No. 2 Penn State Has Payback On Its Mind

Another week, another Big Ten showdown.

No. 2 Penn State takes on No. 7 Ohio State in State College, Pa., on Saturday, with national title implications hanging on the outcome.

“They’ve been getting the best of us the last few years,” Penn State linebacker Aaron Collins said.

“Last year, we gave up big plays early and that took the wind out of our sails. We’ve got to make them work for what they get.”

Last season, the Buckeyes made short work of the Nittany Lions, rolling to a 38-7 victory after taking a 24-0 halftime lead. Big plays included TD passes of 42 and 24 yards by Stanley Jackson and 34 yards by Joe Germaine.

“We just got a good lickin’,” Lions coach Joe Paterno said. “We were just beaten by a very superior football team. Hopefully, we are better than last year.”

They are.

With fifth-year senior Mike McQueary running the offense for the first time, the Lions (4-0) have turned into the big-play team the Buckeyes were a year ago. Of the their 27 scoring drives, 21 have lasted less than three minutes.

Curtis Enis is coming off his first 100-yard plus game of the season, while Joe Jurevicius leads the Big Ten in receiving yards with 104.3 per game. He has 17 catches for 417 yards and seven TDs.

The Buckeyes (5-0) flexed their muscles in blowing away Iowa 23-7 in last week’s first Big Ten battle of unbeatens.

Linebacker Andy Katzenmoyer ganged up on Tavian Banks early as the Buckeyes held the nation’s leading rusher to 84 yards on 22 carries.

“We’ve got our work cut out for us this week,” Ohio State coach John Cooper said.

Last season’s loss at Columbus knocked the Lions out of the conference and national title chases. The Buckeyes went 10-0 before losing to Michigan in the regular-season finale.

The Buckeyes have won three of the last four meetings. Ohio State won in ‘95 (28-25) and ‘93 (24-6), while Penn State won the ‘94 game, 63-14.

The Big Ten doesn’t have a corner on the big-game market Saturday.

At Baton Rouge, La., the Gators go for their 26th consecutive SEC win - one shy of Alabama’s record - against the Tigers, who eked out a 7-6 victory over Vanderbilt last week.

“It seems like all the preseason predictions had LSU in the championship game,” Florida coach Steve Spurrier said. “They’re still in the race, so it’s a crucial game for them, a crucial game for us.”

LSU will be without Cecil Collins, who led the SEC in rushing before he broke his leg against Vandy. His replacement is Kevin Faulk, who started the season as a Heisman Trophy contender before he was slightly injured.

For the Gators, Doug Johnson has thrown for 1,325 yards and 20 TDs, while the Gators lead the nation in scoring (49.4 points) and rank second in rushing defense (32 yards per game).

The picks:

No. 1 Florida (minus 15) at No. 14 LSU: Out of the Swamp and into Death Valley march the mighty Gators… . FLORIDA 41-14.

No. 7 Ohio State (plus 6) at No. 2 Penn State: Buckeyes are battle tested, Lions aren’t… . OHIO STATE 28-24.

No. 3 Nebraska (minus 39) at Baylor: Ahman Green could score as many TDs as Tom Osborne allows… . NEBRASKA 56-7.

No. 4 Florida State (minus 35) at Duke: Seminoles outscoring Blue Devils by 40 points per game since ‘92… . FLORIDA STATE 55-10.

Wake Forest (plus 23) at No. 5 North Carolina: Tar Heels’ tough defense allows just 199.6 yards per game… . NORTH CAROLINA 35-10.

Northwestern (plus 24) at No. 6 Michigan: Wolverines allowing five points per game… . MICHIGAN 31-10.

Louisiana Tech (plus 23) at No. 8 Auburn: Tigers haven’t lost a nonconference game since 1991… . AUBURN 42-17.

No. 13 Georgia (plus 10) at No. 9 Tennessee: Dawgs’ QB Bobo top-rated SEC passer, not Vols QB Manning… . GEORGIA 28-27.

No. 10 Washington (minus 16) at California: Huskies on 14-game winning streak vs. Bears, dating to ‘76… . WASHINGTON 44-20.

No. 11 Michigan State (minus 18) at Indiana: Spartans outscoring opponents 129-7 in first half… . MICHIGAN STATE 34-13.

Iowa State (plus 32) at No. 15 Texas A&M: Aggies have another breather. … TEXAS A&M 59-16.

No. 16 Stanford (minus 3) at Arizona: ‘Zona leads Pac-10 with 23 sacks; Cardinal allowed two sacks in last two games… . STANFORD 28-21.

No. 18 UCLA (minus 11) at Oregon: Bruins have scored 172 points in last three games… . UCLA 42-21.

No. 19 Air Force (plus 1) at Navy: Falcons working on unbeaten season… . AIR FORCE 21-13.

No. 24 Colorado (minus 3) at No. 20 Oklahoma State: Cowboys looking for first 6-0 start since 1945… . COLORADO 28-21.

No. 21 Brigham Young (minus 2) at Rice: Owls out to avenge last year’s 49-0 loss to BYU… . RICE 31-27.

Missouri (plus 11) at No. 22 Kansas State: K-State hopes to rebound after Nebraska disaster… . KANSAS STATE 28-23.

Boston College (plus 19) at No. 23 Virginia Tech: Can Hokies recover from last week’s upset by Miami of Ohio? … VIRGINIA TECH 41-17.

North Carolina State (plus 5) at No. 25 Georgia Tech: Yellow Jackets plan on entertaining homecoming crowd… . GEORGIA TECH 31-24.

Last week: 16-5 (straight); 9-11 (spread)

Season: 87-19 (straight); 55-45-1 (spread)