By: Doug Lesmerises (Cleveland Plain Dealer) — COLUMBUS, Ohio — At their 25-year reunion, the current Ohio State Buckeyes don’t want to be reminiscing about that crazy Wisconsin win — remember how the offense barely had the ball? — or the Navy scare or those poundings of Toledo, Illinois and New Mexico State. In 2034, the Penn State Nittany Lions will bore each other if the highlights of their glory days in 2009 center around Temple, Northwestern and Minnesota.

Ohio State is 7-2, Penn State 8-1. Both are 4-1 and tied for second in the Big Ten. Penn State is No. 11 in the BCS standings and Ohio State 16th. By winning out, the Nittany Lions would virtually assure themselves of a BCS bowl, while Ohio State would guarantee a Rose Bowl bid with three wins to end the season.

But so far? There’s not much to brag about. Neither team has a win over a ranked opponent.

“I definitely hear it all the time,” Ohio State senior left tackle Jim Cordle said. “People don’t know where we are or where they are because the quality opponent we played we lost to.”

Ohio State lost to USC. Penn State lost to Iowa. The combined record of the teams the Buckeyes have beaten is 30-31. Take away 7-2 Eastern Illinois, a lower-level FCS school, and the combined record of the schools the Nittany Lions have beaten is 27-32.

So Saturday afternoon’s game at Beaver Stadium might feature two of the top 16 teams in the country, but neither has really proven it yet.

“The fanbase may be curious to how we stack up, but we’re aware of the type of team that we have right now,” Penn State linebacker Josh Hull said. “That said, we haven’t really had a game that put us in a hard place, and we’re looking forward to Ohio State and we know it’ll be a tough game.”

While the Buckeyes at least played USC, Penn State’s nonconference schedule against Akron, Syracuse, Temple and Eastern Illinois was one of the easiest in the nation. Outside of a 21-10 home loss to Iowa on Sept. 26, the Nittany Lions’ toughest spot came last week, when Northwestern led them, 13-10, at the half before Penn State won, 34-13.

“Obviously it’s a good experience for them,” Penn State coach Joe Paterno said of the push. “Whether some of the older guys that have been around it, you know, maybe they got a little careless, I don’t know, but we didn’t play a great football game against Northwestern. But we did what we had to do to win it. I think anytime you play a game you learn something from it or you’re blind.”

Ohio State’s win over 6-2 Wisconsin, which moved into the rankings this week but wasn’t there at the time of the Buckeyes’ win, is probably the high point of either team’s schedule. And that would be a low threshold for Ohio State. The Buckeyes have beaten a ranked team during the regular season in every year since 1991. Even the 6-6 season in 1999 included wins over No. 14 UCLA, No. 17 Purdue and No. 24 Minnesota.

This season, the Buckeyes haven’t had many chances. But the backloaded schedule, featuring 8-1 Penn State, 9-0 Iowa and 5-4 Michigan, gave an offense with young players in key spots, including at quarterback and tackle, a chance to warm up before stepping up, even if one of those warmups ended with a loss at Purdue.

“I think it’s in our favor to play three tough teams when I think we’re really rolling as a team,” OSU receiver Dane Sanzenbacher said. “Obviously, we were going to get better as the year progressed when you have so many young kids with talent, and I think we’re at the point where everyone feels comfortable.”

But are they really better? Maybe Saturday’s game will prove that both Ohio State and Penn State are the real deal. More likely is a scenario that proves the losing team was skating along thanks to the schedule.

If Ohio State loses, the Buckeyes still have a shot at redemption against Iowa the following week. If the Nittany Lions, who finish with Indiana and Michigan State, fall short, well, they’ll always have Akron.

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