Just the names of the schools, “Ohio State” and “Penn State,” are enough to conjure up tons of memories of some of the greatest moments of college football history.

The two schools have developed quite a rivalry since Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993. But nothing has yet topped what will occur this Saturday as No. 10 Ohio State hosts third-ranked Penn State in a rare night game at Ohio Stadium (8 p.m., ABC national telecast).

This marks the first time that PSU (8-0, 4-0) and OSU (7-1, 4-0) have met this late in the season as unbeaten teams within the conference. It is also the first time in 10 years that these annual rivals have met as top-10 ranked opponents.

Add in a possible national championship game berth for Penn State and the Big Ten championship ramifications for both teams and you can see how the stakes are unusually high. The winner of this game would have to stumble down the stretch and lose two of its last three games in November to risk not ending up with at least a share of the conference title.

The winner would also position itself perfectly to claim the Big Ten’s automatic berth in the Bowl Championship Series. Penn State is ranked third in the initial BCS rankings released Sunday, meaning if the Nittany Lions can win out and count on a loss by either No. 1 Texas or No. 2 Alabama they could be playing for the national title.

Ohio State, ranked ninth in the initial BCS rankings, still has a glimmer of hope to make the title game for the third straight year. After all, OSU was rated as low as seventh in the rankings with just three weeks left in the season a year ago. However, barring a major collapse by the teams at the top of the polls, Ohio State – with a win Saturday – could be ticketed for its first Rose Bowl in 12 seasons and just its second Pasadena bowl berth in 24 years.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who is just shy of his 82nd birthday, summed up the situation as he considered what could be his last and best chance at a third national championship.

"If you're a football player and you've been dreaming about playing in these games all your life, you have to be looking forward to it," Paterno said following his team’s come-from-behind 46-17 win over Michigan last Saturday.

But if Penn State is able to pull out the win and take a step closer to the Jan. 8 BCS national title game in Miami, the Nittany Lions will have lived down a ton of history and none of it favors them.

The Buckeyes wrested control of the all-time series lead with PSU away with last year’s 37-17 win in State College, Pa. OSU leads that series 12-11, including a sparkling 10-5 mark in the Big Ten games played between the two schools since 1993.

In fact, Penn State has never won a Big Ten game at Ohio Stadium. In fact, the Buckeyes have won those seven previous meetings by an average of nearly 21 points a game.

And, for good measure, Ohio State is 6-1 in home night games at Ohio Stadium. The lone loss came in the last night game to Texas in 2005.

Twice in the last three years, Ohio State has visited Penn State for night games. In 2005, Penn State staged a “White-Out” and rode that enthusiasm to a 17-10 win. But OSU gained some revenge last year when it rolled to the easy win.

Over the years, OSU officials have begged out of chances to host night games for television purposes. They cited the tradition of hosting day games and the inconvenience of fans traveling in from all over the state for a night game. But it seems entirely likely that night games will become much more prevalent in the years to come. It is almost a certainty that ABC will tap the USC-Ohio State rematch on Sept. 12, 2009, as a night game.

This week, OSU officials are hoping fans will buy into their “Scarlet Fever” theme and wear red for this special night game.

“They’re talking about having it all red,” said OSU coach Jim Tressel. “It will be an exciting atmosphere. We have one of the top 10 teams in the country -- or top-five or whatever they happen to be – coming into the Horseshoe. We know how good they are and it will be a great atmosphere.”

Penn State is the only team ranked in the nation’s top 10 that can boast an offense and a defense ranked in the top 15 nationally in both scoring and yardage. The powerful Nittany Lions, buoyed by their so-called “High Definition Offense,” have outscored their first eight opponents by an average of 33.6 points per game. Illinois (38-24) and Purdue (20-6) are the only opponents to play PSU within two touchdowns this year.

Ohio State, on the contrary, suffered a 35-3 loss at then-No. 1 USC on Sept. 13. Inconsistent is the best word to describe the Buckeyes, who finally put most everything together with last Saturday’s 45-7 win at then-No. 20 Michigan State.

Accordingly, oddsmakers have opened Penn State as a slight two-point favorite over host Ohio State.

“I definitely see us as underdogs,” said OSU tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells, who had 140 yards rushing in the team’s win at Michigan State last Saturday. “We have not been producing up to the expectations of the media or whoever it may be. A lot of people are thinking that we’re not a great football team. I think we would be the underdog.”

Ohio State has a chance to win a third straight outright Big Ten title – something no school has ever accomplished in the 112-year history of the conference.

