Columbus, OH- After Saturday’s romping over New Mexico State, its back to ridged preparation for the Buckeyes as they get ready to face the Penn State Nittany Lions this Saturday in Beaver Stadium.

It was a shutout in the Shoe over the Aggies (45-0) but, it wasn’t all celebration after the game. The Buckeyes will be without kicker Aaron Pettrey for the rest of the season due to a right knee injury. Devin Barclay and Ben Buchanan are the back up kickers.

Penn State is currently 8-1 with their lone loss coming from the undefeated dominating Iowa Hawkeyes. This veteran team has had numerous hefty wins, most recently over the Northwestern Wildcats (34-13), where the Nittany Lions offense was consistent and blemish free.

PSU’s defense is no joke either. In the second half of the Northwestern game not only did the Lions defense prevent the Wildcats from scoring but, the PSU offense scored three touchdowns in less than four minutes. Talk about a cat fight. Youngstown native senior QB for the Lions Daryll Clark was accurate to say the least, Clark was 22-31 for 274 yards and most important, zero interceptions against Northwestern.

The veteran offense on this PSU team is one that the OSU defense hasn’t faced this season. Sure, the OSU D- has had their fair share of versatile offenses. Opening the season with Navy, then the dynamic speed of USC but, what about the consistent, concrete solid offense that PSU brings to the table? Sprinkle in the fact that in the past 5 years Penn State has 3 loses at home and one of them came this season. They Nittany Lions weren’t too happy with that and vow to not let it happen again.

As for the Buckeyes, nothing would delight them more than to hand the 10th (Coaches poll) 11th (AP) ranked Lions another loss at home. Coach Tressel knows the exhilaration that comes when facing PSU in their house. “It's a fun place to play. There's noise. There's excitement. There's not a question whether or not people are interested, it's a fun place to play.”

After a solid win under their belt and improvements on the offense OSU knows the challenge that lies ahead. Tressel knows Penn State will adapt to his team, “I think the reality in a ball game like this is every possession is going to be critical. You know, one thing about Penn State is they're not going to be totally different because they have a lot of -- just like our defense, you're not going to see a bunch of different things from our defense against Penn State's offense because they are who they are. They do what they do. They're going to tweak some things.”

Tressel went on to talk about the benefits of playing football in the Big Ten. “In recruiting we always talk about the fact that you're going to get to play in three of the biggest venues and most exciting venues in the league when you come to the Big Ten and we want them to play more of those games here, but when you have a chance to go to Beaver Stadium, it's a fun thing,” said Tressel. “So we're looking forward to Saturday afternoon and a great week of preparation must begin today and we'll be ready to go.”