Surrendering seven sacks is more than just a prime example of alliteration. To an offensive line, it's a wakeup call.

Against Michigan's explosive front four on Saturday, Penn State's offensive line appeared porous and weak, as the Nittany Lions' quarterbacks rarely had as much time in the pocket as they might have desired.

Anthony Morelli suffered a concussion while being hurried by Michigan defensive tackle Alan Branch. Backup quarterback Daryll Clark was sacked twice in limited action, though the concussion he sustained came on a scramble. Even third-stringer Paul Cianciolo limped his way through Penn State's final drive.

The run blocking was not much better, a fact reflected in Tony Hunt's 33 yards on the ground. The senior tailback had been averaging 111.5 yards per game before Saturday, but often when he was handed the ball against the Wolverines, Hunt had to deal with defenders on his side of the line of scrimmage.

"We are not quite ready for the kind of people [Michigan] had," Joe Paterno said. "I was concerned going into the game and tried to keep some things down and didn't want to put too much pressure on the offensive line."

Apparently, the offensive line was also not quite ready to talk about it yesterday, as left tackle Levi Brown and left guard Robert Price both missed their scheduled teleconferences.

It was thought that the return of Price and Brown from injuries would aide the Lions in the task of containing Michigan's defensive pressure. For his part, Brown -- an All-American a season ago -- faired reasonably well against the Wolverines.

"He played well Saturday," Paterno said of Brown. "Our problem was not over on that side. We had a few more problems on the inside and over on the right side."

In fairness to Penn State, Michigan is No. 8 in the country and first in the Big Ten in sacks. Even so, the Lions allowed just one sack per game over the first half of the season.

As a team, Penn State was held to minus-14 yards rushing -- the lowest such total in Joe Paterno's 41-year tenure as head coach.

"They're looking to get better," said linebacker Sean Lee.

"They're angry and they're a good bunch of kids. They're looking to prove to people that they are a great offensive line."