TUSCALOOSA -- If Alabama's offensive line was the hammer and Penn State's defense was the nail, it took many blows Saturday before the spike began to sink into the hard wood.

There even might have been a bash or two to the thumb early on, but the Crimson Tide kept banging and banging and banging away, and eventually persuasion resulted in submission.

If this wasn't dominance, a 27-11 victory was progress against a quality opponent in a vaunted venue. Many people bashed the offensive line after it struggled at times in a season-opening 48-7 victory over Kent State.

"Much better," Alabama coach Nick Saban said of the line's performance. "We played against a very good front."

In particular, Saban praised Nittany Lions defensive tackle Devon Still.

"We had trouble blocking him sometimes," Saban said, "but I thought we played better as the game went on and, hopefully, that will help our confidence."

An upcoming game against North Texas (0-2) won't hurt confidence as the second-ranked Tide (2-0) prepares for a Sept. 24 Southeastern Conference showdown against Arkansas (2-0). It will be an opportunity to develop freshman backup left tackle Cyrus Kouandjio and other reserves.

On Saturday, the veteran line overcame a slow start and gradually opened enough holes for Trent Richardson to run 26 times for 111 yards and two touchdowns. It gave AJ McCarron enough time to throw for 163 yards and one touchdown. Penn State had no sacks, no quarterback hurries and no interceptions, though its linemen tipped several passes at the line of scrimmage.

"We made some improvements," senior center William Vlachos said. "We ran the ball ran well today. We didn't run great, but we ran it well. That's a really good defense that they have. When you play on the road, I'm proud of what our front five did."

Communication was a problem in the opener. It was a concern going into Saturday's game, which was played at Beaver Stadium in front of the largest crowd -- 107,846 -- ever to watch Alabama.

"We definitely improved a lot over communication last week," said junior standout Barrett Jones, who played nearly the entire game at left tackle. "Obviously communication was a much bigger challenge this week. We played real hard."

Jones then communicated specifically about the progress.

"We improved so much on knowing who we had," he said. "That's the thing with this offensive line: When we know who we have, we can block anybody and we can score on anybody in the country."

The line saved its best for last. With 8:30 left in the game, Alabama led by 17 points when Tide safety Mark Barron recovered a fumble on Alabama's 35-yard line.

Alabama quickly marched 65 yards in five plays -- all rushing attempts -- for a clinching touchdown. Eddie Lacy ran inside for 9 yards, inside for 4 and outside for 9 before he broke through the middle for 30. Richardson then ran straight ahead the final 13 yards. Nearly all of his ground was gained between the tackles.

"I think the biggest sign of a physical offensive line is when you have one of those signature drives at the end of a game where they know you're running the ball, you know you're running the ball, and you take it down the field and score," Jones said. "That was a good way to cap it off."

Vlachos also considered that drive the highlight of the game.

"They knew what play we were running," he said. "We ran about two different plays that entire drive. They put it on us to finish the game off, and I think we did that.

"I'm proud of what we did. We've certainly got some room to improve."