Losing three out of four dual meets never felt so good.

Following an embarrassing 25-10 loss at Illinois two weeks ago, Penn State head wrestling coach Troy Sunderland questioned his team's aggressiveness and competitive fire. Now, despite going 1-3 over their last four matches, no one is questioning the Nittany Lions' effort and intensity. Starting last week, when Penn State pushed Iowa to the brink, it has been a new-look Lions wrestling team. This past weekend provided a perfect example.

Time after time, unranked and unheralded Penn State wrestlers took the action to their more highly regarded opponents and came out on top. Sophomores Marat Tomaev and Scott Moore and freshman Jason Woodall all pulled off major upsets at Ohio State on Saturday. Juniors Doc Vecchio and Nate Wachter came agonizingly close to doing the same against the Buckeyes.

Woodall's match against Ohio State's No. 7 Josh Janson at 157 pounds captured the new Lions attitude in a microcosm. Using superior conditioning, Woodall brutalized Janson on his home mat, scoring takedown after takedown, and nearly recorded a pin. In the latter stages of the third period, Janson was mentally broken due to Woodall's constant assault.

On Sunday against Michigan State, Tomaev, realizing his team was in trouble, down seven with two matches to go, tore into the Spartans' Scott Pushman, scoring eight takedowns in the first period en route to a technical fall.

"That's the Marat we saw in high school when we recruited him and that's who we see in the room every day. This should be a big boost to his confidence," Sunderland said.

In the preceding match, freshman Adam Smith, in danger of giving up a nail-in-the-coffin major decision to Michigan State's Chris Williams, kept forcing the action and finally scored a critical takedown in the third period to prevent the major.

"Adam is just a tenacious individual," Sunderland said. "He just wants to win so badly, he has a really bright future here."

A majority of the Spartans' takedowns were off counterattacks, signifying Penn State's aggressiveness and willingness to take the first shot.

Seven minutes of intense wrestling, like Penn State has shown these past two weeks, requires outstanding conditioning, something which made past Lions teams legendary.

"It's all a matter of how hard we go in the wrestling room," Tomaev said. "Recently, our intensity has been real high and we train as hard as we can, the coaches push hard."

Moore echoed his teammate' thoughts.

"We play sharkbait in practice, with one guy in the middle, fending off shots from two guys on the outside. After 10 minutes of that, you don't even want to walk," Moore said.

Penn State's new attitude could not come at a better time.

With a rivalry meet against Lock Haven next week, three weeks until the Big Ten tournament and a month until the NCAA championships, the Lions appear to be finding their groove at the right time.

While a late season run will help, a number of Lion wrestlers will receive low seeds at the Big Ten tournament, making it imperative to pull of upsets if Penn State wants to avoid a second straight lackluster showing at the conference championships.

"All it takes at the Big Ten tournament is one upset. After that anything can happen," Moore said.

"The Big Ten's and nationals are a totally different story than the rest of the season."

If Penn State keeps wrestling with the same fire they have been, the story may have a happy ending.