This was a nauseating feeling.

Not that there was much that wasn't sickening to the Nittany Lions about a 3-9 2003 campaign, but somehow this very game was the worst of all.

Fresh off a 52-7 dismantling of Indiana a week earlier, Penn State ventured to East Lansing, Mich., to try and ride some momentum to a somewhat bright finish to a dismal season.

But instead of putting up a fight as they had in every other loss, the Lions packed it in against Michigan State in the finale, getting embarrassed by the Spartans, 41-10.

"It was tough going out like that last year -- it had a bad tone," quarterback Zack Mills said. "But any time you can end on a win is great. We can go into the offseason program like that and help guys out with confidence."

A year later finds the Lions (3-7, 1-6 Big Ten) in the same situation -- on the surface.

A disappointing three-win season and a final matchup tomorrow against the surging Spartans, this time at Beaver Stadium.

But the mantra for this season's Lions has been the belief that they are a different team from last year. And this otherwise anticlimactic final game perhaps gives them the opportunity to prove just that.

A win tomorrow might just help carry some optimism over into the offseason and at the same time avenge last year's lopsided defeat by ending the Spartans' (5-5, 4-3) bowl hopes.

"People might not think it makes a difference, but it's something we had this week," fullback Paul Jefferson said. "The fact that we won a game, it paid off. No one practices and works hard to lose. That upbeat feeling, momentum and tempo we have going can go through to the offseason and continue through to next year."

Since the preseason, this team has insisted that it's a different team than last year. And while their record might not indicate it heading into this last game, the Lions' conviction certainly does.

As the record got ugly last season, so did the team. Players talked this offseason about some of the finger pointing that went on and the fractured atmosphere that it created in the locker room.

But, as the players have repeated all season, the attitude of this year's team is far more positive than it ever was last year, despite the losing.

"Maybe six weeks ago I said we may not win another game, but this team is still so much different than last year's team in its attitude and how it handles itself," Mills said. "I don't think you'll see what you saw last year against Michigan State. We're more mature and definitely a lot closer."

Whether all of that will amount to a win, though, remains to be seen. This Spartans team looks to be more talented than the one that crushed the Lions, but it's certainly more schizophrenic.

Not much was expected of a team that got beaten by Rutgers in its first game of the season, but the Spartans now find themselves on the cusp of a bowl bid if they can beat Penn State and Hawaii to finish the season. This only a week after blowing out previously unbeaten Wisconsin 49-14.

Penn State's goals, at this point, are obviously far more abstract.

Penn State coach Joe Paterno is looking more toward the future and building on that closeness that his players have talked about all year.

"There is a sense of loyalty to each other," Paterno said. "Of, 'Hey, we stuck together. And if we stay together and we all come out of this season and go to work in the winter program and go to work in the spring and bring in some kids where we need them in certain spots, we are going to be a good football team. That is what we need. Win or lose, I don't think is that important."