When two top-notch teams square off, those involved know a good, but tough meet is at-hand.

The No. 3 Penn State men's gymnastics team (11-0), the 2000 national champions, will face last year's national champions, No. 4 Ohio State at noon tomorrow at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio for one of these meets.

"Penn State is one of the top programs and that is always exciting to have the top meeting each other," Ohio State head coach Miles Avery said. "It should be a very good competition, just knowing how good Penn State is."

To come out on top, the Nittany Lions will have to be at their best and can not allow any lapses in their routines.

"We have to be solid all the way through the line-up and can't have a let down," Penn State head coach Randy Jepson said. "If we have an event where there are several breaks, that will take us right out of the meet."

"A win at their place and a great score, would make a great statement for this team and would do wonders for them in the placement of the season."

While hitting their routines is a top priority, the Lions biggest obstacle tomorrow afternoon will be competing in St. John's Arena because of the atmosphere and the judging.

"We try not to think about that, but it will always be in the back of our heads because we want to win," junior Jay Kim said.

Consistency will also play a key role for the Lions as they face the Buckeyes. Freshman Kyle Fernandez will be doing his old ring routine this weekend instead of the one he performed against Temple because he feels it will help improve not only his score, but also the team score.

"I'm going back to my old routine, so I'm a little more confidant about it. I've done it more times than the one I competed with last weekend. I'm excited to compete with my old routine again," Fernandez said. "I'd like to add a lot to the team."

Avery praised many of the Lions and said he was looking forward to see their routines, in person. He feels the best match-up of the afternoon will be between junior Kevin Donohue and Ohio State junior Raj Bhavsar in the all-around competition.

"I think this will be good test for Kevin because he'll see how he stacks against Raj," Avery said.

With the team being at the halfway point in the season, practices have started to get a little more difficult with the end of the season in mind. Because of this, some of the members are beginning to get tired, but Jepson does not think this will cause many problems tomorrow.

"They just have to be tough and they'll have to be at their best," he said. "Hopefully, if we do our job, we'll win"