Gerald Cadogan remembers being so comfortable before each snap last year that all he had to do was look to his right.
"Rich [Ohrnberger] and I, we wouldn't even have to say anything," Cadogan, the former Penn State left tackle, said of the left guard. "I trusted him to pick up stunts. It just took some time."
That's something Cadogan and his fellow linemates had plenty of and what this year's Nittany Lion offensive line believes has been holding it back through the season's first two games.
The question, of course, is how much more time it will take.
"Just maybe a few games is what it would take," center Stefen Wisniewski said. "It's certainly not something you can just say, 'Yeah it's definitely two or it's definitely three.' It's different for every line, but somewhere around two games playing together."
Through two games, Penn State ranks last in the Big Ten with just 214 rushing yards on 65 carries -- an average of 3.3 yards per carry.
By comparison, the Lions finished 2008 as the No. 2 rushing team in the conference and ran for more than 200 yards in seven games.
That offensive line was in its second full year together, with center A.Q. Shipley having started for his third straight season and Cadogan and Ohrnberger both seeing playing time before their starting roles in 2007.
This year's group lacks that experience, as the only two returning starters from 2008 are Wisniewski and left tackle Dennis Landolt, both of whom are playing new positions this year.
"I think the leaders, Landolt and Stefen Wisniewski, are doing a great job," Cadogan said. "I like to see them making the calls. They're doing a good job blocking overall, a real good job stepping up in pass protection."
Cadogan's claims aren't unfounded.
Quarterback Daryll Clark has been sacked just once and has completed 69 percent of his passes so far.
Yet the lack of production from the ground game has left much to be desired, particularly from the guard positions.
Starters Lou Eliades and Matt Stankiewitch shared playing time against Syracuse last week with Johnnie Troutman and Quinn Barham, prompting coach Joe Paterno to declare after the game that those jobs are still open heading into Saturday's date with Temple.
"I don't think it's a huge issue just because what it means is we're not sure yet, that our second-team guys are very close to being our first-team guys, and that's not a bad thing going into Big Ten season because you want to have backups," Wisniewski said. "The only negative is that we don't know for sure who the first team is yet, but to be honest, we need to take as long as it takes to figure what that five is gonna be."
That means ensuring there are capable reserves, Landolt added, in case someone goes down later in the season.
It also means tuning out the critics who have already labeled the Lions a "pass-first" team.
"I don't think we know how much or what amount there is," Landolt said.
"You can't help but see the paper. Sometimes you see that there are people saying that, but we can't really worry about that. We just have to look at the film and see what we did wrong, because us and the coaches are who really know what the problems are, what the good areas are.
"So I guess that stuff is out there, but we can't concern ourselves with it."
But what if the line struggles continue? Will Clark and the receivers be capable of carrying the offense?
"Yeah, I'm comfortable with it. That's fine with us receivers, we're able to do it," wide receiver Graham Zug said. "But for a good offense we need to open up, be able to run some more and that'll come. It's a bunch of new guys there on the offensive line, they're all working hard, they're all learning the whole offensive system and it's coming around. They'll take care of it."
Yet the line has no desire to put that much pressure on the passing game.Wisniewski said the sense of urgency to step up for the Big Ten season -- eight days away -- was evident all week at practice.
"I don't know if we can beat Ohio State, beat Iowa, win some of the big games we have in the Big Ten by just passing the ball," he said. "If we can, absolutely I'll be happy with that, I'll take the win in a big game anyway we can get it. But we would certainly like to be able to run or pass in any game that we're involved in."
To develop such chemistry, the line will have to communicate and trust each other more, Cadogan said.
That starts this week with Temple, its last tune-up before conference play.
"We were fortunate to have almost three years with the same offensive line, so it's different with every group," Cadogan said. "It's just a matter of trust and getting comfortable, and that can vary, so I would definitely say before the Big Ten season hits, they should start to gel."
