BIG TEN Spartans hoping to snap losing skid

Michigan State has not won eight games in a season since 1999.
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan State is looking to improve its bowl position. Penn State is hoping to end its season with a rare victory.
Talk about a role reversal.
During last year's battle for the Land Grant Trophy, the Spartans ended their failed 4-8 season with a 61-7 loss at Beaver Stadium.
The Nittany Lions went on to play in the Capital One Bowl and entered this season hoping for a return trip to a New Year's Day bowl.
Michigan State came into the 2003 campaign hoping to improve on last year's showing and surprise some people.
The Spartans (7-4, 4-3) certainly have done that, thanks to senior Jeff Smoker's right arm, an aggressive defense and new coach John L. Smith's leadership.
A win would give Michigan State its first eight-win season since 1999. A loss would be the Spartans' fourth in a row after setbacks against Michigan, Ohio State and last week at Wisconsin.
"It's a heck of a year regardless of what happens from here on out," Smith said. "They've accomplished more than anybody ever thought they would have, maybe except us."
Rough season
Penn State (3-8, 1-6) has gone in the other direction, dropping six in a row for the first time in 70 years before finally winning 52-7 last week against Indiana.
"Sure we would love to win it and come out of the season with a couple of games under our belt where we won," said Joe Paterno, who will complete his 38th season as Penn State's coach.
Things have been so bad in Happy Valley that some of the faithful are calling on the 76-year-old Paterno to retire.
That, the coaching legend again said this week, is out of the question.
"Our office is filled with letters every day. I know what I am going to do," he said. "I am going to stay. Everybody may be out there having fun debating it, and that is great.
"If the university says, 'He isn't going to stay,' that is up to them. I am looking forward to working with this club. I really am."
Smoker is one of those who have come to Paterno's defense.
"He's a great guy, an intense guy. With as many people who are calling for his head, there are that many people who don't think it's right," said Smoker, a Pennsylvania native who wouldn't commit early to Penn State four years ago and eventually signed with the Spartans.
Smoker, the Big Ten leader in passing and total offense, will be going up against the conference's top-rated pass defense.
Looking for a win
Andrew Guman, a key member of the stingy Nittany Lion secondary, said a win is just what Paterno and Penn State need going into the off-season.
"It would be nice to win against a bowl contender and set the pace for the offseason going into next season," the safety said. "I think it would mean a lot, especially for confidence, just building for next year."
The Spartans want to erase the memories of last week's embarrassing 56-21 loss to the Badgers. Michigan State was done in by a porous secondary and a host of mental errors. The Spartans were called for 11 penalties against Wisconsin and have been flagged more than 100 times this season.
"Doggone it, our margin of error is so slight and so small that for us to come out and win against a good football team, we've got to come out and play smart, play right, play with emotion and play with abandon," Smith said. "We've got to have all those things working for us, or we're not going to come out and beat those people."