Then they’ll return to Spartan Stadium to play Michigan, which looks as if it has turned the corner under head coach Rich Rodriguez. After that, the Spartans travel to Champaign, Ill., to take on an explosive Illinois offense similar to the one they saw out of Central Michigan.

The bottom line is that things aren’t getting any easier for the Spartans, which looked undisciplined and sluggish this weekend.

“We did have some penalties that cost us,” sophomore quarterback Kirk Cousins said. “Our program has prided itself on being disciplined and we can’t expect to win a lot of football games if we’re not going to be disciplined.”

The lack of discipline might have cost the Spartans the game Saturday when an offsides call with eight seconds remaining nullified a field goal attempt that was blocked by the Spartans. The Spartans had eight penalties for 81 yards, with pass interference and late hits occurring most often and hurting the Spartans most.

“Usually, in a loss, there is a lack of discipline and focus,” junior linebacker Eric Gordon said. “We knew what we wanted to do, but we didn’t execute it as well as we should have.”

With a tough stretch of games coming up, the Spartans need to shape up or they could come out of this stretch with a record of 3-3 — or even 2-4 — with the bulk of the Big Ten schedule remaining.

The team captains — Cousins, junior linebacker Greg Jones, senior wide receiver Blair White and senior cornerback Ross Weaver — need to get the team on the same page and ready for this stretch of games. For starters, they called a players-only meeting for Sunday afternoon in an attempt to bring the team together.

“We’re going to find out what kind of football team we have now and leadership is going to be huge,” Cousins said. “We just need to circle the wagons, make sure no one is pointing fingers, make sure we’re all on the same page and we’re going to get this corrected.”

The Spartans better correct their mistakes, because if they come out of this four-game stretch with a .500 record or worse, many fans who believe head coach Mark Dantonio has turned the corner with this program might start to jump ship.

“As I said when I first started, you find out about people when you get to this point,” Dantonio said after Saturday’s game.

With U-M’s football team on the rise and MSU losing to an in-state Mid-American Conference school, all the ground gained last year by this program might quickly disappear if the Spartans don’t turn it around.

The time is now for the Spartans. Will they come back from this tough loss, take a seventh straight victory in South Bend, Ind., and play at their top level for the rest of the season? Or will they buckle under the high expectations, as so many Spartan teams have in the past?

The Spartans need a Tim Tebow moment. Last season, after an upset loss to Mississippi, the Florida quarterback vowed that no team would work harder the rest of the season than the Gators. His team responded to their leader’s call and didn’t lose for the rest of the season en route to the national championship.

Players have praised Cousins’ ability to be a leader — his election as the second sophomore captain in school history is proof — and his leadership will be put to the test this weekend in a hostile environment. I expect Cousins to take the majority — if not all — of the snaps under center this weekend. This offense needs to show consistency and it starts with consistent players in the game.

The Spartans have one week to improve and make sure they don’t join the long list of Spartan teams that haven’t lived up to expectations.