Levi Brown was lying on the Metrodome turf and Joe Paterno began his pacing. Though this wasn't the first member of his team who Penn State's coach had seen injured in the game, this was the one he called the biggest loss.

When it became evident that Brown's sprained left knee would keep him out of the following week's game against Purdue, the 6-foot-5, 311-pound left tackle left some rather large shoes to fill.

Who better than someone with a bigger shoe size?

Though redshirt sophomore Mark Farris took over for Brown for the rest of the game against the Golden Gophers, it was 6-foot-6, 319-pound junior John Wilson who got the nod against the Boilermakers, his first career start.

"I pretty much just practiced hard all week until they told me on Friday that I was going to start," Wilson said. "I don't really have anything to compare it to, but I think anyone just tries to do the best they can whenever they get out there."

Wilson was one of the few bright spots for the Nittany Lions offensive line against Purdue. Paterno called the line's performance "horrible," and if things haven't improved after this week in practice, the Lions are in for a long day tomorrow against an intimidating Iowa front seven.

At his Tuesday press conference, Paterno said there would probably be some "subtle changes" made on the offensive line for the game against the Hawkeyes and their ferocious defensive end Matt Roth.

"Whether [the changes] will be drastic or something I am comfortable saying that we are going to do right now, I don't know," Paterno said. "I think we have to be better. Let me put it that way. We have to be more consistent in what we do.

"We are playing against a couple of people who are outstanding football players. That number 31 for Iowa, Matt Roth, is one of the best pass rushers and one of the best people we are going play against. So, obviously, if we can't do an adequate job with him, we are going to have some problems."

The line has had its problems in Big Ten play without having to face Roth every week. The Lions run game that dominated weaker opponents in the non-conference schedule has all but disappeared in the midst of the team's three-game losing streak to open the Big Ten season, with just 109 net yards in those games.

Couple that with some missed blocks on game-changing plays like the fake field goal that the Boilermakers ran down from behind, and it's not hard to understand why Paterno was so critical of his line after the game and over the bye week.

The futility on the ground is thanks in part to opposing defenses stacking the box with eight men on a regular basis and forcing the Lions to revert to an almost exclusive short passing offense.

"It's tough because you almost have to throw the ball to loosen the defense up," center E.Z. Smith said. "Then it's hard to get away from passing when you're having as much success as we had last week. It's not that we haven't been able to put our finger on one thing that's wrong, we just have to execute better."

But as well as the passing game went for the Lions against Purdue, Paterno was more disturbed by the drop off in pass protection, as Zack Mills was frequently hit during the game.

It is unclear whether Brown will be able to play tomorrow, as he is listed as "possible" on the injury report. If he were unable to go, Wilson would likely take his place again on the left side of the line.

Regardless of what personnel changes are made, subtle or not, the Lions are looking for more consistency from the line if they hope to have any success moving the ball against the Hawkeyes. And to prevent any more "horrible" evaluations from Paterno.

"Yeah, that's Coach Paterno for you," Smith said. "He's not gonna hold anything back. He always says the effort is high, but sometimes guys make mental mistakes that we shouldn't make at this point in the season. That irritates him most when people make mistakes like that."