Every Thursday, Joe Paterno helps his team prepare for the weather by placing footballs in a bucket of water to simulate playing with a wet ball.

No simulation will be needed Saturday, when Penn State plays Oregon State at 3:30 p.m. in Beaver Stadium.

Hurricane Hanna is expected to work its way up the coast, and rain and heavy winds are in the forecast. Weather.com's report for Saturday calls for a 40-percent chance of rain with eight-mile-per-hour winds coming from the east.

Hanna was a tropical storm Thursday afternoon, but Accuweather meteorologist Josh Newhard expected it to turn into a hurricane by Thursday evening.

"The biggest thing to focus on when it's a wet field obviously is the ball, shortening your strides, making sure you're not gonna fall and getting a towel to make sure your arms and gloves are dry," running back Evan Royster said.

Even without considering the weather, Oregon State coach Mike Riley spoke Tuesday about the need for his offense to find balance instead of the lopsided numbers favoring the passing game in a season-opening loss to Stanford.

If Mother Nature has her way, Riley may not have much of a choice.

Playing through the remnants of a hurricane call into question Oregon State's most effective weapon. The Beavers passed for 404 yards in last week's season opener against Stanford and rushed for just 86 yards as a team.

Oregon State receivers Sammie Stroughter and Shane Morales cut up Stanford's secondary. Stroughter offered a deep threat with his speed, finishing with 12 receptions for 157 yards.

Morales posted similar numbers with one more catch and 151 total receiving yards but was used more in the intermediary passing game with a long of 24 yards.

That production would be challenged on a muddy field, and Riley seemed to be fully aware of that during a conference call Tuesday.

"You're looking at a reason for balance being very, very important in this game," Riley said. "It's going to be hard to live with 54 passes again."

Saturday could be full of steady rains or just a shower, Newhard said, noting the cold front coming in from the west complicates predicting the degree of Hurricane Hanna's influence.

State College could also be in an area that doesn't get hit at all.

"The State College area could be in that zone, but we're not quite sure yet," Newhard said.

Penn State showed a dominant running game Saturday against Coastal Carolina with 334 rushing yards.

Quarterback Daryll Clark might get the chance Saturday to see how well he can run an offense in a potential downpour.

"You want to run the offense the same way you would if it was sunny outside," Clark said. "It's a mental thing. As far as the offense we run, we'll continue to run it rain, hail, sleet or snow."