Penn State head coach Troy Sunderland and the Penn State wrestling team will have its first road dual at a place Sunderland used to call home.

The No. 13 Nittany Lions (3-2) will have their first road dual against No. 23 Navy (5-0) at 7 p.m. tonight in Annapolis.

Sunderland spent the 1996-97 seasons as an assistant coach at the Naval Academy between his stint as a Penn State coaching assistant from 1994-95 and his present head coaching job, which began in 1998.

"You know in the mindset, having been a coach at the Naval Academy, these guys will be ready to battle," Sunderland said.

"They have pretty good depth."

The Midshipmen lineup features No. 14 John Cox at 149 and No. 9 Tanner Garrett at heavyweight.

Garrett and Cox were two of several Navy wrestlers to attend last weekend's Nittany Lion Open.

Both placed fifth in their respective weight classes. Navy had a total of six wrestlers place during the open, many of which came from their starting lineup.

"I think if there's any indication from the open tournament, we saw a lot of the Navy guys, and we're going to have our hands full," Sunderland said of the Midshipmen. "They're a solid team top to bottom. We saw a great couple matches. They beat us a couple of times head to head."

Penn State true freshman David Erwin's crown winning performance during the dual was enough to convince Sunderland to strip Erwin of the redshirt designation that had been holding him out of the Penn State starting lineup.

He will travel with the team this weekend, and Sunderland said he anticipates Erwin will wrestle at 165.

"I'm looking forward to it," Erwin said of his first start.

"I've been drilling and wrestling the same as always. Hopefully it pays off."

Senior captain Eric Bradley will not travel with the team.

He continues to be hampered with a left ankle injury he suffered early in the season.

"The key again is the end of the year," Sunderland said.

"I don't want to bring him out before he's ready and re-injure it. It takes the rehab process a little bit longer. We just want to continue to be patient You know it's tempting. We want to get him out there and want to have him wrestle, but we don't want to do too much too soon."

The Lions still have four wrestlers with undefeated records remaining in the lineup.

Tim Haas, 6-0 at 125, Jake Strayer, 4-0 at 133, James Yonushonis, 5-0 at 174 and Phil Davis, 5-0 at 197, will look to continue their streaks throughout the weekend, and through the course of winter break.

The Lions will finish out this weekend with a 6:30 p.m. match tomorrow against No. 25 Penn.

Penn State will also take 13 wrestlers to Reno, Nev., for the Reno Tournament of Champions on Dec. 18.

The team will then have time off after the completion of finals with practices resuming on Dec. 29.

Penn State will kick off 2006 with duals at Lehigh Jan. 6 and at home against Cornell Jan. 8.

Penn State upset Lehigh earlier this year by a score of 18-17 at home in the finals of the Pennsylvania State Dual Championship.