Both teams come into the year in somewhat of a role reversal, as a win for the Nittany Lions places them in the Big Ten title game if the University of Michigan loses to Ohio State University earlier in the day. Last year, a win over Penn State sealed a trip to the Big Ten championship for MSU.

The Spartans come off a hard fought 17-16 loss to No. 2 Ohio State, having shown improvement along both the offensive and defensive lines. Penn State rides a seven-game winning streak, outscoring opponents 278-130.

Here are some takeaways from Dantonio’s press conference as MSU heads into the game with Penn State and the offseason.

1. Youth Movement:

The Spartan youth took over the game against Ohio State as a plethora of freshmen and sophomores saw snaps and made plays as they delivered MSU to the cusp of an upset bid. Sophomore running back LJ Scott led the way on offense while the likes of freshman Mike Panasiuk, sophomore Dillon Alexander and sophomore Robert Bowers recorded multiple tackles on the defensive line.

“All these guys, Mike Panasiuk, Raequan (Williams), all these guys are playing maybe their best football right now,” Dantonio said. “I think collectively as a football team our last two weeks may have been our best two weeks.”

As the season has progressed Dantonio has inserted his younger players into larger roles, as many of the experienced players have failed to live up to expectations or have been passed up in practice.

“I think as a young player the learning curve is maybe more drastic,” Dantonio said. “You're going to learn faster. I think there is more to learn, obviously, so you have more to gain, more room to grow.”

2. McDowell’s Future:

Junior defensive lineman Malik McDowell has been out since he suffered an injury to his left ankle in the second half of a 31-27 loss to Illinois and was not listed on the depth chart against Ohio State or Penn State.

“I just left the depth chart as it was last week, basically, so we'll see whether he can practice or not and make decisions as the week goes on,” Dantonio said.

McDowell has been projected as a top 10 NFL draft pick in multiple draft projections and he’ll have until Jan. 16 to decide if he’ll enter the draft.

Before the season McDowell told the press he would not leave MSU unless he unless he would be taken within the first three picks of the draft.

Dantonio did not speculate on McDowell’s decision and said those choices are “internal.”

3. Quarterback Conundrum:

Fifth-year senior Tyler O’Connor is listed on the depth chart as the starter against Penn State in what will ultimately be his last game in a Spartan uniform.

With junior quarterback Damion Terry speculated to return to the team, it’s raised questions of whether Terry should start the final game over O’Connor in order to acquire more experience heading into next season.

Dantonio, however, mentioned that both players will probably play against Penn State as they have in nearly every game of the season.

“There is a little conflict there, yeah, because Tyler has done a great job, but there are no givens here,” Dantonio said. “Damion has a future here, too, so I think that you will see both those guys.”

4. Into the offseason

At 3-8 MSU has been out of bowl contention for the greater part of the last three weeks, ending a nine-year bowl streak that’s afforded the Spartans valuable extra practices.

“This has an ending point, now it starts,” Dantonio said of the upcoming year. “That's the biggest thing. We'll handle it, and everybody will be all in.”

The Spartans will return many, if not all, of the young players who have taken over various roles as the season has progressed, placing the Penn State game as a potential boost for the season if MSU is able to come out with a win.

“The reality of the situation we've had so many injuries and so many young players playing that it's been like bowl practice,” Dantonio said. “They even get an added uplifting, because they get to play in games, too, so our young players are playing, most of them, or a lot of them.”

Dantonio mentioned the last few weeks of practice have added participation of redshirting players in order to move their progress along. MSU’s Big Ten title game and College Football Playoff appearance afforded an extra week of “business” practices that kept a lot of the redshirt-freshmen from being looked into, Dantonio said.

MSU will head into the off-season with a renewed emphasis on evaluating individual players, especially younger players, as Dantonio said each player would receive a tape of their performances.

5. Bye Week Shuffle:

MSU was slated to open the 2017 season with a bye week but Dantonio announced Tuesday that a possible change has been made to the schedule though he said he would not speculate as to what exactly changed.

“I think that's been accomplished, but I think they (Athletics Director Mark Hollis and administration) should be the ones to recognize that,” Dantonio said of moving around the bye week.

MSU had an unusually early bye week this season in week two.