They might not have admitted they were nervous, but the pressure was certainly on them. In the end, the offensive linemen for Penn State did all right--for now.

Arguably one of the biggest question marks for Penn State heading into Saturday's game with Temple was the offensive line. Without a college start among all of the starting linemen, the concern was that the Lions would have to establish a consistent passing game in order to allow ample time for the rebuilt offensive line to come together.

In the end, Penn State had much better success running the ball than passing the ball, thanks to the "big uglies" up front.

In a tale of two halves, the offensive line showed signs of promise and was ultimately the difference maker in Penn State's offensive success in the final quarters of the game. Specifically, run blocking was the key.

"I think in the second half, we just started to run the ball a little bit more," guard Nick Marmo said. "Early in the beginning, I don't think we ran the ball as much as we did. We just stuck with what worked."

In the first half, the line blocked for a total of 45 rushing yards on 15 attempts. Compare that to the 200 yards of rushing accumulated in the second half alone, and it shows that the offensive line seemed to settle into a rhythm.

"I definitely felt more comfortable as the game progressed," Marmo said. "You start getting used to things. Again we're inexperienced. Everyone was settling down so as the game went on, you could tell we were more comfortable and just playing."

The success in blocking was contingent on multiple components. Conditioning became a factor, with the Nittany Lions' offensive line coming away as the more fit and conditioned corps compared to Temple's defensive front. Redshirt freshman starting tackle Levi Brown said the difference was noticeable on the field.

"I think we're pretty well conditioned," Brown said. "Nobody was really gasping for air that much. The defense for Temple was dead tired, you could tell."

This isn't to say the Lions' line is where it wants to be at this point in the season.

"I thought that was way too much playing time for me," Brown joked. "I

was dead tired. At the two minute drill I couldn't go."

Increased run production from a more aptly fit line was one of the focuses from the start of the game. Whereas it is not atypical to see rushing yards decrease later in the game as fatigue sets in with running backs and linemen, the opposite happened against Temple.

"The coaches came in with a great game plan," tackle Chris McKelvy said. "They wanted us to wear them down by the end of the first half and hopefully go into the fourth quarter and by that time they'd be run down. The constant running at them, and the persistency of running at them paid off."

The other component in the line's run-blocking success was the fact that the players and coaching staff were over-prepared.

Much like Penn State's defense was surprised by Temple's lack of passing in the spread offense, the Lions' offensive line expected to see more stunts and blitzing from the Owls' front line and linebackers.

"They only ran like three stunts," Brown said. "We were expecting a lot more because on tape, they blitz like every play. They only brought the linebacker like three or four times to my side which surprised me. We didn't know the personnel."

Not having to pick up extraneous blocks from blitzing linebackers meant Penn State's guards and tackles could focus more on the Owls' front four during the runs.

"I was surprised by that," senior tackle Damone Jones said. "I was anticipating more movement by their defensive line and linebackers. We didn't get as much, we may have been over-prepared for them . They were a good bunch, but they didn't move around as much as we thought they would."

Temple's read defense then allowed for the guards to open up holes in the line, in addition to effective lead blocking by fullback Sean McHugh.

"We thought they were going to be more of an attacking defense," Jones said. "If you put eight or nine guys in the box, you're going to anticipate an attacking defense. They didn't get too much of an upfield charge and we got lulled asleep by it. They're a good defense. Temple is not a bad team. A lot of people want to write Temple off for their past football blunders, but they're a good football team."