Vice Presidential Debate Schedule: 5 Things to Expect For the Ryan vs Biden Debate

Here are five things to expect during Thursday's vice presidential debate between VP Joe Biden and Republican nominee Paul Ryan:

1) Age vs experience 

There's more than a quarter century between Biden and Ryan. It will be interesting to see if 69-year-old Biden can keep up with Ryan at age 42. Quick fun fact: Ryan is the same age as Biden's oldest son. But Biden's engaging and able to connect well with the average American. He's done it before, and can do it again.

Polls definitely show Romney came out strong to debate last week, and put Obama back to the drawing board for debate prep. We're sure to see Biden try to pick up the energy and build up some lost momentum from last week's poor showing.

On Thursday, we'll see the Wisconsin Congressman take his first step into the national debate spotlight. He's been preparing for quite some time and has a lot to prove (a recent Gallup poll gives Ryan a 44% unfavorable vote). He knows his tax and federal policy facts, but will he get choked up on national security and foreign policy?

Biden will try to jump to the offensive and criticize Ryan's controversial proposed spending cuts and Medicare plans. There's the high chance that this can fall into a very narrow policy wonk debate that disengages the average voter. But Ryan and Biden will probably stick to their VP roles as aggressive and offensive advocates for their presidential candidates.

Big Bird was a winner last week. And you could even say Obama and Romney both pulled out wins (at least when you compare them to Lehrer's moderator performance). But don't worry, we'll see how well ABC's Martha Raddatz keeps Biden and Ryan on task.

The debate will be held at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, from 9:00 p.m. - 10:30 p.m., moderated by ABC's Martha Raddatz. For live coverage, including real-time analysis, live stream, and updates, follow along here.