In order to have a championship-level team, that team must have consistency.

The Penn State men's gymnastics team knows this is the key element it needs to work on and improve upon each week in order to excel during the post-season. Since the start of the competition season two weekends ago, the team has been doing just that.

"We can make some definite improvement and when we do, the score will reflect it. We just have to be consistent," head coach Randy Jepson said.

Consistency will play a large role as the No. 3 Nittany Lions continue their schedule with their first Big Ten matchup of the season as their travel to Ann Arbor to face No. 4 Michigan tomorrow evening.

Michigan's team will prove to be a big test for the Lions because their floor scores are very similar, they have a strong ring team and both teams have also been struggling on pommel horse.

"We face a great foe in Michigan," Jepson said. "We're going to have to be at our very best to win. I don't know if a 212.9 (last weekend's score) will do it."

Many of the national rankings for individual events also show the similarities of the two teams. For most of the events, Michigan is one place below or above the Lions. On the floor exercise, Penn State is ranked second, while the Wolverine's are right behind in the third slot. Also, sophomore Kevin Tan is ranked first in the nation for rings, but Michigan's Conan Parzuchowski is in second place, with only one-tenth of a point separating the nation's top ringsmen.

"The meet will be very close right to the end. I told the guys at the beginning of the week that this meet could come down to the last routine and you just have to stay in the meet right to the finish," Jepson said. "I'm just excited because it's a great test for us."

To prepare for this weekend's event, the team has continued to work on the pommel horse and has also adjusted some of the parallel bar routines, which were causing some of the gymnasts difficulty against Massachusetts. Senior Adam Benas is one of the gymnasts who had a routine changed this week.

"I like the new routine a lot better because it flows better and I'm more comfortable with it," he said. "It will definitely help my confidence. The more confidence going into the meet, the better off you are because you can't simulate what a competition is going to be like during practice."

In addition, the team has also been working on increasing the difficulty of its vaults.

"I wanted to wait until we got a couple meets under our belt to get back on a little more difficult vaults," Jepson said. "We've headed that direction a little bit this week and maybe in the next month, we'll be able to see a little bit more difficulty in that event."

Tomorrow's meet will be the first Big Ten competition for the six freshmen making the trip with the rest of team. Because this will be the biggest competition they have faced thus far, nerves will play a factor.

"I'm really nervous because that's where our really big competition is," freshman Kyle Fernandez said. "I just hope I don't screw up. I don't want to let the team down."

While nerves will be a factor, they will do what they can to not let it affect their performance.

"It's always good to get nervous to a certain point," freshman Jerker Taudien said. "You just have to control the nervousness."