Michigan State Football: Report card for Notre Dame win
ST. Last Week: N/R. SPECIAL TEAMS. B+.
The special teams were relatively quiet in this one. Michael Geiger didn’t attempt single field goal to redeem himself from a Week 1 miss, but he did make four extra points in as many tries. He didn’t have five because Michigan State decided to go for two after the first touchdown of the game, taking an 8-7 lead.
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Geiger needs to get as much practice in the field goal kicking game as he can before the big games in October and November just in case the games come down to that last-second three-point try again. Right now, he’s 0-fer on the season.
Jake Hartbarger had seven punts but only averaged about 38 yards per kick. This number is a bit deceiving since the Spartans did punt from around midfield quite often, leading to Hartbarger’s short kicks. He did have a long of 42 yards and pinned Notre Dame deep on a couple of occasions. He still remains a very reliable component of special teams play.
Darrell Stewart had a nice 26-yard kick return, but other than that, Delton Williams fielded a couple of pooches and basically went down right away. The coverage was nice, too, as Kevin Cronin had multiple touchbacks and the Spartans only allowed 20 yards per kickoff return.
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The ever-dangerous C.J. Sanders was held in check in the punt return game as Hartbarger avoided him as much as possible. He finished with just nine yards on two returns.
The grade for this group would have been much lower if the opening kickoff returned for a touchdown stood instead of being nullified with an illegal block in the back.