STATE COLLEGE - Penn State's offense is clearly a work in progress.

The newcomers at wideout showed flashes of potential in Saturday's 23-13 win over South Florida. Penn State got big plays out of Tony Hunt's 70-yard dash and freshman Justin King's 61-yard scamper off a reverse. Quarterback Michael Robinson found some running holes early when the Nittany Lions put multiple receivers on the field.

But there were negatives, too. Many rushes up the middle were stuffed. Robinson threw for just 90 yards on nine completions and was sacked three times, including a fumble on one sack that ended a drive.

"A couple passes we thought we could develop down field, we didn't get a chance to get to because Mike (Robinson) had to run for his life a couple times," head coach Joe Paterno said.

Asked for an overall assessment of the offense, Paterno said, "Not very good today, but I think we'll get better."

Some of problems could be traced back to the offensive line, which had two new starters, though a displaced starter from last year, Tyler Reed, also played.

Hunt said he was surprised a little because South Florida's defense stunted and guessed right on some plays.

South Florida returned nine starters from last year's defense, though that unit gave up nearly 400 yards a game and almost 32 points per game last season.

"We might have started a little slow, but it was our first game and you kind of expect to make a few first-game mistakes," Hunt said.

He finished with a career-high 140 yards, but most of them came after halftime on two big plays: a 33-yard run off a pitch to the left and his 70-yard gain in the fourth quarter that set up a Robinson TD rush to seal the win.

Paterno said afterward he had to watch video get a better of idea of the offensive line's play.

"I'm on the sidelines, I got the worst seat in the house," he said. "We came in at halftime and we were worried about some pass protection ... I think they did all right."

Penn State tried to start its first series with a bang after Robinson threw deep but over the head of speedy freshman receiver Derrick Williams down the right side.

Robinson said he spoke with Williams about the play the night before.

"He was like, I'm going to go past him, I'm going to go past him," he said. "Right while I was throwing it, the guy held him and I was saying 'Oh man, that was a touchdown.'"

In preseason drills, Paterno had his team practice different offensive formations, including multiple-receiver sets, to spice up an offense that sputtered last year.

In the first series on Saturday, after the first play, the Nittany Lions came out in a shotgun look twice and moved the ball to midfield. But that was the drive that was snuffed by the Robinson fumble.

"I think we definitely have some things to work on," Robinson said. "There were a lot of first game jitters for a lot of people out there, even myself."