When the Michgian men’s gymnastics team takes to the mat this weekend, it will be looking to win its first Big Ten title since 2009, while exacting revenge on a Penn State team that handed the Wolverines a defeat earlier this year.

No. 3 Michigan (1-1 Big Ten, 11-2 overall) will travel to Minnesota for the Big Ten Championships on Friday and Saturday. The team portion of the competition will be held Friday night, with the individual competitions being held on Saturday.

A main focus for the Wolverines will be how they continue to respond to the “five-up, five-count” format implemented earlier this season. In this system, five gymnasts compete in each event with all of the scores counting toward the team’s score. In the previous format, six gymnasts competed in each event with the lowest score being dropped.

“Key No. 1 is the highest hit percentage with the format that we have with five guys competing and five scores counting,” said Michigan coach Kurt Golder. “Any miss could be very detrimental to your team’s score.”

Misses have hurt the Wolverines as of late, with several gymnasts falling during their routines — something that has affected the team’s overall score due to the change in the system.

“I think what we’re looking forward to the most is improving our consistency and our hit percentage,” Golder said.

If Michigan is able to get through the competition without any major faults or misses, it will have a very good chance at winning its 16th conference title.

“My expectation is that we’ll have a pretty high hit percentage,” said sophomore Stacey Ervin. “If we do that, hopefully we come out with a win.”

The biggest threat to Michigan is No. 1 Penn State. Earlier this year, the Wolverines lost to the Nittany Lions, 437.30-430.40. However, Michigan was missing two of its top gymnasts in sophomore Adrian de los Angeles, who didn't compete because he was participating at a competition in Canada, and junior Sam Mikulak, who didn't participate in all of his usual events due to some nagging injuries. This loss has given Michigan some motivation in this weekend’s matchup.

In addition to the scoring format change, the Wolverines will also have to deal with a different rotation of events. Normally starting its competitions with floor exercise, Michigan will start on high bar. The only previous experience Michigan has with the format was at the Windy City Invitational, its first meet of the year, in which the team came away with a first-place victory.

Starting on a different event also means that the Wolverines will end the competition on parallel bars, one of their better events. Michigan currently has three of the top-10 gymnasts in the nation on parallel bar with Mikulak, de los Angeles and fifth-year senior Syque Caesar. Caesar set the NCAA record earlier this year on parallel bar with a score of 15.90.

“We have a one-two-three punch with a good support cast behind them with the No. 4 and 5 man,” Golder said. “I think we can make up a lot of ground on that event.”

Another strong event for the Wolverines will be the all-around, with both de los Angeles and Mikulak competing. De los Angeles leads the nation in the four-event average with a score of 88.68. While Mikulak hasn't competed in all-around this year, his individual score averages put him near the top in the nation.

Ervin has also performed well over the entirety of the season, and he will be a key to success. He is ranked third in the nation on floor exercise with an average of 15.67 and fourth on vault with an average of 15.15.

Michigan’s ability to handle adversity — whether it be a fault or dealing with the new scoring system — will be critical to winning its first Big Ten title since 2009.

“A lot of times in championship meets whoever handles the adversity the best — because we are all going to have it — ends up winning,” Golder said.