In most sports, winning a conference title usually means a team will be better off than others to win a national championship.

But NCAA men's gymnastics is an exception.

Case in point: the 2004 season.

That year, Penn State placed second at the conference championships in Champaign, Ill., before rebounding less than a month later, placing No. 1 at the NCAA championships.

This year, the Nittany Lions would like to better that by winning both the Big Ten championship, held this weekend in Minneapolis, and the NCAA championship two weeks later at Rec Hall.

Last season was also an interesting one when Ohio State won the conference title for the second straight year, edging out Illinois by less than a point.

Less than two weeks afterward, Ohio State earned a No. 3-seed going into the qualifying rounds. Of the two sessions, Ohio State was in the first one and needed to only finish in the top three to advance onward to the team championships.

But the Buckeyes finished fourth, marking the first time in 26 years the team would not compete for a national title.

"It was a tremendous surprise.
It was a lot of years since we
last failed to qualify," Ohio State
head coach Miles Avery said.
"We have to get back and get focus
to never let that happen again."

To make matters worse, Illinois, runner-up to Ohio State, finished second in the second qualifying session. The Illini then went on to finish No. 2 overall at the NCAA championships the following evening.

Penn State further exacerbated the strange finish by placing third in the nation just after ending up fifth overall at the conference championship.

"The Big Ten is tough. We got in the conference late," Penn State head coach Randy Jepson said. "We've been in the Big Ten a limited amount of time. We've given two away, but the guys are aware you have to finish the routine."

But Penn State has had a history of underachieving at the Big Ten championship only to right ship and finish better at the national competition.

Since joining the Big Ten in 1992, the Nittany Lions have just one conference title, back in 2003. During the same time period, the Lions posted national championships in 2000 and 2004. In 2000, Penn State stunningly finished 6th at the conference championship yet still wound up with a national title that year, even bettering conference rivals Michigan and Iowa, which finished Nos. 2 and 3.

While the results may be puzzling, even people from outside the Penn State community recognize the Lions' interesting results.

"They have always been steady at the NCAA Championships. They are better at the NCAAs than at the Big Ten," Michigan head coach Kurt Golder said. "But that's what you aim for. That's the big time."

And the Lions certainly see it that way as well.

While it is great to be a conference champion, it is even better to be a national champion.

Just ask last year's Ohio State team.