This is supposed to be a preview for the Big Ten men's soccer tournament.

It was supposed to discuss the Penn State men's soccer team's outlook for the tournament and the rest of the season.

But the Nittany Lions' (7-10, 1-5) season may be over before you even read this.

That's the reality Penn State men's soccer coach Barry Gorman and his players will be facing when they take on Michigan State (11-4-2, 3-1-2) at 11 a.m. today at Armstrong Stadium in Bloomington, Ind., as the tournament's sixth seed.

In danger of suffering its first losing season in 35 years, the Lions, who were picked to finish second in the Big Ten, finally have their backs shoved completely to the wall. They need a win today and in their next two games to win the tournament and receive the automatic bid they need to get back into the NCAA tournament.

The Lions have pulled the miracle off before, taking last year's tournament by winning three consecutive one-goal games.

The problem for Penn State is that last year's improbable run occurred with the Lions as tournament host and fourth seed. Playing in Bloomington as the sixth seed isn't nearly as comforting.

Still, Gorman refuses -- as he has all season -- to downgrade his team's chances of making an impact on the national scene.

"This is the kind of team that, really, other teams would fear playing," Gorman said of his talented yet underacheiving team. "We look at game tapes and these guys are so close. It's just a matter of patching it up at one end and putting them in the back of the net at the other."

Here is a look at the tournament's top three seeds.

No. 3 Michigan State

The Lions' first round opponent, Michigan State, a high-scoring, high-octane team, defeated Penn State on Oct. 19 at home, by the score of 4-3.

The Spartans (11-4-2, 3-1-2) have been the conference enigma this year. While they managed to tie Big Ten regular season champion Indiana and play tough against No. 5 Notre Dame in a 1-0 loss, they suffered a tie to seventh seed Northwestern and needed two overtimes to beat fifth seed Wisconsin.

No. 2 Michigan

If the Lions get out of the first round, Michigan, the second seed, will probably be waiting for them.

This was an important season for Michigan's program and head coach Steve Burns. Burns said this was the year for the No.23 Wolverines (13-5, 5-1) to prove themselves as an elite program in the conference, up there with the likes of Penn State and Indiana.

They've done that and more, forcing Indiana into overtime before losing 2-1 and beating Penn State at Jeffrey Field 4-2.

Michigan has two imposing goal-scorers in juniors Mychal Turpin and Knox Cameron.

No. 1 Indiana

Indiana (11-3-4, 5-0-1) has consistently been Penn State's toughest opponent and enters the tournament with a conference regular season unbeaten streak that began in 1995.

The Lions have felt Indiana's wrath this season, falling behind 2-0 before a September match-up was rained out, then allowing three unanswered goals on Saturday in a heartbreaker, 3-2.

Hoosier head coach Jerry Yeagley will look to win the Big Ten title and NCAA championship in the last season of his 31-year career, and Penn State, if fortunate enough to win back-to-back today and tomorrow, would most likely face Indiana in the conference title game.