As the game clock wound down at Spartan Stadium on Saturday, MSU players added the final chapter to what has become a storybook season. Finally, they found the redemption they had been working and searching for all season after defeating Penn State.

"It feels good to end on a win," senior quarterback Jeff Smoker said of the 41-10 mauling. "We turned a complete 180. To go from 4-8 to 8-4 is quite an accomplishment."

After the Spartans' tumultuous 2002 season ended on a sour note in Happy Valley, MSU turned around its losing ways to become the 2003 success story of the year.

In the final game of last season, MSU fell 61-7 to Penn State. Senior defensive end Greg Taplin said the team didn't enjoy playing in Pennsylvania.

"It was like 20 degrees outside and the coaches didn't want to be there and we didn't want to be there," Taplin said. "It was terrible."

But this year's game, like the two seasons, was the polar opposite. MSU dictated play, scoring 41 straight points. Taplin and his teammates "had fun" in the season finale.

The payback win was the climax of their comeback, according to sophomore receiver Aaron Alexander.

"Last year, (Penn State) didn't let up in the second half," Alexander said. "So that's what we tried to come out and do."

Senior receiver Ziehl Kavanaght said he had a good feeling about this season because of changes in the program, and that has been building with every game.

"I just felt that this year, we would do good because we had a good coaching staff and everything," Kavanaght said. "It wasn't just this game."

Throughout the season, MSU avenged losses from last year, beating Notre Dame, Iowa, Minnesota and Penn State. Before they picked up the Ws, though, the Spartans went through many offseason changes.

In December, John L. Smith was hired as the head coach of the Spartans and was told he had some low expectations in East Lansing. But after exceeding everyone's prospected finish, Smith was proud and at a loss for words at the same time.

"I don't know what to say," Smith said. "When we started this thing off, everybody said, 'You win four and it would be an amazing year,' and we kind of said that.

"Then we got to five and we said we're stretching it now. Six, and that was kind of disbelief. I don't know, for this team to win football games, it's just unbelievable to me. They've done a tremendous job."

Smith said the only "bump in the road" was the loss last week to Wisconsin in Madison.

"Other than that, I think we overachieved all year - even if we didn't win them all."