This hasn’t been the season that Michigan State envisioned a few months ago.

Over the summer, the Spartans were being hailed as dark horse contenders for the Big Ten title, thanks in large part to a sizable contingent of returning starters on both sides of the ball. That contingent included defensive stars such as Joe Bachie, Kenny Willekes and Raequan Williams, who last year helped coach Mark Dantonio’s team finish No. 1 in the Football Bowl Subdivision against the run. Yes, the Spartans had some concerns on offense going into the 2019 campaign, but as Street & Smith’s noted in its preseason magazine, “even with an average offense, Dantonio’s team is capable of winning the Big Ten.”

Michigan State is not going to win the Big Ten. The Spartans may still have a mathematical chance, but any scenario that requires Ohio State to lose three of its final five games is, by definition, a long shot. Realistically, their hopes of reaching the league title game all but ended with back-to-back losses earlier this month to the Buckeyes and Wisconsin, games in which they were outscored by a combined margin of 72-10. They have given up more than 30 points in three consecutive games heading into this week’s matchup against Penn State. And even when they’ve played great defense, they haven’t always prevailed. In September, Arizona State escaped East Lansing with a 10-7 victory in a game that was decided when Matt Coghlin missed his second attempt at a tying field goal in the final seconds. Coghlin had hit the first attempt, but the Spartans were penalized for having 12 men on the field.

Those losses have combined with other setbacks – a series of injuries, a wave of midseason departures via the transfer portal – put a damper on what had been shaping up as a bounce-back season. But as they prep for their third consecutive game against a top-10 opponent, Dantonio and his team are undaunted.

“Young people are resilient,” the 13th-year Michigan State coach said. “That’s first and foremost what you see in them. … Young people have always been resilient and believe very strongly in themselves. Certainly, there’s disappointment, but people get up off the ground quick around here, and that’s what you have to do. If you’re going to succeed in the next step, then you had better get your mind right and get back up. That’s been the message from day one around here since we’ve walked in, and I think that’s the message in every program across the country.

“Now, can you do it or not is the next question, but you’ve got to first and foremost have the mentality that you’ve got to step forward, and that’s what we’ve tried to do here. We’ve maintained a positive approach and we’re trying to fix the things that we can fix and change the things that we cannot.”

The Spartans have every reason to maintain a positive approach this week, because they’ve consistently found ways to frustrate Penn State, having won five of the past six games in the series. There have been a couple of blowouts in that six-game stretch. In 2015, Michigan State overwhelmed the sanction-depleted Lions, 55-16, in East Lansing. A year later, PSU returned the favor, winning 45-12 in Beaver Stadium. But the past two were close games in which the Spartans managed to put together late scoring drives to pull ahead.

Last fall, Michigan State was nursing a number of key injuries and was a decided underdog heading into its visit to Penn State. But the Spartans kept the game close heading into the fourth quarter, and on their final drive, Brian Lewerke completed 5 of 8 passes, including a 25-yarder to Felton Davis with 19 seconds left for a touchdown that gave them a 21-17 victory.

The recent games in the series “have all been relatively close,” Dantonio said. “I think ’15 and ’16 were not, even though in both of those games, the game was relatively close at halftime or after, and then things happened with turnovers or whatever and they got out of hand a little bit. But [otherwise], they have been close games.

“I think they enjoy coming and playing in our atmosphere, and we enjoy going and playing in theirs, quite frankly. I think our guys got up for it, and we just try and take a positive approach to them, and we play well against them. Our confidence should be there [this weekend].”

Lewerke finished with 259 passing yards in last year’s game, and he’ll be crucial to Michigan State’s hopes this year. The Spartans have not been able to run the ball with much consistency, ranking 12 in the Big Ten and 110th in the FBS in rushing offense at 117.1 yards per game. When their offense has surged, as it did in a 31-10 win at Northwestern and a 40-31 victory over Indiana – it’s been Lewerke’s passing and running that have kept things moving. Against the Wildcats, he threw for 228 yards and three touchdowns. A week later against the Hoosiers, he threw for 300 yards and three TDs, while also rushing for 78 yards. He didn’t throw a single interception in either game.

Penn State is going to pose a different kind of challenge, as the Nittany Lions are ranked 12th in the country in total defense (282.1 yards per game) and third in scoring defense (10.0 points per game). But after a strong start against Michigan last week, the Lions had some trouble, as the Wolverines were able to put together two second-half touchdown drives and nearly a third. Had Ronnie Bell not dropped a pass in the end zone on his team’s final offensive play of the night, Michigan might well have sent the game to overtime.

The Spartans had a bye last week, so Dantonio had time to watch the Lions’ primetime appearance, and Michigan’s second-half rally definitely piqued his interest.

“You look at anything anybody does that they have success with and try to emulate that,” he said. “I thought they did a great job getting [back] in the game and trying to push through. I think there’s a message there: Down 21-0, they fought back. That’s a team trait, and they got back in the game. If anything, I thought the tide sort of turned a little bit in the second half as they came back. [But] you have to credit Penn State for closing it out at the end. They found a way, as well. It was a great football game to watch.”

If the teams’ recent history is any indication, this week’s game should be pretty entertaining, too. Said Dantonio, “We’ve played well against them, and we’ve found a way to win the last two years. So it should be exciting game to watch. It’s an opportunity to step forward and reset.”