If Joe Paterno thinks his quarterback has been comparatively attention-starved, wait until this week plays out.

The deck is cleared for Penn State-Ohio State, Saturday (3:30 p.m.) at Beaver Stadium. That also means Darryl Clark vs. Terrelle Pryor.

Pryor, the Buckeyes' sophomore QB, will no doubt be the most talked-about player in the run-up to the game. That makes him a star in ways that go beyond his actual performance on the field. It also makes him a lightning rod.

Pryor was arguably the nation's top, and undeniably it's highest-profile, recruit two years ago, after leading Jeannette (Pa.) High to state championships in football and basketball.

Penn State (8-1 overall, 4-1 Big Ten), and defensive coordinator Tom Bradley in particular, persued Pryor hard.

When same-conference rivals battle over a kid like Pryor, rabid fans of each school take the kid's decision almost as hard as an on-field victory or defeat.

The week before Penn State-Ohio State last year, after his team beat Michigan State, Pryor said, "I'm from Ohio now. That's still my hometown, but this is where I am now. I don't need to make Penn State happy."

You've got the wounds, he may as well have said, and I have the salt.

Since then, Ohio State coach Jim Tressel has made Pryor available to the media only sporadically, and not at all, last year, during Penn State week.

This is where Clark comes in. Consider the contrasts. Clark is from Ohio and plays for Penn State; Pryor is from Pennsylvania and plays for Ohio State.

Clark was lightly recruited out of high school; Pryor was a teenage celebrity.

Clark is as thoughtful, cooperative and professional with the media as any athlete, college or pro; Pryor, uh, don't need to make Penn State happy.

The most important contrast is that at least right now, Clark is a much better college QB.

He's completed 62 percent of his passes for nearly 1,900 yards, 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Pryor has completed 55 percent for a hair over 1,400 yards, 13 TDs and nine picks.

Clark's been even better lately. During Penn State's current five-game winning streak, he's thrown for nine touchdowns and run for five, with just one turnover.

In the last two games, conference road wins over Michigan and Northwestern, he's gone 38 for 58 (65 percent) for 504 yards and five touchdowns.

Of course, Pryor is the better runner, and he's rushed for 61 yards a game. Sacks bring down the yardage figure, but that's arguably deceptive since part of Ohio State's offensive MO is for Pryor to freelance, running around and creating.

Clark could probably do some of that, if asked. Even so, he's now Penn State's career leader in rushing touchdowns by a quarterback.

It's fair to point out that Clark hasn't won a big game against a top-shelf opponent. His only win against a team ranked in the top 25 was last year's blowout of Michigan State. He came up decidedly small in the losses to Iowa in 2008 and '09. He was unable to stem the USC wave in January's Rose Bowl, but Peyton Manning may not have been able to pull that off.

Clark left with a concussion in the second half of last season's 13-6 defeat of Ohio State at Columbus.

Backup Pat Devlin led the winning touchdown drive in that game, but did it mostly by handing off. That game was a defensive war that had relatively little to do with quarterbacking.

All of which is why, for Clark, Saturday's game figures to impact his Penn State legacy. He likely won't back away from that, when it comes up this week. And it will.

Last week Paterno made a point, in his weekly press conference, of saying that some of his players, Clark being exhibit A, weren't getting enough publicity or accolades.

"Whether you guys know it or not you guys have a little bit of prejudice and it shows,'' he scolded.

When the subject came up after the Northwestern game, Paterno said, "don't get me into that again.''

This week, he may not have much choice.

Nit Notes: The Big Ten story continues to be Iowa. The Hawkeyes trailed Indiana 21-7 at halftime Saturday. QB Ricky Stanzi threw four interceptions in the third quarter. And Iowa won the fourth quarter 28-0 and the game 42-24.

It's getting spooky. Iowa has the statistical profile of a sub-.500 team. It has trailed in eight of its nine games. The exception is 1-AA Arkansas State, which Iowa barely held on to beat.

The Hawkeyes are 9-0, ranked fourth in the country, and ranked second by the computer portion of the BCS, which doesn't take into account margin of victory.

Other than once-beaten Penn State and Ohio State, every other Big Ten team has at least three conference losses now. Barring an bizarre upset (although it's unclear if that term has meaning any longer), only Ohio State, which hosts Iowa Nov. 14, can get the league title and BCS automatic berth away from the Hawkeyes.

To so do, Ohio State would have to beat both Penn State and Iowa in back-to-back weeks.