UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State and Northwestern previously played three years ago, but coach Joe Paterno is well aware of the Wildcats. The Nittany Lions' past five games in Evanston, Ill., have been decided by an average of 6.4 points.

No. 12 Penn State (7-1, 3-1 Big Ten) will play Northwestern (5-3, 2-2) Saturday at Ryan Field, where the Lions have produced heart-stopping finishes.

"I'm a little prejudice, but Northwestern's got a bunch of kids I really like, and I really like [Pat] Fitzgerald," Paterno said yesterday. "I think he's a heck of a coach. I don't know a lot of his staff, but their kids play college football the way you like to see it played.

"They play every down. And they're tough and smart and they adjust well, and we're going to have a tough football game on our hands."

Four years ago at Northwestern, the Lions overcame a 16-point first-half deficit to beat the Wildcats, 34-29, to remain unbeaten at 4-0. Quarterback Michael Robinson converted a fourth-and-15 on the winning drive, then tossed a 36-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Williams with 51 seconds left.

In 2003, running back Noah Herron ran for 180 yards and Northwestern scored all its points in the fourth quarter of a 17-7 victory.

In '01, backup quarterback Zack Mills threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to running back Eric McCoo with 22 seconds remaining, carrying Penn State to a 38-35 win as Paterno tied Paul "Bear" Bryant's Division I-A record of 323 coaching victories.

After the game, the right wheels on the team's plane went off the runway at Chicago's Midway Airport, got stuck in the mud and couldn't be dislodged, so the Lions had to return home the following day.

In 1997, Penn State nearly blew a 17-point lead in the final 3:33 at Ryan Field but held on to claim a 30-27 victory. In '95, the Wildcats coasted to a 21-10 win.

Northwestern has won just as many Big Ten championships as Penn State (three) since the Lions joined the conference 16 years ago. Fitzgerald was an All-American linebacker on the Northwestern teams in the mid-'90s that won back-to-back Big Ten titles. Penn State linebackers coach Ron Vanderlinden was the defensive coordinator for the Wildcats then and gave Fitzgerald his first coaching job as a graduate assistant when Vanderlinden was the coach at Maryland in 1998.

"There's a lot that I owe to him," said Fitzgerald, who replaced Randy Walker as Northwestern coach in 2006 after Walker died of a heart attack.

Paterno's Lions have been on a roll since losing to Iowa, 21-10, late last month. They have won their past four games, outscoring their opponents, 142-30.

"I don't know where we thought we'd be," he said. "I was hoping we'd be pretty good. I think we're getting to be pretty good. I'm certainly not unhappy with where we are. But we still have a ways to go. There's some things we're not doing well. Obviously, the [two] blocked punts [this season] bothered me. We wasted some opportunities."

Paterno, who gave his team off Monday, said the Lions are as healthy as they have been all year, although backup tailback Stephfon Green could miss his second consecutive game with an ankle injury.

Paterno said Nerraw McCormack's ankle is better now and that he would battle starter Ako Poti for the job at right tackle. Paterno also said DeOn'tae Pannell has been moved to left tackle until his ankle is better.

"We'll keep Pannell over on the left because it's a little easier with that left ankle bumped up for him to push off his right foot when he has to pass protect on the left side," Paterno said.

NOTES -- Free safety Nick Sukay, from Greensburg Central Catholic High School, has started every game this season. He has 29 tackles, five pass breakups, an interception and a fumble recovery. ... Paterno said wide receiver Graham Zug, a walk-on who had three touchdown catches against Michigan, "has been given a lot more opportunities because people are scared to death of [Derek] Moye and [Chaz] Powell. ... [Zug] certainly has come through for us. He's a good football player. I like Zug for a lot of reasons."

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