Coach Rich Lorenzo is preparing his wrestlers to be "Gallaghered" this weekend.

The Lions will face Oklahoma State, which they beat to win the national dual meet title, in the Cowboys' arena, Gallagher Hall. The referees tend to favor Oklahoma State with stalling calls and stalemates, allowing the Cowboys to control the tempo of the matches, Lorenzo said, and they've prevented the Lions from winning in the past.

"It's an accepted fact that you're going to get homered at Oklahoma State University," Lorenzo said.

"You just can't let the ref take you out of the match," 158-pounder Jason Suter said. "If you pin the guy, there's nothing the ref can do to screw you."

Propelled by their victory at the Virginia Duals two weeks ago, the Lions have jumped to No. 1 in the latest Amateur Wrestling News poll. Penn State edged Iowa by only four points for the top spot -- the Lions received nine first-place votes and 246 points, and the Hawkeyes received four first-place votes and 242 points.

After facing Oklahoma State tomorrow night, the Lions will face Oklahoma and Arizona State on Sunday afternoon in Norman. They defeated Oklahoma in Rec Hall earlier this month and Arizona State in the quarterfinals of the national dual meet championships.

Even without an officiating disadvantage, the Lions will have tougher matches against Oklahoma State and Arizona State than they did two weeks ago. Penn State's lineup is weakened by the absence of three starters; the Cowboys and Sun Devils will be at full strength this time.

"Arizona State had a bad attitude the last time," Lorenzo said. "They had some injuries and some illnesses, and we caught them by surprise."

Andy McNaughton may wrestle at 142 for Arizona State this time, and he may give Troy Sunderland a tougher bout. Ray Miller will return to the lineup at 158, allowing the Sun Devils to wrestle G.T. Taylor at 167, where he is more effective. Taylor wrestled at 177 at the duals and drew with White.

The Sun Devils will also have 190-pounder Rex Homan this time. Homan, ranked third, was still recovering from have arthroscopic surgery on his knee at the teams' last meeting.

The Cowboys return Robbie Hadden to the lineup at 177. Hadden, an All-American last year as a freshman, attended a school closer to home last semester because of personal problems, Oklahoma State coach Joe Seay said. He returned to the team this semester.

Hadden's return allows the Cowboys to wrestle Ray Brinzer at 167; in Virginia, Brinzer was a last-minute substitution at 177 despite weighing in at 167.

"We won't be shuffling here this time," Seay said. "We'll hit you head on and see what happens."

The Cowboys won't actually be hitting the Lions head on tomorrow. Dan Ombalski will wrestle in Dave Hart's place at 167, Mike Kraft will wrestle for Matt White at 177 and Fred Koberlein will wrestle for Frank Buchman at 190.

Ombalski will face Arizona State's Taylor, ranked No. 5 at 167, and Oklahoma State's Brinzer, who lost to White, 2-1. Kraft will wrestle returning All-American Hadden from Oklahoma State. Koberlein will face Arizona State's Homan, No. 3 at 190, and Oklahoma State's Randy Couture, ranked fifth.

Last weekend the trio posted a combined 2-7 record against unranked wrestlers from Navy, Maryland and North Carolina State.

The wrestlers know the match will be extra significant for Oklahoma State, but they aren't treating it differently than any other match. Chad Dubin said this week's practices have been exceptionally hard, not tapered as they would be for an important meet like nationals.

"We don't think of it as a rematch -- it's just another match," 118-pounder Jeff Prescott said. "They might think of it as a rematch, because they got beat."