Michigan State is entering the most difficult stretch on its schedule. And head coach Mark Dantonio says the month of October will define his team.

The Spartans kick off this month by hosting Northwestern on Saturday. They’ll then take on No. 11 Penn State and No. 15 Michigan in back-to-back weeks. MSU then closes out the month by hosting Purdue.

It’s really those middle two games that everyone else has circled. But Dantonio says the entire month is a key stretch for Michigan State.

“You don’t know when that’s gonna come,” Dantonio said when talking about finding his team’s identity. “These next four games sort of start to define you a little bit.”

Michigan State hasn’t been nearly as dominant early in the season as folks had expected. With so much talent returning, the Spartans were expected to be in contention for a B1G title and a potential bid in the CFB Playoff.

Yes, all of those things are still in front of them, but the product on the field hasn’t resembled anything close to a B1G contender.

But the month of October will give us a pretty good indication of when the Spartans are and whether or not they’re a threat in the East, the conference and the nation.