Not the Steelers'. Not the Eagles'.

And not Pitt's.

Penn State's starting offensive line is the biggest one in the Commonwealth.

Heck, it's bigger than the O-line at No. 1 Alabama. And larger than perennial Big Ten big boys Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Michigan State.

"Sometimes," Penn State offensive line coach Matt Limegrover said on Thursday, "people equate offensive linemen with having to be humongous."

Uh, yeah, Matt. I mean, just look at your name -- Line-Grower.

The Nittany Lions' starting five along the O-line weighs in at 328.8 pounds and stands at 6-foot, 4.8 inches.

From left tackle to right tackle in your program and first through fifth at the training table, that would be Ryan Bates (6-4, 315), Steven Gonzalez (6-4, 341), Connor McGovern (6-5, 312), Brendan Mahon (6-4, 318) and Chasz Wright (6-7, 358).

Undoubtedly, it's Penn State's biggest offensive line. Ever.

A SMALL HISTORY LESSON

During Penn State's big (big!) game against Pitt on Saturday in Beaver Stadium, the 1982 Nittany Lions will be honored for winning PSU's first-ever national championship. Here's how the size of the O-linemen has changed in the past 35 years:

The starting center on the 1982 squad was Mark Battaglia, who in the preseason media guide that year was listed at 225 pounds. (The 2017 back-up quarterback Tommy Stevens is hovering around 230.) McGovern, Penn State's starting center on Saturday, weighs in at 312 pounds. That's a difference of 87 pounds, which is half of an entire person – namely, a person named KJ Hamler, the PSU freshman wide receiver who is all of 172 pounds. The other starters on the 1982 O-line were Bill Contz (248), Pete Speros (248), Dick Maginnis (250) and Ron Heller (247).

A dozen years later, Penn State's offensive line in 1994 — when the Nittany Lions went 12-0 and averaged 47.8 points per game — averaged 285.6 pounds. The starting quintet was Andre Johnson (295), Marco Rivera (280), Buckley Greeley (277), Jeff Hartings (275) and weigh-ahead-of-his-time Keith Conlin (301).

SIZING THINGS UP

Big isn't always better, even today.

Mammoth size along the Oh-(My He's Big)-line like that can be a mixed bag, says Limegrover. Too much, and a player loses his ability to be athletic, agile and quick. Too little, and pushing around defensive linemen is too difficult. Actually, the line between too big and not big enough is actually fairly thin.

"Sometimes." Limegrover said, "that (weight) can be a detriment...it's a bad thing if it's not good weight or the young man isn't athletic and can't do the things we're asking him to — then he becomes more of an anchor than the solution. That's the key part: Finding that middle ground."

So, what's the right size for an offensive lineman?

That's what I asked Ryan Bates, who is listed at 312 pounds on Penn State's roster. But his answer last week must have come on a day when he had a big breakfast.

"It really depends on how that person is built," Bates said. "Right now, I'm at 315 and I think I can play really well at 315. I feel like I'm at that stage where I can do that. I'm not losing a lot of speed, but I have that strength and size to play at this level.

"Same with some of the guys on the offensive line, like Chasz, (who) is 6-foot-8, 360 (listed at 6-7, 358, but he must have had breakfast that day with Bates) and he's a huge kid. He holds his weight really well and he moves really well for his size. It really depends on how you're built."

According to Linegrower...er, Limegrover..., part of it is also the construction that comes after a player comes to Penn State.

"From when I first started very early in my career I was a graduate assistant at Northwestern, the year-round training these guys are doing" is so much better, the coach said. "Back then, we didn't have a nutrition bar. Guys didn't stay all summer and do the workouts. It wasn't as advanced. Guys came in and did the more traditional three sets of squats and three sets of bench, then went to class.

"Now, everything is so specific, with the regeneration and the recovery, and the fact that we have the hot tubs and cold pools 100 feet from the weight room. What's happened over the course of time is that everybody has tried to gain an edge on the preparation of these young men and their overall level of physical shape and the physical strength that they can get themselves into."

A HEAVY LIFT

A big part of that big change is the work that the players continue to do in-season, under the direction of head coach James Franklin and Dwight Galt, assistant athletics director for performance enhancement. Penn State does strength work throughout the year, including during the season.

The result is that the starting O-line in Franklin's fourth year at Penn State is, on average, a pretty stunning 15 pounds heavier than in his first season, in 2014.

"One of the areas that I don't know if it gets talked about enough is our strength and conditioning staff, Dwight Galt and his group," Limegriver says. "The thing I love about it is that the way they break it down. One of the strength coaches is specifically my contact for what is going on with the offensive linemen. That's Dwight The Fourth, Dwight's son. He will come to me almost daily, about the weights and the guys and how they're recovering and what they're doing and — in the summer — getting reports. That is huge for having the finger on the pulse as far as our guys getting too big."

NO MORE SAD SACKS

Over the past several years at Penn State, the play of the offensive line has been a weighty issue. Two years and a day ago, the O-line gave up 10 sacks of quarterback Christian Hackenberg in a demoralizing 27-14 loss to Temple.

Last week, Akron didn't dump Penn State quarterback Trace McSorley once. Zip.

The size, experience and depth of the Nittany Lion line have certainly grown over the past three seasons. That, when combined with the style of the offense and the running prowess of the QB, have changed things dramatically for what had been, for a bit, PS(ack)U. Penn State gave up 44 sacks in 2014, 39 in 2015 and 24 in 2016. Over the final four games of last season, the PSU OL yielded just four sacks.

So yes, the RPO of Joe Moorhead has had a big impact on all that. But so has the play of the offensive line under Limegrover's tutelage.

In that regard, the Nittany Lions have certainly come up big.