The Spartans had an ok special teams game against Illinois. There were no major disasters, and the Spartans did force a turnover on special teams recovering a fumble on an Illinois kickoff return. There were a multitude of reasons that the Spartans lost the game to Illinois, but special teams play wasn’t among them.
Place Kicking
Matt Coghlin was perfect last week, making all four extra points and two field goals. He connected on a 46-yard field goal with a little over three minutes left to extend MSU’s lead to four. It was a big kick at the time and forced Illinois to need a touchdown to win.