Time is ticking on Joe Paterno's shot at another national championship, but the coaching legend will have to wait at least one more season after Penn State (9-1, 5-1 Big Ten) was knocked from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 24-23 loss to Minnesota last weekend.

The Nittany Lions had played with fire all season -- winning close games over Pittsburgh, Miami and Purdue -- and finally got burned, although it took a miracle fourth-down completion to set up Dan Nystrom's game-winning field goal as time expired.

Now Penn State's goal, as well as Michigan's, for that matter, is a trip to the Rose Bowl, where for the 54th straight season the Big Ten and Pac-10 Conference champions will clash. Tradition would have been threatened if either league sent a team to this year's national championship game, the Sugar Bowl, but Penn State's loss took care of that.

The Lions and Wisconsin both enter the weekend with one league loss, but if those teams tie, Penn State will travel west because the Badgers represented the league in the Rose Bowl last season.

Michigan (7-2, 4-2) and Michigan State have only two league losses apiece. The Wolverines already beat Wisconsin, although they lost to Michigan State, which closes the regular season by hosting Penn State.

Wisconsin could eliminate both Michigan and Michigan State from title contention by beating Iowa.

The Lions and Wolverines have split six games since Penn State entered the Big Ten for the 1993 season. Michigan has won the last two contests, 34-8 here in 1997 and 27-0 last season in Ann Arbor.

This game should come down to Michigan's running game against Penn State's rush defense.

The Wolverines' Anthony Thomas ranks 14th in the nation in rushing with over 113 yards per game. Penn State is 20th in the land against the rush, surrendering just 109.7 yards per contest.

MICHIGAN Season schedule and results	PENN STATE Season schedule and results
Sep. 4 Notre Dame W 26-22 Sep. 11 Rice W 37-3 Sep. 18 @Syracuse W 18-13 Sep. 25 @Wisconsin W 21-16 Oct. 2 Purdue W 38-12 Oct. 9 @Michigan State L 31-34 Oct. 23 Illinois L 29-35 Oct. 30 @Indiana W 34-31 Nov. 6 Northwestern W 37-3 Nov. 13 @Penn State 12:00pm ET Nov. 20 Ohio State TBA	Aug. 28 Arizona W 41-7 Sep. 4 Akron W 70-24 Sep. 11 Pittsburgh W 20-17 Sep. 18 @Miami (Fla.) W 27-23 Sep. 25 Indiana W 45-24 Oct. 9 @Iowa W 31-7 Oct. 16 Ohio State W 23-10 Oct. 23 @Purdue W 31-25 Oct. 30 @Illinois W 27-7 Nov. 6 Minnesota L 23-24 Nov. 13 Michigan 12:00pm ET Nov. 20 @Michigan State 1:00pm ET