As a casual observer of last season's offense, Paul Jefferson, in some ways, had a better angle to see certain things.

Troubling things. Things that had Jefferson as concerned as any other Penn State supporter and just as powerless to fix the ineptitude.

Passes were dropped. Balls were fumbled. Time outs were wasted because plays were late getting to the huddle. And those penalties of mental error -- like false starts or holding -- were epidemic.

As for Jefferson, he, like every other frustrated Penn State observer, could do little to help. He was on the scout team while he took a redshirt year.

Since his return -- and assumption of a leadership role on the offensive side of the ball -- the offense has gained precision. In the Nittany Lions' 48-10 victory against Akron on Saturday, Jefferson saw an offense with renewed confidence and discipline.

"We didn't lose our heads, we kept our composure and we didn't make a lot of stupid mistakes," Jefferson said.

If any of the stupid mistakes that were so typical of last year's offense happened at all on Saturday, they weren't happening very often, or were downplayed because of the large margin of victory.

Penn State's first-string offense appeared flawless.

"I don't think the first team punted once," junior tackle Andrew Richardson said, correctly. "That's saying something right there."

Richardson could have gone a step further. In fact, the first-string offense never failed to score a touchdown.

And the way those seven consecutive touchdowns were scored was a veritable showcase of offensive excitement.

A 77-yard breakaway run by Tony Hunt and a perfectly thrown pass from backup quarterback Michael Robinson to first-stringer Zack Mills in the corner of the end zone were the two top touchdown highlights.

Those kinds of plays look pretty -- and they get fans excited. But they aren't the only things that win football games. Jefferson, for one, noticed the little things that made Saturday's offense appear more cohesive than last season's charade.

"You didn't see as much confusion [on offense] as you did in the past," Jefferson said. "There wasn't people running in, running out. There wasn't any of the bickering that you usually see. I mean we just kind of hung together as a unit."

Jefferson indicated that an increased sense of organization and togetherness on offense may be the result of Galen Hall's way of doing things.

"He's real, real to the point -- real, real detailed," Jefferson said of the new assistant coach in-charge-of-offense. "[The coaches] have a nice system on the sideline, and the signals and everything are intact. So there's really not much room to make confusion."

While Jefferson openly praised Hall, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno has been very tight-lipped about what Hall has brought to the team. If he were to discuss that, he fears he might insinuate that Hall has been an improvement over his long-time offensive assist Fran Ganter, who left the coaching staff to take an administrative position last spring.

Since the day Hall took over the offense and the Lions victory on Saturday, who knows how much of the Lions offensive system has changed? An oft-criticized play-calling by committee system appears to be long gone. Or the entire offense philosophy could have been revamped.

But don't expect the secretive Paterno to reveal that anytime soon.

Yet as mum as Paterno has been on this issue, there was no denying one thing: the offense ran more smoothly on Saturday than it did all of last season. Of course, coaching aside, improvements that players made personally in the off-season contributed to Saturday's success, too.

But whatever the reason, things appear to be working right now for Penn State's offense. And as far as most people -- Jefferson, in particular -- are concerned that's all that really matters.

"Whatever system they do together, it's working," Jefferson said. "So let's just hope it continues."