Titans will rise and fall this weekend as the Big Ten conference meets at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Mich., to decide its wrestling champions.

The No. 11 Penn State wrestling team will send 10 wrestlers -- eight of whom are preseeded -- into the foray with hopes of bringing home a Big Ten title and bids to the NCAA tournament.

The team co-captains will lead the Nittany Lions (15-4, 5-3 Big Ten) into the championships set on both the Big Ten team title and titles in their respective weight classes.

Junior Phil Davis is one of the Lions' two No. 1 seeds heading into the tournament -- the other is senior James Yonushonis at 174 pounds.

"I feel good," said Davis, the Big Ten's reigning champion at 197 pounds. "I feel real confident, real confident about the team and what we're capable of doing."

Along with the two No. 1 seeds, the Lions enter the tournament with senior Aaron Anspach as the No. 2 seed at heavweight, sophomore Jake Strayer at 133 pounds carries the No. 5 seed and junior Mark McKnight at 125 pounds seeded No. 7.

Three freshmen will also be making their debut in the Big Ten tournament, as a pair of No. 6 seeds -- Bubba Jenkins, 157 pounds, and Dan Vallimont, 149 pounds -- along with No. 7 seed Dave Rella will attempt to play spoilers and bring home titles for the Lions.

Senior Bryan Heller and sophomore Philip Bomberger will also compete for the Lions, but without seeded rankings.

Over the course of the weekend, the Penn State wrestlers will be competing not only for individual honors but a team title as well.

The Lions aren't letting the preliminary seedings distract them from focusing on their competition this weekend, however.

"The more you think about these things, I think," Yonushonis said, "the more you get caught up in them, and so I'm just going to try to ignore the No. 1 seed thing and not let it go to my head."

But even with the utmost focus, the opportunity to bring home any title in the Big Ten will certainly be met with stiff resistance from a tough conference.

"Realistically, Minnesota's going to be the team that's favored," Penn State head coach Troy Sunderland said. "They have solid depth but also four No. 1 seeds that are kids that have done well all year long. But I certainly don't want to discount our opportunity or another team's opportunity to get in there."

As Sunderland said, Minnesota (20-1, 8-0 ) will be the team to beat, but the rest of the teams in the Big Ten are no cakewalk either.

Illinois (11-1, 7-1) will be entering the tournament with a 7-1 conference record and a seeded wrestler in each weight class.

Penn State dropped dual meets to both teams during the season along with a loss to Wisconsin, but the Lions aren't looking back.

The coaching staff has been telling the team that the losses are in the past, Sunderland said. The Big Ten tournament is almost like an entirely new season and anything can happen over the course of this weekend.

"If there are some upsets, I think there's a lot of other teams that can be in the mix to win the Big Ten title," Sunderland said. "We need to put a solid team effort together, get some of those upsets, not get upset and qualify as many guys for the NCAA tournament [as possible]."