Though Joe Paterno's squad cruised to a 66-10 win over Coastal Carolina in the season opener, he said the team's biggest improvement could come before week two.

But he warned Oregon State will pose a much stiffer test than the one offered up by Coastal Carolina.

"It probably gets better from the first game to the second game than at any other time during the season," Paterno said Tuesday during his weekly press conference. "I don't think there's any question we should learn a lot more about ourselves this week. We've got to be realistic, that was a tough assignment for the Coastal Carolina kids."

Senior defensive back Lydell Sargeant said that tough assignment was made even more difficult because it was the season opener. The Lions weren't going to let the Chanticleers play the role of spoiler.

But playing a top-tier Pac-10 team is more than enough motivation for a non-conference game, he said.

"That's one thing coach Paterno really makes us get used to, playing every game the same, no matter who we're playing," Sargeant said. "We don't treat any game differently.

"[Playing Oregon State's] exciting. The past couple years we haven't had any truly big-time teams come in here the first three or four games. It's gonna be good to see how good we truly are."

Because Oregon State played Thursday night, most of the Penn State players and coaches were able to get a glimpse at just how good the Beavers are.

Senior wide receiver Jordan Norwood said just because Oregon State dropped that game at Stanford doesn't mean the Beavers are a push-over.

In that game, Oregon State fell behind early and was forced to play catchup.

And just when it appeared as though Beavers wide receiver Darrell Catchings might tie the game with less than a minute to play, the ball was knocked out of his hand and through the end zone for a touchback, sealing the win for the Cardinal.

"They're a good football team. I think they know that too," Norwood said. "I think they know they should've won that football game.

"I don't personally pay attention to the score. I pay more attention to the content of their personnel, what they're doing defensively. I think we took a lot from that game."

But the focus yesterday, and for the remainder of the week, is on the Lions and their potential to get even better.

Paterno said the difference between good and great teams is being able to identify problems from week to week, adjust and get rid of "dumb" penalties, something he said the Lions need to work on.

He couldn't exactly pinpoint why teams improve more between the first two weeks, but said it's been his experience that is true more often than not. If this team is going to be a good one, he said, the time to get better is now.

"Most of the really good football teams we've had, when you get the first one under your belt, then you can build on some game mistakes," Paterno said. "It can be an I-told-you-so kind of deal.

"In my experience, we come out of a football game, the first one, when you have a really good football team, the second game seems better and you build on it."