STATE COLLEGE — Penn State's proficiency in the kicking game has won the Nittany Lions their fair share of football contests over Joe Paterno's four-plus decades as head coach.

This year, however, the magic seems to be missing. While the Nittany Lions have an excellent punter in Jeremy Boone and a capable kicker in Collin Wagner, their kickoff and punt units have stumbled on several occasions.

Boone has had two punts blocked, one returned for a touchdown that proved to be the turning point against Iowa. Last week at Northwestern, the Lions were penalized for having 12 men on the field on a punt return and later defended a field goal with 10.

The numbers are hideous. Penn State is in the bottom 10 among 120 teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision in net punting (114th) and defending punt returns (113th). For return averages, the Lions stand 110th for kickoffs and 101st for punts.

This could make things a little uncomfortable for the Penn State fans who will jam Beaver Stadium Saturday to watch the 11th-ranked Nittany Lions (8-1 overall, 4-1 Big Ten) battle No. 15 Ohio State (7-2, 4-1), especially since any error could be fatal to whichever team commits it.

That's what happened last year. Penn State converted Terrelle Pryor's fumble early in the fourth quarter — the first turnover of the game — into a 38-yard touchdown drive led by then-backup quarterback Pat Devlin in the Lions' 13-6 victory that allowed them to remain undefeated.

Paterno, who said after Boone's most recent blocked punt against Michigan that "each game we go in, I'm more worried about the kicking game," knows the importance of solid special-teams play Saturday.

"Make a couple of mistakes in the kicking game and that will beat you," he said. "So that's important to us."

The Buckeyes have better numbers than Penn State on special teams, but they also are uneasy Saturday. Starting kicker Aaron Pettrey is out after suffering a knee injury last week, putting his duties in the hands of either backup Ben Buchanan or 26-year-old walk-on Devin Barclay, a former pro soccer player.

"I'm not sure anyone expected that, but that's part of football," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said of Pettrey's injury.