UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Two weeks into the season, Penn State's offense has been puzzling.

The team's trademark running game has ground to a halt because of ineffective play on the offensive line. The Nittany Lions rank 94th among 109 Division I teams, averaging only 107 yards per game.

Penn State's passing game -- namely senior quarterback Daryll Clark -- has a No. 14 national ranking, churning out 309.5 yards per game.

Coach Joe Paterno said yesterday that changes could be coming on the offensive line for Saturday's non-conference game against Temple at Beaver Stadium.

"We're a project in development," Paterno said in describing his line.

No. 5 Penn State (2-0) began the season with three new starters on the offensive line -- left guard Matt Stankiewitch, right guard Lou Eliades and right tackle DeOn'tae Pannell. And the two other returnees -- center Stefen Wisniewski from Central Catholic High School and left tackle Dennis Landolt -- found themselves at new positions.

When the Lions failed to punch the ball into the end zone a handful of times from short-yardage range against Syracuse last weekend, Paterno alternated Johnnie Troutman with Stankiewitch and Quinn Barham with Eliades.

Troutman, a redshirt junior, could be emerging from Paterno's doghouse after reporting to camp 15 pounds overweight.

"He was up to about 325," Paterno said. "We told him he had to be under 310. I think he's now about 306, 305. ... So I think he's down and I think he's getting better. He played some Saturday and he may play a lot more this Saturday."

Paterno said moving Wisniewski from right guard to center in the spring may not have been the right move.

"Maybe we should have kept him at guard, but we would have to play a kid that hasn't played center at all -- [Doug] Klopacz," he said.

Paterno believes his team eventually will find the right combination of offensive linemen to revive the dormant running game that has seen 1,000-yard rusher Evan Royster average just 51 yards the first two games.

"They're all good kids and they're all working hard and eventually it's going to work out, as long as we don't get panicky," he said.

Even Landolt knows it will be tough for Penn State to continue to throw the ball 65 percent or 70 percent of the time and win, especially with the start of Big Ten Conference play just around the corner.

"I think it would be difficult to do so," he said. "There are teams out there who throw 50 or 60 times a game. But I think it's important for us to get our run game going. It's just a great thing to have because you can control the tempo and keep the defenses honest so they just can't play pass."

Paterno agreed with his son -- quarterbacks coach Jay Paterno -- that the offense may be too predictable on short-yardage plays.

"I think there's something to that, absolutely," he said. "... I think you never want to be where [the other team is saying], 'Hey, they're going to do this, they're going to do that.' And we may be that a little bit on the goal line. We've not been a real good goal-line team. That's one area we have to improve tremendously."

Paterno said injured outside linebacker Navorro Bowman (groin) has not been practicing and could miss his second consecutive game.

"I think he's got to start practicing pretty quick if he wants to play Saturday," Paterno said.

Either way, Penn State shouldn't have much to worry about against Temple (0-1). The last time the Owls beat the Lions -- 14-0 on Oct. 18, 1941 -- Paterno was 14 years old. Penn State is 33-0-1 since then and Paterno is 25-0.

Temple, coached by former Penn State tight end and captain Al Golden, has not played since Sept. 3, when it lost to Division I-AA foe Villanova, 27-24, on a last-second field goal.

"Every day we go on the practice field, [we want to] get better, take care of some things and overcome some things we didn't do well and go from there," Paterno said.