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Michigan State Football: What worked and what didn’t against Purdue

By Thomas Nikundiwe

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Mandatory Credit: Mike Carter-USA TODAY Sports

Special teams

It would be nice to have one week where it was all superlatives when speaking about the special teams. Unfortunately, this is not that week.

Jake Hartbarger has been the special teams hero for most of the year, but he was a bit of a goat in this one. Hartbarger fumbled a perfectly snapped ball, picked it up and ried to run with it and fumbled it even further back.

It was wet out there and these things happen, but it still wasn’t a good look and it led to Purdue’s first touchdown. Hartbarger also recorded a season-low 28 yard punt. Still special teams was not the team’s glaring weakness as it was the first couple of games.

What went well: Kick coverage staying solid

I’m not sure how long not giving up touchdown returns will be the good news for the special teams, but we are still too near the insanity of weeks one and two to let that go. So for now, good kick coverage will continue to be highlighted. The change in the kick coverage personnel seems to have done the job. We’ll keep an eye on it as the season progresses.

What didn’t: Geiger’s inconsistency

Michael Geiger missed another makeable and important field goal this week. He was able to make good on a second try that turned out to be the game winner, but a six-point cushion would have felt a whole lot better than a three-point cushion.

Missing these makeable field goal tries will come back to haunt MSU at some point. Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio State look like games that could be tightly contested — games where a field goal hit or miss might make all the difference.

Next: Michigan State vs. Purdue: Grading the Spartans' performance

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