Other than junior running back Jeremy Langford, who rushed for a career-high 131 yards against the Boilermakers, it’s impossible not to be uneasy with where the Spartan offense is across the midway point of the season.

Yet, head coach Mark Dantonio doesn’t seem too concerned and maybe he’s on to something.

With similar concerns in 2012, the Spartans were 4-3 at the same point of the season, largely ineffective on offense and all-but-out of the discussion to make a trip to the Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis. Former MSU running back Le’Veon Bell could have donned Johnny Spirit’s inflatable helmet and hurdled everyone on the field and the Spartans still were doomed to be out of contention by November.

However, the reality of this team is that if the season ended today, the Spartans are playing Ohio State for a Big Ten title and a trip to the Rose Bowl — a goal for both of Dantonio’s teams, but only attainable to one.

“At the end of the day in 2011, they only ask one question: How many games you won, where did that take you to? Really how good was our defense relative to how good was our offense that year?” Dantonio said. “If we have to win 13?10, that’s what we do. If we have to win 43?40, that’s what we’ll do.

I think you have to play off each other in how the game is proceeding, too, in the game that’s going on.”

Taking a short drive down the highway to the University of Illinois this weekend, there’s a definitive trap element to the weekend’s matchup with Illinois (3:30 p.m., ABC).

The Fighting Illini (3-3, 0-2) are coming off back-to-back losses to Big Ten opponents by at least 20 points, only adding to what has been the Big Ten’s second-worst defense.

And with the Spartans just eight days away form a highly-anticipated matchup with Michigan, there likely will be a few minds thinking of redemption with the Wolverines, no matter how many players say their focus is on the task at hand.

Perception dictates a relatively easy victory; reality does not.

With new offensive coordinator Bill Cubit, Illinois has taken a giant leap from a season ago, averaging close to 150 more yards of offense per game than they did in 2012, they also are impossible to ignore with a playmaker at quarterback in senior Nathan Scheelhaase.

And given the Spartans were supposed to take care of Western Michigan, South Florida and Purdue and were unable to put together anything of substance in those games, expectations of this team are tapered, as they should be.

Earlier this week, Dantonio said the Spartans should expect to beat any of the remaining teams on the schedule, knowing the team is just a few offensive plays away from getting on the national radar.

“I still think we have a good football team if that’s what you’re asking, and I think we can play with anybody on our schedule and beat anybody on our schedule,” Dantonio said. “I don’t think we go into this game or any other game saying, in my mind, that we’re an underdog. But we’ll see how it all plays out.”

The perception of this team remains defined by an underwhelming, slow-paced offense, who probably has a better chance for a touchdown with the defense on the field — the team has accumulated five defensive touchdowns this season.

Even Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly admitted as much following MSU’s loss to the Fighting Irish earlier this year.

But if the team can avoid the trap game and keep finding ways to win, as they have for most of 2013, the reality will earn them a ticket to Indianapolis.

Dillon Davis is a State News football reporter. Reach him at ddavis@statenews.com.