Northwestern or Penn State?

This upcoming Saturday Northwestern plays Penn State at Noon in Evanston.

Given that our best win thus far came against Northwestern and going forward our best opportunity for a "good win", excluding The Game of course, is at Penn State, I was trying to decide who I'd like to win this one from the viewpoint of what's best for Michigan's resume.

Background: I expect this to be a close game. Penn State has looked better during October, but Northwestern definitely started the season on a stronger note. Also, the game is in Evanston and Penn State has only had to play one true road game (they were blown out in Columbus; they also lost a de facto neutral site game to Temple and barely squeaked by terrible Maryland in front of a mixed Baltimore crowd). Finally, last year Northwestern blew out Penn State in Happy Valley. 

On the one hand, you want our Northwestern win to look as strong as possible. Northwestern currently sits at 6-2 with remaining home games vs Penn State and Purdue, an away game at Wisconsin and a neutral site game at Solider Field vs. Illinois. Thus, Northwestern seems like they have a floor of 8-4 (Purdue and Illinois) and a ceiling of 10-2 (I view the PSU game a toss-up. Def will be underdogs in Madison, but they beat the Badgers last year as well). I think that Northwestern may need to win out to be ranked at the end of the season, especially if Duke remains unranked. It's possible that they'd be ranked at 9-3 if they lose closely to Wisconsin or PSU, but given how badly they were blown out by Michigan and Iowa, it may be difficult. 

On the other hand, it could be great to beat a ranked PSU team on the road during the final two weeks. However, I feel as though it's not certain that beating Northwestern would have PSU ranked given they still sit behind a few other teams in the "others receiving votes" category. Penn State also has a bye on November 14th, so they don't get a chance to boost themselves the week before. Also, as much as it pains me to say it, I see almost no chance that PSU beats Sparty in East Lansing to close the season, so, assuming that we beat them (don't want to think about the other way around, even though it's definitely possible) there's no way they'd finish ranked. Finally, Northwestern beating Penn State could leave the Nittany fanbase in a sour state over a long two weeks (because of the bye) that may damage the energy/emotion in the White Out. Any lessening of the crowd intensity, even if it's marginal, could bode well for our offense. 

Overall, I am inclined to root for Northwestern. What do you think?