While most of his teammates before Saturday's game will be anxious and startled, amazed and tense, Jake Christensen will be the calm leader Eastern Illinois knew it was getting this season.
"It's OK to be awestruck at first," the Panther quarterback said of playing at Penn State. "At the end, they put their pants on the same way we do."
That mantra certainly applies to Christensen's old team, the Hawkeyes, which he took into Beaver Stadium two years ago as the starting quarterback.
Although that contest on Oct. 6, 2007, didn't go his way -- Penn State's 27-7 win was its only victory over Iowa in its last eight tries -- Christensen will bring Saturday the experience under his belt that has helped him throw for 1,090 yards and complete 65.4 percent of his passes through five games, both of which are No. 1 in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The road to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) conference, however, was not so smooth.
Christensen garnered numerous state awards coming out of Lockport, Ill., as a high school senior in 2005 before heading to Iowa. There, he redshirted his freshman year before getting the starting nod in his third season.
But five weeks into 2008, Ricky Stanzi overtook him for the starting role.
With just one year of eligibility remaining and Stanzi seemingly a lock as Iowa's 2009 starter, Christensen felt "unhappy" and decided to transfer in January.
Despite Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz granting Christensen his release from his scholarship, the struggles were far from over.
Christensen needed a degree before he could be granted a waiver from the NCAA to transfer and be eligible to play what would be his redshirt senior season at a non-Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) school.
In between weekend classes at Iowa, Christensen said he would often travel four hours each way to Charleston, Ill., and back to Iowa City to take part in 7-on-7 drills with the Panthers and complete his degree at Iowa.
"I've never been a brainiac, if you will," Christensen said. "I'm not saying I'm dumb, but school's never been a favorite part of my day."
His waiver was finally cleared Aug. 19 -- after fall camp had already started.
"Not nearly soon enough," Christensen said, "it took forever."
Yet Christensen managed to win the starting nod anyway, and now he is following in the footsteps of his father.
Jeff Christensen also found himself at Eastern Illinois following a transfer from a Big Ten school. That school was Northwestern, and the switch ignited a NFL career that saw Jeff play for the Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns and Philadelphia Eagles.
"His dad was a great quarterback here. He's been schooled and taught at that position," Eastern Illinois coach Bob Spoo said of Jake. "You need that type of background, that kind of upbringing, that kind of decision-making."
Those traits may come easier for the younger Christensen playing in a scaled-down atmosphere.
He said the biggest difference between his two schools is the size of their stadiums.
And while the Hawkeyes' Kinnick Stadium seats 70,585 fans to O'Brien Field's 10,000, Christensen feels the passion runs just as deep in Panther territory.
"The stadiums are smaller, no doubt about it," Christensen said. "We still fill the stadium here and I really honestly like it better. The guys care more about football at this level, to be honest with you."
Now, entrenched in that new scene, the lefty can look ahead to his future knowing just what it took to get this far.
"It was a lot of work, a lot of driving back and forth. It was no fun," Christensen said. "At the end of the day, I have a degree from a Big Ten school and I'm still playing football."
