Last weekend, the No. 20 Penn State wrestling team gutted out five dual meets against some of the best wrestlers the nation has to offer at the Cliff Keen National Duals.

There will be no rest for the Nittany Lions this weekend as two Big Ten opponents, Indiana and Purdue, come to town.

The team, which has been battling inexperience and injuries all season, cannot afford a letdown after last weekend when it takes on No. 17 Indiana tonight at 7.

"Indiana is no cake walk, they're solid, they have four or five [nationally-] ranked kids," Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said.

"That's the thing about how dual meets are set up. You get five wins and if one more toss up goes your way, you have a pretty good chance of getting the victory."

With the newest W.I.N. Magazine rankings, the Hoosiers now boast six nationally-ranked wrestlers, including two ranked in the top 10 in their respective weight classes.

Penn State senior captain Adam Smith will have his work cut out for him when he takes on No. 6 Joe Dubuque at 125-pounds.

Smith, who has bounced around the rankings all season and is now unranked, is coming off an unusually inconsistent weekend.

A good match for Smith could set the tone for the entire dual meet, as well as the whole weekend.

The Lions may need to come out strong at the start of tonight's meet, because after DeWitt Driscoll, No. 12 at 141-pounds, the next four weight classes had a rough weekend, winning only two matches in five dual meets.

The improvement of these younger wrestlers is necessary for the Lions to perform up to expectations.

"The main thing is coming off the bottom, because we had so many riding-time points given up in the Oklahoma match," Sunderland said.

"Some of that was the younger guys, and the more experience they get, learning what they need to do -- that will come."

As Sunderland said, six matches usually wins the dual meet for a team.

And while the middle of the lineup may be a weakness right now, the Lions are finding a reliable stopgap at 197-pounds.

Redshirt freshman Phil Davis put together an impressive weekend, going undefeated at the National Duals and earning a No. 14 ranking at 197-pounds. He will need to be a big factor for the Lions to come away with two dual wins this weekend.

The wrestler Davis supplanted at 197-pounds, Joel Edwards, is stepping up for the team as well, winning matches while filling in for injured senior Josh Walker at heavyweight. At the National Duals, Edwards wrestled up a class against heavyweights who did not have too much of a weight advantage on him. Indiana's Pat Degain, ranked No. 5, presents an interesting match up for the Lions.

"The Indiana heavyweight is a former 197-pounder," Sunderland said. "Now, he's around 240 -- we'll look at the match-up and do what's best for our team."

The return of No. 6 Eric Bradley at 184 pounds from an arm injury, which kept him out for all but one of last weekend's matches, also gives the team its best option at the weight.

"He's feeling good right now," Sunderland said of his highest-ranked wrestler, who won his lone match last weekend against Michigan.

"We wanted to rest him as much as we could at Duals, but we think that he'll be ready for this weekend."