The Penn State men's gymnastics team will have two firsts this Sunday at 2 p.m., when it travels to Philadelphia to take on host No. 12 Temple, No. 13 William & Mary and James Madison.

This will be the first time this season that the Nittany Lions (1-0) will compete both in a non-dual meet and on the road. But Penn State coach Randy Jepson is more concerned with the road aspect than with the level of competition.

"With a dual meet you alternate. There is shorter rest time, but we'll adjust accordingly," Jepson said. "We are used to our equipment. It's going to be a different feel. But you have to learn to adjust. True competitors do that."

One factor going in Penn State's favor is that the Lions are a combined 20-0 all-time against William & Mary and James Madison.

The Sunday meet will also mark the first-ever collegiate away meet for the freshmen, including Nick Virbitsky, who won both the floor exercise and on the vault against Army.

But Jepson has only high hopes for his talented rookie class.

"I was really happy with our freshmen competing in front of people for the first time. It was a good start," Jepson said. "We just need to be more consistent. But it was a good testing ground."

While the freshman class may take time to adjust, senior captain Matt Cohen looks to duplicate or better his great season-opening performance against Army, when he placed first in the rings, second on the vault, and third in both the high bars and floor exercise. Those results were good enough for him to capture the all-around individual title.

Entering the 2007 season ranked No. 5 in the preseason polls, the Lions were coming off a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships in 2006.

After dominating No. 14 Army on Jan. 13 in Rec Hall, 214.200-192.650, Penn State lived up to the early top 5 ranking.

"We expected that. Army is a young team," Jepson said. "We were more concerned with our own team. We wanted to be healthy. It was a good start."

But Jepson also acknowledged that the team really doesn't pay attention to the national rankings -- at least at first.

"You know, we don't worry about that," Jepson said. "Rankings don't matter until April 14."

The final poll comes April 14 out after the NCAA Championships.

So while Army was a nationally ranked opponent, the Black Knights were a very young team, and Penn State was able to compete at home for the first meet of the 2007 campaign.

And efforts like the one against Army will be needed throughout the season, as the current schedule is one of the toughest in the nation, with the typical tough Big Ten opponents coupled with West Coast powers Stanford and California, Nos. 2 and 4, respectively.