Penn State's loss to the Temple Owls in week one exposed the Nittany Lions in many ways. I think everyone can agree that the biggest flaw exposed by the hard charging Owls defense was the poor play displayed by the offensive line unit.

In football, or any sport for that matter improving week to week is key in order to have a successful season. Say what you want about the competition Penn State (2-1, 1-0 BIG 10) has played over the last two weeks, but improvement is exactly what the offensive line has shown.The "O-line" hasn't given up a single sack after allowing 10 sacks to Temple in week one and has rushed for an average of 275 yards per game and three rushing touchdowns per game.Yes, these numbers have come against Buffalo and a dilapidated Rutgers team, but this is still FBS football and any improvement with the offensive line is a good thing for the 2015 Nittany Lions."You think about how we've been able to run the ball and protect our quarterback the last two weeks. That's the O-line playing at a much higher level," said Penn State head coach James Franklin. "That is the threat of the running game. That's how we're calling the game and managing it a little bit. I think we need to continue to do that."Even though the San Diego State (1-2) defense is surrendering close to 400 yards per game, the Aztecs do present a tough challenge for the Nittany Lions offensive line. The Aztecs like to play a chaos type defense where they walk around the line of scrimmage a lot and blitz a ton. If there's any type of defense that has shown success against PSU as of late, it's a defense that likes to blitz a lot.Where some might see this as a problem, I in fact see this is as an opportunity. This afternoon (3:30 p.m. ET, BIG 10 Network) presents an opportunity for the offensive line to show other teams that they can handle an aggressive blitzing defense. I think it's also time for the Penn State receivers and quarterback Christian Hackenberg to send out the invitations for their coming out party this week.The San Diego State defensive scheme presents a lot of one on one opportunities in the secondary and with all the talent on the Nittany Lions roster at the wide receiver position, it's about time for them to take advantage, if given one on one opportunities.With what I've seen over the past two weeks, Penn State should have success in the run game, meaning the play action passing game will be effective if the protection is sufficient. You heard it here first Nittany Lions fans - this is the week Hackenberg shows why NFL scouts are impressed with his abilities. This is the week I think you'll see the Penn State offense take more shots downfield and if Hackenberg can make the throws on the money like he's capable of then you could see some big plays from the PSU passing game."We're moving the pocket, we're doing quick game. We're not taking a whole lot of shots down the field where we have to hold on to the ball for a long period of time. It's what I've been mentioning the past couple weeks, it's going to evolve," said Franklin. "We've shown that we've been able to do those things in the past. We've got the wide receivers to do it, we've got the tight ends to do it. It's going to be a gradual thing that we're going to allow to grow overtime."If the Penn State offense does have issues later today then it will be up to the Nittany Lions defense to make some plays to keep them in the ball game.The San Diego State offense has not been stellar this season, averaging just 312 yards of offense per game. The Aztecs are averaging just 159 passing yards per game, which means they've had to primarily depend on their rushing attack. The Nittany Lions have given up just 87 yards per game on the ground, so I think it's safe to say that the Aztecs will have a tough time offensively today even if the PSU defense just plays decent.Defensive linemen Carl Nassib, Austin Johnson, Anthony Zettel, and Garret Sickels have all been getting better with each snap of the ball and also have improved the overall pass rush of the defense. Expect to see an explosive pass rush against the Aztecs and with the return of linebacker Brandon Bell and cornerback Grant Haley last week, the Nittany Lions defense has become even better on the back end.Switching back to the offensive side of the ball, freshman running back Saquon Barkley earned his second consecutive BIG 10 Co-Freshman Player of the Week. Barkley rushed for 195 yards on 21 carries and scored two touchdowns to burst onto the college football scene for the second time in as many weeks.Now, to my prediction for this week as Las Vegas has Penn State as a 15 point favorite over the Aztecs. I like the Nittany Lions offensive line to play well again later today and as I noted earlier I expect Christian Hackenberg to put together an impressive effort.My prediction is Penn State 33, San Diego State 13.