It was only the second quarter of the second game of the season, but Joe Paterno had already seen enough.
Starting right guard Lou Eliades was out, and reserve Quinn Barham was in.
Injuries and unsteadiness finally behind him, Eliades had apparently coughed up a golden chance to secure a starting spot on the Penn State offensive line.
With the Nittany Lions averaging just 3.29 rush yards per carry through two games, Paterno hinted at changes coming the following week.
But rather than adding to the list of personal setbacks since arriving at Happy Valley, Eliades instead responded to his coach's challenge.
"I knew I wasn't playing a great game, so I was kind of more upset with myself," Eliades said. "I just took that as I gotta get better, I gotta really start working hard to be the person to fill the spot. I didn't want any question marks about right guard. I wanted to be the guy and I knew that I had to work harder to get where I needed to be."
The lingering presence of Barham behind him, Eliades rose to the occasion and kept his job.
His block on a pull from right to left cleared the path for Stephfon Green's 52-yard touchdown run in Saturday's win at Illinois, and the Lions' 338-yard output on the ground last week helped lift their average yards per rush to 4.9 this season.
Eliades said he has continued to feed off the energy from his coaches and reserves.
"It pushes you to work harder," Eliades said. "You can kind of learn from each other's mistakes. When [Barham] goes in I'll watch him and I'll see something that I might not have noticed when I went. We try to help each other out but it pushes you to get better when you have someone that's good behind you."
For the past two seasons, Eliades has often been the one doing the pushing.
Two years ago, he gave 2009 NFL Draft pick Rich Ohrnberger a run for his job at left guard before a stress fracture in his left foot caused him to miss the last six games of the season.
In 2008 he backed up Dennis Landolt at right tackle.
This season Eliades looked to keep a lock on the right guard spot before suffering a high left ankle sprain in fall practices. No stranger to pain, he played through the injury early on, admitting that it limited his mobility and explosiveness.
But the Ocean, N.J., native persisted, hanging onto his job along the way while others -- left guard Matt Stankiewitch, right tackle DeOn'tae Pannell -- lost their starting roles on a still-fluctuating offensive line.
"Lou got over the initial shock of what it takes to play with a little bit of a discomfort," Paterno said, "and I think he's come along."