“Whenever you walk into a situation where you’re able to do something that hasn’t been done before, it’s great motivation for us,” Wells said. “At the same time, we, as a football team, can’t worry about other people’s expectations or even our own expectations. We just have to go out there and play our game.”

OSU linebacker Marcus Freeman added, “It would be a huge accomplishment to do something that has never been done in this tough of a conference. It would be an accomplishment that we would remember for the rest of our lives. It is something we have been talking about since day one and we still have the chance of getting it.”

Ohio State opened the year hoping to play for a third straight national title. The loss at USC may have put a crimp in those plans. But winning the Big Ten would still be a strong consolation prize.

“We need to beat them to get the Big Ten championship,” said OSU wide receiver Brian Hartline. “After that, the rankings and everything else will sort itself out. Right now, our initial goal is to win the Big Ten.”

OSU freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor, a native of Jeannette, Pa., ruffled some feathers last March when he spurned Penn State to sign with Ohio State. At the time, Pryor expressed an affinity for PSU assistant coach Tom Bradley. But he also shared some of his reasons for not signing with his homestate team.

“I just don’t like the area,” Pryor said. “It’s country to me, it’s a country type of thing and I just don’t like that place.”  

Following Saturday’s win at MSU, though, Pryor was taking nothing but the high road.

“Penn State is a great team, and they have great players,” Pryor said. “The game should be a lot of fun.”

Tressel was asked how he thinks his freshman quarterback, now 5-0 as the OSU starter, will handle himself in such an important game.

“It will be interesting for both teams because we all know one another and grew up next door to one another in adjacent states,” the coach said. “It’s a big game. We’re all going to be wired up. I think the first time you get whacked in the head you’re ready to go. But it will be an exciting situation.”

Bouncing Back Strong

Ohio State has won five straight games since its blowout defeat at USC. Some of the recent strong play has coincided with Pryor’s insertion as the starting quarterback. Wells has also come back from a foot injury that cost him three games (including USC) and has posted 100-yard rushing games in three of the last four weeks.

“Within the team, there hasn’t been too much talk about what happened at SC,” said OSU cornerback Malcolm Jenkins. “For us, we’re motivated enough just off the fact it’s a Big Ten game that has Big Ten championship implications. It’s a night game at Ohio Stadium, where we haven’t had that since 2005 against Texas.

“It is kind of a rivalry game. Penn State and Ohio State go back a while having great games. They are a top-five team in the nation and we’re trying to find our way back in the rankings. For us, that’s enough motivation. We haven’t had this kind of game in a while.”

After OSU’s lopsided losses to Florida and LSU in the last two national title games, the embarrassing loss at USC was the last thing any Buckeye or Buckeye fan wanted to see. Jenkins was asked, though, if a win in this game against the unbeaten and third-ranked Lions would help OSU regain some of its lost national respect.

“If we could come out with a win, it would force some people to respect us,” Jenkins said. “We don’t have any right now nationwide. We’re just more worried about getting a win and trying to win the Big Ten championship.”

Laurinaitis was asked if there was a natural downturn following the crushing loss at USC.

“I think we’ve had passion all year,” he said. “Obviously, that game took a lot out of us. A lot of guys on the team were anxious for that one. We’ve had battles in the Big Ten week in and week out. Last week is where everything clicked and the ball bounced our way a little bit. We had some opportunities to make some big plays.

“We know our performances of late haven’t been the best in the big games. It’s all about the here and now. We can’t dwell on things from the past and we really don’t think about it. We have to focus on this weekend. A big game like this in the Big Ten is exciting. To have a match-up like this with the national spotlight in the Big Ten, there are two great teams going at it on Saturday.”

Wells was asked if this is a statement game for Ohio State.

“We’re just going out there to play our football game,” he said. “We’re going out there to play hard, smashmouth football like we know how to do in the Big Ten.”

Night Moves

Ohio State has played eight regular season road night games over the last four years since it last hosted a night game in 2005 with its 25-22 loss to then-No. 2 Texas. Only a handful of current Buckeyes – most notably Jenkins and Laurinaitis – saw action as freshmen in that game.

“I definitely think most of the guys are looking forward to this because most of the guys have never had a night game in the Horseshoe,” Jenkins said. “The last one was my freshman year. Ninety percent of the guys haven’t experienced that. I think they are looking to playing under the lights in front of our fans.”

