By RUSTY MILLER
AP Sports Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) --  Two teams, both looking for a signature
win, and neither can afford a loss.

No. 15 Ohio State travels to No. 11 Penn State in a showdown
that may not determine the Big Ten champion but will almost
definitely decide who it won't be.

"We know how important all these games are," Buckeyes wide
receiver Dane Sanzenbacher said. "It's come to a point in a
season where we have to win out and we have to play well in
November to be a great team."

Each team has played one ranked opponent this year and lost. The
Nittany Lions (8-1, 4-1) fell at home to unbeaten Iowa, 21-10,
in their Big Ten opener. Since then, they have won five in a
row.

Ohio State (7-2, 4-1) lost to Southern Cal 18-15 way back on
Sept. 12. The Buckeyes followed that by winning six of seven
games, the lone setback a stunning 26-18 defeat at Purdue.

The Buckeyes follow up the game against Penn State with one at
home against Iowa (9-0, 5-0). So they still control their own
destiny in their quest to capture a fifth consecutive Big Ten
title.

"Maybe fans out there think Ohio State hasn't beaten anybody, a
great opponent," Buckeyes linebacker Austin Spitler said. "And
neither has Penn State. But we're going to find out Saturday who
the best is between Penn State and Ohio State."

To beat the Nittany Lions, the Buckeyes will have to play
perhaps their best game of the season and do it in the most
hostile environment.

"There's so much energy and electricity," coach Jim Tressel said
about the atmosphere in Beaver Stadium. "It's a fun place to
play. There's noise. There's excitement."

Sometimes, the Nittany Lions faithful might carry that to the
extreme. That becomes evident when visiting teams almost have to
run a gauntlet down a walkway underneath the stadium to get to
the field.

"It's something. They're throwing stuff at you, spitting on you,
yelling everything you can think of at you," Spitler said,
smiling. "But it doesn't bring you down, it really fires you up
and gets you going. I think it's a positive in a way for us."

The focal point of most of that venom figures to be Ohio State
quarterback Terrelle Pryor. He was heralded as the nation's No.
1 quarterback recruit while playing his high school ball in
Jeannette, Pa. - about a 65-mile drive from Happy Valley. Pryor
narrowed his final choices down to Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon
and Penn State before deciding to be a Buckeye.

Pryor knows he'll be a marked man. He was already talking about
it moments after the Buckeyes polished off overmatched New
Mexico State 45-0 last Saturday.

"I'll probably get booed as soon as I go out to warm up," he
said. "I'm happy here, and we'll be ready to go."

Tressel said on Tuesday that he didn't feel the need to prepare
Pryor for the fans.

"I'm sure he's very aware of that," Tressel said. "I'm sure as
we go through the preparation for the week, we'll talk a lot
about poise and patience because that's what you have to do. You
have to be a poised guy. ... That's what being part of a great
environment is all about."

The visiting team has won the last two games in the heated
series.

"The last time they came here (in 2007) it wasn't very fun,
because it was a night game and they really put it to us," Penn
State linebacker Sean Lee said. "We weren't even able to make
their offense punt (in a 37-17 loss). ... But the atmosphere at
both stadiums, especially Beaver Stadium, is unbelievable. It's
something you dream of as a young kid, and finally as a
fifth-year senior, now that I'm healthy, it's going to be
great."

A season-ending knee injury to kicker Aaron Pettrey, the Big
Ten's leading scorer, puts a damper on some of the excitement
for Ohio State.

Pettrey was blocked on a first-half kickoff last week, tearing
the medial collateral ligament in his right (kicking) leg. He
was scheduled to undergo surgery on Tuesday.

In his place, the Buckeyes will go with 26-year-old former Major
League Soccer player Devin Barclay, a former walk-on who beat
out scholarship kicker Ben Buchanan for the No. 2 spot behind
Pettrey. Barclay missed two of his three field-goal attempts in
his college debut last week after Pettrey went out.

Buchanan, sick last week, is expected to battle him for the job
this week.

"We were very comfortable with Aaron from anywhere," Tressel
said of Pettrey's range. "These guys aren't quite there."