The last time the Penn State football team left the field in Beaver Stadium, it was coming off one of its biggest upset victories in recent memory and was in the thick of the national championship hunt.

Since then, the Nittany Lions dropped a heartbreaker to Michigan in Ann Arbor and got back on track with a stomping of Illinois in Champaign. But the team will be more than happy to be back on its home field at 3:30 p.m. tomorrow, when it takes on Purdue.

"It's going to be great; I can't wait to hear our fans again," junior linebacker Tim Shaw said. "The two games on the road were sort of a downer. When you are out there in warm-ups, you're like, 'Man, where is everybody?' It's going to be great to be home this weekend."

After their only consecutive road games all season, the Lions return to Happy Valley firmly in the driver's seat for a Big Ten title.

With three games left on the schedule, Penn State is tied with Ohio State, Northwestern and Wisconsin atop the Big Ten standings but holds head-to-head tiebreakers over the Buckeyes and Wildcats.

The Wisconsin Badgers make the trip to State College next Saturday.

Tomorrow's game is an especially intriguing contest, because in many ways, it stands to highlight a complete reversal of fortunes for both programs involved.

Last October, the Boilermakers came to Penn State undefeated and ranked No. 9 in the country, carried by an explosive offense led by Heisman-candidate quarterback Kyle Orton and receiver Taylor Stubblefield.

The Lions had already dropped the first two games of their Big Ten schedule at Minnesota and at Wisconsin and had been held to less than 10 points in three of their first five games last season.

The Purdue game was a chance for Penn State to salvage a season that was quickly falling apart, but the offense sputtered yet again, and the Boilermakers escaped Beaver Stadium with a hard-fought 20-13 victory.

"We definitely did feel a little animosity from the loss last year, from all the losses last year," defensive end Matthew Rice said. "That's been our focus this year."

This year, it is Purdue that will enter the matchup looking to salvage a disappointing season -- quite a reversal of fortunes in a 12-month period.

The Boilermakers are 2-5 and still searching for their first win in the Big Ten, while the Lions are looking to continue their resurgence.

"They're in a little different situation than we were in last year," coach Joe Paterno said Tuesday. "I think they're better than we were at this stage last year."

Paterno has tried to make sure that his players do not overlook the Boilermakers, and various Lions agreed that they are looking at Purdue as a tough opponent.

"I definitely consider them to be a dangerous team. They've had a lot of close games; it's not like they're getting blown out," quarterback Michael Robinson said. "I think they're going to come in here with an attitude, and they're going to make things happen."

Nevertheless, the fact that the Boilermakers have to "come in here" must be comforting to the Lions, who have won six in a row at Beaver Stadium.

"I missed it, man. It's crazy playing with the fans here," Rice said. "I know they are going to be hyped up. Our fans are like no other fans. It gets kind of quiet playing on the road. I miss the extra noise that comes from playing at home."