Bernard Fernandez | THE NITTANY LINE: Nits' defense must pick apart Purdue

About Purdue: Senior wide receiver Dorien Bryant, from Swedesboro, N.J., has 64 receptions for 735 yards and eight touchdowns. He's pulled in 260 passes in his illustrious career. "He gets in and out of his cuts very fast, he always catches the ball with his hands and doesn't let it get into his body, where it can be bobbled," noted Penn State safety Mark Rubin ... For a pass-first team, the Boilermakers have a decent 1-2 rushing punch in tailbacks Kory Sheets (663 yards, 5.0-yard average) and Jaycen Taylor (421 yards, 6.3), who collectively have scored nine touchdowns ... Fifth-year senior defensive end Eugene Bright has four sacks in the past two games.

About Penn State: Injuries have limited him to three starts this season, but fifth-year senior guard John Shaw said the tendinitis in his knee has eased to a point where he's 100 percent, or close to it. "I feel like I've got my fire back," Shaw said ... It's not just sophomore defensive end Maurice Evans' 10 1/2 sacks, the second most in the Big Ten, that endears him to coach Joe Paterno. There's also that Brooklyn, N.Y., connection. "I knew he was from Brooklyn," Evans said of his 80-year-old coach. "We joke about it every once in a while. He grew up not too far from where I live" ... Talk about your late bloomers: Fifth-year senior tailback Rodney Kinlaw didn't make his first start for the Lions until Sept. 29, against Illinois, 53 games into his college career. After having rushed for only 326 yards before this season, he has 809 in 2007, sixth-most in the Big Ten.