldn’t have had the success that he’s had for a long period of time. Another thing I respect about the guy is that when you see Penn State now, it’s a lot different now than when Paterno got the job. You go there now you’ll see 110,000, I think they had a 30,000-seat stadium when he was first hired.”

Did it bother him hearing people wanting Paterno to retire?

“It bothers me," Mason said. "I only say that because we are so hypocritical at the collegiate level. I’ve always said I’m not a pro coach; I’m a college coach. I’m held responsible for a lot of other things than just winning games, like graduations rates, grade-point averages, the conduct of my players. Those things are really important in the job description, but if you don’t win enough games, they’re going to say you are a bad coach. You think of all the positive things he’s done, everyone talks about how he’s getting old. I’ll probably retire before he does. I think he’s in better health than I am.”

He added: ''I think of Joe Paterno as a man of greatness,'' Mason said. ''He's had a profound effect on a lot of people, including me. I almost feel like his abilities are wasted in coaching. He's overqualified for college football. He should have gone into politics. He would have made a great president.''

Minnesota has gone to four bowl games in Mason's seven years as coach. Last year's team was 10-3; this year Minnesota is 5-0 and No. 9 in The New York Times's computer ranking and No. 13 in both The Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN absentee ballot. Mason is the only Big Ten coach to beat Paterno four consecutive times.

Sid Hartman, a columnist for the Minnesota Star-Tribune, recalled meeting Paterno 40 years ago. "I was in San Francisco to cover the East-West Shrine game and after the game, I hopped on a train headed for Pasadena, Calif., to cover the Rose Bowl. I walked into the dining car, and there sat Ohio State Coach Woody Hayes, Penn State Coach Rip Engle and his then assistant, Joe Paterno. Woody saw me sitting alone and yelled, 'Come sit here, shut up and listen.' That's how I first met Joe Paterno, sitting up all night listening to Hayes, Engle and Paterno talk football until the train reached Pasadena the next morning."

Could the train get road show back on track?