The No. 12 Penn State Nittany Lions travel to Evanston to take on the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday at Ryan Field. This will be the first meeting since 2006 between these two teams and Penn State leads the series 9-3. It will be a big game for Penn State, because another road win will help them in the computer ranking that go into the BCS formula.

Darryl Clark is coming off a game where he threw four touchdowns against Michigan and will look to keep his hot streak going. Northwestern gives up about 220 yards through the air per game. Clark has 1,884 yards and 17 touchdown passes this season with only seven interceptions.

Graham Zug was his favorite target last week, as he caught three touchdowns for Penn State (7-1, 3-1). Zug will look to build on his career day and will be helped by Derek Moye and Andrew Quarless drawing some of the coverage.

Evan Royster carried the load on the ground against Michigan and might have to do the same again. Stephfon Green is questionable and might not play again this week. That shouldn’t be much of a problem because Royster ran for 100 yards last week and can be an effective every down back.

Penn State’s defense is number one in the nation, only allowing 8.9 points per game and their challenge this week will be to shutdown Northwestern (5-3, 2-2) QB Mike Kafka. He has thrown for 2,067 yards and nine touchdowns. He does have seven interceptions, which is the same amount as Clark, it just looks worse because he only has nine touchdowns and not 17.

Kafka’s main target is Zeke Markshausen, who has 58 receptions on the year. Andrew Brewer leads the team with five touchdowns. They will go against a Penn State secondary that is only allowing 160.5 yards per game through the air. That is good for ninth in the nation. Remember all four starters are new this season so it is amazing to see how well the unit is doing so quickly.

Kafka is the Wildcats leading rusher with 104 attempts for 206 yards and five touchdowns. He is joined by Arby Fields, who has 60 rushes for 205 yards and four touchdowns. They will find it hard to run against a Nittany Lions defense that allows 79.8 yards per game, which is fourth best in the country.

Three other areas are key to Penn State’s game. First, the fact they are the fourth least penalized team in the country. By not giving easy yardage to their opponents they make it hard to be beaten. Second, the offense connects on 53.9 percent of their third downs, which is third in the country. And third, the Nittany Lions red zone defense is first in the nation, only allowing a 58.8 percent success rate.

The stats point the way of Penn State but road games in the Big ten can never be taken for granted.