After yet another series of ineffective offensive line play and unimaginative play-calling, the seeds of discontent among Penn State fans were sown in Saturday's first half, with boos raining down to the field from the bleachers above.

Nittany Lion players and coaches were also upset, voicing a bit of their displeasure after the game.

Joe Paterno said his team was lousy and that some players have shown no improvement from the start of the season.

So it's back to the drawing board for Penn State this week, as the Lions try to fix what ails their inconsistent offensive line.

Fortunately for the boys in blue and white, Purdue's defense has the ability to make a common doodle artist look like Monet.

The problem for Penn State is that the players will actually have to execute, which has proven easier said than done this year.

"The offensive line didn't give up seven sacks against Michigan," tackle and offensive captain Levi Brown said after the Illinois game -- his first meeting with the media in nearly a month. "You can say that, but we all know that more goes into it than just the offensive line."

Brown commented that it's difficult for the offensive line when the coaching staff continues to switch personnel during the game, saying it's tougher to get into a groove that way.

"A lot of guys are feeling like if [they] mess up, then [they] will be taken out and things like that, and we've just got to get over that," Brown said.

Starting guard Robert Price was replaced midway through the game by sophomore Gerald Cadogan, and starting right tackle John Shaw was replaced by Chris Auletta.

Nothing worked too well, resulting in just 40 yards rushing for Penn State against a decent defense.

"Once a group is in there together for a couple plays we start to get in sync," Brown said.

"But when [the coaches] keep switching, it takes people out of sync and the new person has to get used to the defender he's going against."

It is unfair to place all the blame on the front five.

Sophomore wide receiver Deon Butler hinted at a failure to adapt to what Illinois' defense was showing, which is odd because Paterno's line this season, when asked about conservative play-calling, has often been that the offense takes what the opposing defense gives it. According to Butler, the Fighting Illini were giving up the middle of the field, but the Penn State offense just wasn't taking.

"Their corners were sitting low, and their safeties were running outside the hash," Butler told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "That's why a couple of times I caught the ball on the sidelines I was getting hit as soon as I caught it. We could have easily gone inside of the safeties and gave them a double move. We could easily just run inside the safety. We won, but that is stuff we can learn from."

Penn State's offense has rarely utilized the middle of the field in the passing game, but Saturday might have been an ideal time to start.

"We played into their hands a little bit," Butler said. "With them being so aggressive, we should have used that against them."

Day to remember:

Offense: Kevin Darling. The senior tight end caught his first touchdown pass.

Defense: Anthony Scirrotto. Two interceptions and a special teams touchdown more than compensate for a botched assignment and a missed tackle.

Day to forget

Offense: The offensive line. Bad enough to make Paterno classify himself as "not a happy warrior."

Defense: The run defense. Illinois tailback Rashard Mendenhall broke a 79-yard run, the longest against Penn State in more than three decades. For the day, the Illini ran for 202 yards.

Did you notice?

The Penn State student heckling Kevin Kelly as the kicker emerged from the tunnel for warm-ups. "Hey, Kelly," the student called, "do you want to actually make a field goal today?" The sophomore kicker finished 1-of-2, tying his career long with a 49-yarder.

Quotable:

Defensive tackle Ed Johnson, on whether Illinois' offensive line held often. "That was one of the cleanest offensive lines we've played in a long time. Michigan, Northwestern, those guys hold every play."

Extra Point:

Tony Hunt passed John Cappelletti for ninth place on Penn State's all-time rushing list, and now has 2,688 for his career. Imagine how much more yardage Hunt would have racked up this season if the line in front of him was a bit more consistent.