There are times when motivation is not needed.

There are times when hype is useless.

There are times when a team so fully feels the impact a game could have on a season that to even try to put it in perspective is to trivialize it.

For the No. 15 Penn State football team, it is one of those times.

"I think that it is something that is, maybe, exciting for the whole country," Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said.

The game will begin at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow against No. 13 Michigan at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. It will be televised on ABC.

It is a game that is exciting in several contexts.

For both teams, a win means jumping back into a tight Big Ten race that has Ohio State at the fore, and just behind -- the surprise of the year -- Iowa. But both of those teams have shown weaknesses along the way.

The game has meaning in an even greater context than that. These two teams are among the winningest in college football history. Their rivalry is still in an infantile stage, but it has been heated nevertheless. Michigan (4-1, 1-0 Big Ten) has won the last five games and leads the series 6-3.

"You want to beat Michigan year in and year out," Penn State quarterback Zack Mills said. "They're one of the top teams in the country."

Mills made his first career start against Michigan at Beaver Stadium last year, and because of the Big Ten schedule rotation, will probably play the Wolverines for the last time tomorrow. Michigan and Penn State do not play again until 2005.

Also, the last time Penn State (4-1, 1-1) played at the Big House, the Wolverines ran up the score with a touchdown in the final seconds. At the very final second, running back Chris Perry, then a freshman, sauntered across the line slowly to make full use of the clock in making the final score 33-11.

"Yep, I sure do [remember that]," Penn State defensive tackle and Michigan native Anthony Adams said. "They tacked it on right at the end."

According to Adams, any anger caused by the incident has subsided.

"We're a different team," he said. "You're not looking for revenge or anything like that. We're a different team."

Yes, Penn State is a totally different and far better team.

But Perry is still the Wolverine running back and Michael Haynes, Jimmy Kennedy and Adams are still the heart of the Penn State defensive line. James Boyd, Penn State's fiery defensive leader in 2000 and a name invoked by would-be current leaders, herded the young players together that day and told them never to forget that moment.

The Lions will need to stop Perry, who's averaging 99.4 yards per game, early in the game and force much-maligned quarterback John Navarre to pass.

On offense, the Lions will come out gunning for a defense that, despite frequently mixing sets and coverages, has allowed almost 260 yards a game without playing a proficient spread offense yet.

But the Wolverines have three dangerous players in the secondary in free safety Cato June, strong safety Julius Curry and Marlin Jackson, who is quickly emerging as one of the top cover corners in the Big Ten.

Penn State will have to do many of the things they did against Wisconsin, which were the things they didn't do early against Iowa.

While the Big Ten is not the "best" conference in the country, it does boast the most competitive league action.

Adams, and the rest of the seniors, would like nothing more than to get Penn State back to being competitive with Michigan.

"Why have they kicked our ears in?" Paterno asked. "Because they have really kicked our ears in."

With a banged-up Mills (sprained acromioclavicular joint), a hurting running back Larry Johnson (strained hamstring) and 110,000 Michigan fans roaring, the Lions are going to have to be gutsy if they're going to protect their ears.

When Mills was asked if the pain in his shoulder would prevent him from playing, he laughed at the notion.

Then, he said, "It's going to be the biggest game I've played in."