If it's better to finish on a roll than start on one, the No. 8 Penn State wrestling team is in perfect position for the Big Ten Tournament.

The Nittany Lions (13-4, 5-3 Big Ten) won two more matches on the road as they defeated Ohio State 39-7 on Friday, and finished off the conference schedule yesterday with a 32-8 victory against Purdue.

"We really went after the bonus points," Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said.

That's the understatement of the weekend. Penn State recorded six pins and five major decisions, on its way to outscoring the Buckeyes and Boilermakers 71-15 this weekend.

The Lions began the week in Columbus, Ohio, in the home gym of the Big Ten's cellar dweller.

Penn State had the obvious advantage on paper but that didn't erase the memory of last season's match against the Buckeyes.

The Lions lost to Ohio State 17-13 at the Bryce Jordan Center on the last weekend of the season.

Phil Davis, No. 6 at 197, erased any thoughts of a repeat performance when he pinned Corey Morrison 1:43 into the second period.

Davis' win sparked Penn State to jump out to a 29-0 lead and clinched the victory after only six matches.

The Lions' eighth road win had a little more drama early on.

The Boilermakers won the first match by a major decision and held a 4-0 lead. Then, Penn State began rolling with three straight major decisions by No. 12 Nathan Galloway at 157, No. 12 David Erwin at 165 and No. 9 James Yonushonis at 174.

"[Yesterday's match] could have been a much closer match on paper," Sunderland said.

"Our kids came out and controlled the match, with bonus points and pins."

DeWitt Driscoll, No. 11 at 141, had the best weekend you could expect from a wrestler.

Driscoll recorded two pins on the weekend against Ohio State's T.J. Enright on Friday and against Jason Cook of Purdue yesterday -- both came in the first period.

The two blowout wins capped a season that had a disappointing start for Sunderland and the Lions.

Penn State began the Big Ten season with two consecutive losses to Wisconsin and Michigan.

Those losses seemed to spark the Lions as they rattled off four straight wins against ranked opponents: Navy (then-No. 23), Penn (then-No. 25), Lehigh (then-No. 11) and Cornell (then-No. 10).

But it was still unclear how they would compete in the tough Big Ten conference.

Penn State's first weekend test of 2006 Big Ten schedule was against No. 18 Michigan State and No. 1 Minnesota, and the Lions made an emphatic statement with a 15-point victory over the Spartans and a close loss to the Golden Gophers.

Now, Penn State heads into the Big Ten Tournament as winners of five of its last six conference matches. The Lions have won by a combined 146-47 in those five duals.

"We just need to carry the momentum," Sunderland said. "We don't want to be over confident, or anything like that. We just need to keep focus on what we have to do to get our best performance out of the guys at Big Ten."