Penn State is technically the 11th member of the Big Ten Conference, but the men's gymnastics team would like to be the conference's top-ranked team come tonight at the Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich.

However, if the Nittany Lions are to be the No. 1 team, they will have to succeed without their No. 1 man.

Going into the Big Ten Championships, to take place tonight and tomorrow night, Luis Vargas has an injured thumb that will keep him from competing in the all-around. Penn State coach Randy Jepson could not say how serious the injury is nor comment on Vargas' status for the upcoming NCAA Championships. Jepson does, however, remain cautiously optimistic about his team's chances of taking it all this weekend.

"We'll have to be at our best without him," Jepson said, "but it's not out of the realm of possibility."

Vargas' injury decimates the team on the parallel bars -- where the team has been flawed all season -- and high bar. Jepson is looking at players often overlooked to pick up their levels of performance, such as seniors Steve Tobin and Ludwig Kern, and freshman Derek Helsby, who is coming off an all-around title against William & Mary two weeks ago.

"We are a lot thinner on parallel bars and high bar," Jepson said. "We just have to be careful that we don't beat ourselves."

Internal problems are not the only foes facing the Lions at the Big Ten Championships; the teams they will be facing are pretty good, too.

Defending Big Ten champion Illinois will be armed with Justin Spring, who finished second at last year's conference championship meet, and Ohio State will have Randy Monahan, the 2004 individual all-around champion. The Illini and Buckeyes gave Penn State plenty of trouble this season; both squads were able to hand the Lions their only two regular-season losses this year.

Despite the potential danger in facing three of the top five teams in the country -- Ohio State, Illinois and Michigan -- Jepson insists on looking internally for the weekend's game plan.

"We can't really think of the other people," Jepson said. "Whatever happens will happen. ...We could finish first, we could finish in sixth."

Facing three top teams is a good taste of what Penn State will be up against in two weeks at the NCAA Championships in West Point, N.Y. According to Jepson, it seems that the only national contenders that will not be in Michigan are Oklahoma, Stanford and Nebraska, and that's only because they are not a part of the Big Ten.

"Everybody must come together this weekend, and we have to hit our routines," Jepson said. "We use the whole season to get ready [for this] ... and now we're just trying to be clean."

Vargas is not 100 percent healthy, and the Big Ten is loaded with some of the top teams in the country.

No worries, though; the 11th team cannot possibly finish that low this weekend.

There are only six teams competing.