This time around Ohio State officials are hoping the faithful will wear all red for the themed “Scarlett Fever.” God knows the Penn State Nittany Lions have thrown the “White Out” at us enough times.

First place in the Big Ten is on the line as they are the only undefeated teams left. If Ohio State (7-1, 4-0) wins they could position themselves as the Big Ten champion which could mean a rematch against USC in the Rose Bowl. A Penn State (8-0, 4-0) win would put them on the inside track to their first BCS championship appearance.

Not that Joe Pa would even think about retiring after a BCS win since going off in style is, well, not his style.

To set this game up, both Ohio State and Penn State are coming off smack downs of the Michigan teams and I wouldn’t be surprised if ESPN’s College Gameday set up shop in Columbus for this one. Historically speaking, this game has a rich history especially since they play each other every year in the last week of October.

Ohio State leads the all-time series 12-11 and they have a 10-5 advantage since Penn State joined the Big Ten in 1993. Joe Paterno bucked the losing trend against Michigan last weekend but he has another this weekend against Ohio State. Joe Paterno has NEVER won in Ohio Stadium in Big Ten play. Joe Pa won in Columbus in October of 1929 but he insists a historic stock market crash is not the reason for victory then or now.

In all seriousness (despite the photo of James Laurinaitis), I believe the most important match ups are the run defenses and ball control. Last week Penn State had a tough time stopping the Michigan spread run offense giving up 202 yards on the ground, a 4.4 average per carry. Most of that was given up in the first half. Last week Ohio State took on the supposedly best running attack in the Big Ten and held the Fighting Izzo’s to 52 yards rushing, a 2.5 yard average. So whichever defense can keep the other team’s dual running threats off the field longer should win this game because I don’t see a lot of turnovers occurring.

Prediction: Ohio State 27 Penn State 21