It's like a bad dream - Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin, again.

In control of their own destiny, (that meaning a possible Rose Bowl trip) the MSU football team has, for the second straight season, let things slip away in its most crucial three-game stretch.

"That was brought up Sunday after practice when we were in the coaches' locker room," head coach John L. Smith said. "We're sitting around and shooting the breeze and someone says, 'Well, you know we could be playing for the Rose Bowl this week.' Aw, Gaw!!"

Smith's outburst seemed like he was trying to wake himself up, but at this point reality has set in for him and his team. The Spartans must beat No. 4 Wisconsin (9-0 overall, 6-0 conference), not only to avoid losing to the Wolverines, Buckeyes and Badgers three straight times in back-to-back seasons, but more importantly, to keep alive their hopes to go to a bowl game.

"It's a one-game season," senior safety and captain Jason Harmon said. "The competition we've been playing has been crazy.

"We can play with these guys though, they're no better than Michigan," he said. "We're just going to have to finish. We can pull it out if we come together, realize how we've been hurting ourselves and fix those things."

It wasn't a one-game season two weeks ago in Ann Arbor, when the Spartans (4-5, 3-3) led the Wolverines by 17 points with under seven minutes left. But, without sophomore quarterback Drew Stanton and giving up an onside kick, the Spartans blew the lead and went into three overtimes, where they lost.

It was a different story the next week against Ohio State, when the Buckeyes jumped to a 17-0 lead. The Spartans climbed all the way back, chipping away at the lead and then taking the lead 19-17 with a little more than three minutes left. Again, late touchdowns cost them the game, as Ohio State scored twice in the final 1:37 of the game.

Smith said he can't remember ever having back-to-back losses like the ones MSU has suffered this year during the last two weekends.

"Not two in a row like this," Smith said. "Two in a row that are heartbreakers, where you have (the win). Normally, the law of averages says that you're going to win one of those."

Players like Harmon and senior defensive tackle Kevin Vickerson said they have been through this before and don't want to have to go through it again this season.

"It's all on us to come together as offense, defense, special teams, coaching staff, everybody - a closed fist," Vickerson said. "Let's lock the fingers and let's do it."

All week, Smith has talked about finishing, which has been the problem the last two weeks. But you could argue it was the way MSU started the game that hurt them as much or more than the finish.

Last year, however, the Spartans never even had a chance to finish any one of these three games.

U-M led from start to finish, MSU had a 7-3 lead against Ohio State but lost it in the second quarter and never got back in the game, and Wisconsin blew the Spartans out 56-21.

"It was the one game that was very disappointing as a coach, because I thought we hung it up," Smith said.

But MSU was able to afford those loses in a sense, being as they had entered that stretch already bowl eligible last year.

Senior running back DeAndra Cobb said that's not going to be the case on Saturday at Spartan Stadium.

"It was a little different last year," Cobb said. "We took Wisconsin light - it won't be the same this year."

At the Monday press conference, Smith called the game a gut-check and a big challenge, but says his team is going to be ready.

So far this year, the Spartans have never given up.

After starting 1-2, they fought back at Indiana when they were down 20-7 at halftime, they didn't give up after blowing a 17-point lead at U-M and they didn't give up when down 17-0 to Ohio State.

With one bullet left in the chamber, facing the highest-rated team they've faced all season, the Spartans haven't rolled over all season.

MSU will take the field on Saturday looking to erase what might have gone wrong in the past - for as of right now, there is still a future.

"The season's not over with, we can still be 7-5," Vickerson said.

"By us winning this game, it should help us out in some kind of way."

A win would set off some kind of alarm, awaking the Spartans, only for them to realize they would still have to win two more games - against Penn State (2-7, 0-6) and Hawaii (4-4, 4-3) - to be bowl eligible.