ORONO — The biggest players are experiencing the biggest growing pains for the University of Maine football team.

The Black Bears opened play with a 10-6 victory over Norfolk State on Aug. 30. But the offensive line, with no seniors and three new starters, was not a strength.

Maine gained just 190 yards, including a paltry 98 on 42 rushing attempts.

“We just couldn’t stay connected to them. They just did a great job getting off blocks,” offensive line coach Jeff Ambrosie said. “They were probably a little stronger than us once we were engaged with them. It wasn’t as much getting the guys blocked, we just couldn’t sustain the blocks.”

After a bye week, the challenge in front of Maine doesn’t get any easier. Saturday’s opponent, Bryant, is 2-0 and features a defensive line that is even stronger than Norfolk State’s.

That puts the onus on junior center Bruce Johnson, the leader of the offensive line, to help get his group playing as a cohesive unit.

“I was a little surprised by our game tempo,” Johnson said of the opener. “A lot of guys who haven’t had any game experience need to learn how to get up to the ball and call things out. That’s how a play gets started. It starts with us up front, and we can’t be scared to get it wrong.”

Ambrosie said he’s been urging Johnson to be more vocal with his inexperienced teammates, who voted him offensive team captain for the opening game.

Junior guard Daniel Carriker is the only other starter with significant playing time.

They were joined up front by junior guard Chase Hoyt, junior tackle Benedict Wezel and redshirt freshman Isaiah Brooks. Not all of them are guaranteed to start again this week, Ambrosie said.

True freshman Jamil Demby, at 6-foot-5, 300 pounds, will push for more playing time at tackle, for example.

Brooks was particularly enigmatic against Norfolk State. Ambrosie said the native of Bloomfield, Connecticut, earned the highest grades on the line for his effort, but also led the way in missed assignments, a sign of his youth.

Maine Coach Jack Cosgrove anticipates a better showing from his offensive line, just by virtue of getting those first-game jitters out of the way.

“Hopefully, they realize, ‘OK, this isn’t as hard as I thought it would be, if I just relax and play,’ ” he said. “We showed kind of a hesitancy, a tentativeness. ‘I don’t want to be the guy that makes the big mistake.’ You can’t play football that way.”

Maine has defeated Bryant in each of the last three seasons, but the scores have gotten tighter. Last year, the Black Bears prevailed at home, 35-22. Cosgrove said this Bryant team will be the best they’ve faced, though. The offensive line will need to hold its own.

“They’re practicing hard, they’re listening, they’re humbled by what happened (last) Saturday,” Ambrosie said. “They understand for us to be successful, we have to play better. That’s our mentality, that it’s on us to get better, and they’ve done what I’ve asked to do that.

“So I’m pretty confident we’ll see a better front this week.”