They've both been No. 1 this year.
They've both been No. 1 in past years.

Both are nationally revered programs with a historic lineage of individual and team national champions.

Tomorrow night, neither the Nittany Lions nor the Buckeyes will be the No. 1 team in the nation, but that shouldn't make the battle between the Big Ten rivals any less exciting.

No. 5 Penn State travels to Columbus, Ohio, to compete against No. 4 Ohio State -- a slight difference compared to when the then-No. 1 Lions beat the then-No. 2 Buckeyes last year at Rec Hall. The difference may be in the rankings and in personnel, but as with any nationally reputable program, a team does not rebuild. It reloads.

"We're both using people that we've developed over the last couple of years and are now stepping in to compete," Jepson said.

This does not mean the Lions are completely developed, something that was evident when the Lions struggled in their last meet against Temple.

"It's hard to get pumped up for meets that you pretty much know or assume you're going to win," team captain Duke Van Vleet said.

What the Lions are going up against is a team full of accomplished gymnasts, such as Randy Monahan, who is already a three-time recipient of Big Ten Gymnast of the Week award this year. Monahan also holds the No. 2 all-around average in the nation at 55.160.

One of the Lions' top gymnasts, Luis Vargas remains questionable after missing last week's meet due to a fall in pre-meet warmups that required 40 stitches to his head.

But, this is not a meet about individual performers, and it rarely is in collegiate gymnastics.

The teams are fairly equal in terms of event scoring and ability. Ohio State and Penn State are each ranked higher than the other in three exercises. The Buckeyes are the nation's No. 1 scoring team on high bar and the Lions lead the nation in team scoring on the still rings apparatus.

-- By Chad Reott