Up until about three weeks ago, the somber sight of the Penn State football team's postgame routine always looked the same. To the point where it seemed typical.

There were the Nittany Lions' offensive players, sounding embarrassed and ashamed, some talking as if it all was hopeless. And, there, the Penn State defenders, seething with anger and frustration, many trying to hold it inside while failing to really fool anyone during postgame interviews with reporters.

How strange it would have been, then, to see a newspaper article in which the words "Penn State football" and "optimism" appear very near to one another.

Well, here is at least one such article: the Penn State football players think they have reason to feel optimistic about next season after a 37-13 beat-down of Michigan State.

The sadness in the countenances of all the players was gone. The frustration, at least for now, took a vacation. Instead the Penn State football players got to strut proudly just a little.

A team that had been humiliated so often this season was anything but humble, for once.

"I think now we could go on a winning streak," sophomore defensive tackle Jay Alford said. "I feel real good about the team right now, how we're jelling."

Whether this optimism is at all useful to the Penn State football program is a matter that will often be -- and already has been -- refuted during the offseason. After all, what right does a 4-7 team have to be optimistic about its future?

Every right in the world, it would seem.

"That was our team out there," senior safety Andrew Guman said of the team's stellar play. "We knew we could play like this. ... We knew how good we could be."

And how good were they in the season finale on Nov. 19 in Beaver Stadium? Hard to say.

They were good enough to force five turnovers. Good enough to go 5-for-6 in the red zone. They were rolling, all right. To the point where you can see why Alford would say this: "I definitely wish next season would start already."

But there are facts that are easily overlooked. Like the fact that the Spartans lost their starting quarterback, Drew Stanton, to injury in the third quarter. Or that MSU, which beat then-No. 4 Wisconsin the week before playing Penn State, is 0-for-its-last-7 in weeks following upsets of top-10 opponents.

Junior defensive end Tamba Hali, known as one of the straightest shooting realists on the team, put the win in a little more perspective.

"Four-and-seven is bad, not good at all," he said.

"[But] it is a stepping stone coming off a win at Indiana. This game, going into next year, it's a positive look for the team."

However...

"We gotta get back to work," Hali continued, "gotta get busy, get faster, stronger just come back with the attitude that we can't keep losing anymore."

Will the losing stop? No one can know until the ball is snapped for the first time next fall. The team, though, sounds as confident as ever.

And for Penn State fans, that's about as good as it's going to get right now.