Laurinaitis said it is important that OSU maintains its normal game day preparation and routine this week.

“You have to do the same things you do week in and week out,” he said. “You have to watch film and practice. You have to keep everything the same. You get in a routine throughout the season. It will be a big game at night and at home and everything. Sitting around will be the problem. It will be a good atmosphere. You will be able to soak everything in during pregame.”

Still, he understands if his teammates look forward to this game.

“I think our guys are excited,” he said. “It’s an opportunity a lot of the guys on the team haven’t had, to play at night and at home. It will be exciting to see how pumped up the ‘Shoe gets and how crazy things get. It will be intense, it will be loud and it will be fun.

“It will be exciting. That atmosphere, being in the ‘Shoe for a regular day game and then to make it at night, people in Columbus will be crazy. The atmosphere will be nuts. The stage we’re going to be playing on will be huge. It’s going to be a fun game. It will be good to experience that.”

In those past eight night games since the Texas game, OSU has posted a mark of 6-2. The losses were at Penn State in 2005 and at USC earlier this year. The wins included a one-versus-two game at Texas in 2006 and a dramatic 20-17 win at Wisconsin on Oct. 4.

Freeman talked about what it takes to win a showdown game like this.

“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “I know we’re at home and I know we’re going to have the crowd and it’s going to be rowdy. But it’s easy to get caught up in the atmosphere and what you’re doing. We have to relax and realize that, hey, although our emotions will be running high, we have to settle down and play football.

“We know if they score some points, we will just have to relax and keep playing football. You have to take in the atmosphere and take in the challenge. But at the same time, you have to prepare to play a football game.”

Wells knows the OSU faithful will do everything they can to make it a tough place to play.

“I am definitely looking forward to it,” he said. “I am sure it will be a pretty wild atmosphere. The fans will be going crazy.”

Defensive end Robert Rose said he is looking forward to his first home night game as a Buckeye.

“I was at the night game with Texas in 2005,” Rose said. “That was my senior year in high school. The atmosphere was crazy. It will probably be the same way. It’s going to be a game. We have to stop the run and stop that powerful offense.”

Tressel is simply hoping the same team that decimated Michigan State last week shows up to play Penn State this week. After all, it would be a first for this OSU team to have back-to-back great showings in this up-and-down season.

“To become a good team, we’re going to have to play well every week and not have penalties,” Tressel said. “I don’t know where our team is. We’ll find out Saturday night against the Nittany Lions.”

Inside The Big Ten, BCS Races

As noted above, a win over Ohio State would position Penn State almost perfectly for a run at a berth in the BCS national championship game.

Like Ohio State, Penn State will be idle the weekend of Nov. 1 and will then finish with games at Iowa (Nov. 8) and home against Indiana (Nov. 15) and Michigan State (Nov. 22).

After its open date, Ohio State will close with road games at Northwestern (Nov. 8) and Illinois (Nov. 15) and the traditional finale at home with Michigan (Nov. 22).

The winner of this game would have the inside track to the Big Ten title and the league’s automatic BCS berth with three games to play. In fact, if OSU wins this game and goes 2-1 with a win over Northwestern, the Buckeyes would be assured of nothing worse than a share for the title and the automatic BCS berth.

Because OSU sits ninth in the initial BCS standings released this week, the prevailing thought is the Buckeyes – with a win over Penn State – would be ticketed more toward the Rose Bowl. (Of course, last year proved that strange things do happen sometimes in college football.)

Penn State, with a win over OSU, would assure itself of at least a share of the conference title with a 2-1 finish. If either Northwestern and Minnesota lose down the stretch as well, PSU would be assured of nothing worse than the Rose Bowl.

Ohio Stadium Night Games

This Saturday’s game between Ohio State and Penn State will be just the eighth night game ever in the 87-year history of venerable Ohio Stadium. OSU has a 6-1 record in those previous night games at the Horseshoe.

Here are the scores of each of those games (AP poll game day rankings in parentheses):

Sept. 14, 1985: Ohio State (9) 10, Pittsburgh 7

Sept. 11, 1993: Ohio State (16) 21, Washington (12) 12

Aug. 28, 1997: Ohio State (9) 24, Wyoming 10

Sept. 11, 1999: Ohio State (13) 42, UCLA (14) 20

Oct. 6, 2001: Ohio State 38, Northwestern (14) 20

Aug. 30, 2003: Ohio State (2) 28, Washington (17) 9

Sept. 10, 2005: Texas (2) 25, Ohio State (4) 22