The wrestling team is prepared for a war as it travels to Iowa, the heartland of collegiate wrestling, to challenge two top-10 teams this weekend.

Penn State (11-4), ranked sixth by Amateur Wrestling News, will battle No. 3 Iowa (15-1) at 3 tomorrow afternoon at Iowa City and No. 8 Iowa State (11-5) at 3:30 Sunday afternoon in Ames.

"Iowa is definitely one of the most physical teams in the nation," 167-pounder Jason Suter said. "But we're not going to back down if they want to wrestle that way. We're going to bang heads if they want to bang heads. We're not going to be intimidated."

The battle lines between the Hawkeyes and the Lions were drawn at the Virginia Duals, the national dual meet championships, earlier this month, at which Iowa handed Penn State an embarrassing 22-5 defeat. Iowa coach Dan Gable seems confident of another win for his team.

"We're building our momentum up for next weekend when we take on Arizona State and Oklahoma State," he said. "It's a case of this weekend we have a good opponent and next weekend we have great opponents."

The Virginia Duals also previewed some individual conflicts, especially between now-No. 12 Jeff Prescott and No. 5 Terry Brands at 126. Prescott and Brands were both disqualified after their heated bout ended with Prescott kicking Brands after the Hawkeye forced a hammerlock.

"We feel being physical helps us," Iowa coach Dan Gable said. "Maybe (Prescott and Brands) were over-competitive, but then again, that's better than being under-competitive."

Prescott, however, will not have the chance for a rematch this weekend because Bob Truby is dropping down from 134 to take the position.

Several other Lions also lost close matches to Iowa and are planning revenge this time.

"I'm going to go out there and beat him," Suter said about his Hawkeye opponent, Bart Chelesvig (23-5). Chelesvig beat Suter, 7-4, at the Virginia Duals on Jan. 13.

"There's no question in my mind," Suter added. "And I know the guys that lost by one point or so are going to go out with the determination to beat their opponents."

"We know we're going to be in a war," Coach Rich Lorenzo said. "Iowa wants to destroy you."

Iowa has nine of its 10 wrestlers ranked by AWL, including top-ranked Tom Brands (26-1) at 134, No. 3 Brooks Simpson (22-2) at 190 and No. 5 Steve Martin (18-4-1) at 118. But Iowa's only home loss in its last 61 matches was to Penn State, 19-18, in 1988.

"I'm real impressed by them," Lorenzo said. "The majority of their wrestlers have the eye of the tiger with their goal to be national champions. But we're not going out to see how much we've improved -- we're going out to win."

Iowa State has its own list of notables, including No. 2 Steve Hamilton (23-1-1) at 158. Also ranked is No. 8 Gary McCall (15-9-2), Torrae Jackson (15-8) at 150, Matt Johnson (24-6-1) at 167 and Jim Nelson (18-9-1) at 190 -- all ranked No. 10.

"Iowa State is an excellent team in its own right," Lorenzo said. "It's just a step below Iowa. Iowa State is in the same shoes as Penn State this year; they lost a lot of their starters but they have some outstanding wrestlers."

With the NCAA Tournament quickly approaching, Penn State wrestlers have already begun to drop weight, resulting in some lineup changes, Lorenzo said.

Shawn Nelson will compete at 118 this weekend, Truby at 126, Tom Barley or Chad Dubin at 134, No. 11 Mike Bevilacqua at 142, Tim Wittman at 150, Mark Verratti at 158, Suter at 167, Adam Mariano at 177, Jeff Ellis at 190, and No. 5 Greg Haladay at heavyweight.

Ellis (12-3) is going against two ranked opponents this weekend after wrestling only one match since coming back from arthroscopic knee surgery over the Christmas holiday.

"I have to compete against the top-guns," Ellis said. "There's not to many weeks before nationals and this is a good opportunity."

"Right now our measuring stick is for us to go out and get a 100-plus percent performance from every guy and pull an upset and beat Iowa and then get ready for Iowa State the next day," Lorenzo said.