STATE COLLEGE — Daryll Clark and Sean Lee are not concerned about whom they will play.

The Penn State co-captains are concerned about winning every game.

That became obvious when the Nittany Lions' nonconference football schedule was a topic of discussion last month.

"The schedule is not soft," said Clark, a senior quarterback. "The teams are there for a reason. We go out, play and win football games. Simple as that."

According to the Sporting News, Penn State's nonconference schedule is ranked as the second worst among BCS schools.

The Nittany Lions are all but guaranteed to beat Akron, Syracuse, Temple and Eastern Illinois, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Those four opponents all had losing records last season and finished with a combined 18-30 mark.

If Penn State is in the national championship hunt, will a weak nonconference schedule prevent it from playing in the BCS title game?

"We see these teams as tough opponents," said Lee, a senior linebacker. "The Big Ten is always tough. It's always a bunch of tough games. ... A lot of that we can't control.

"We can only control going out and playing as well as we can."

The Nittany Lions will open the season against Akron Sept. 5 at Beaver Stadium. They follow that with consecutive home games against Syracuse and Temple. Penn State will entertain Eastern Illinois on Oct. 10.

"Everyone is looking ahead to the Big Ten opener," Clark said of the Sept. 29 home game against Iowa. "And I am the first to say, the first three, we are going against two good MAC teams. ... And we play Syracuse as well, a good team coming up."