It’s often overlooked, but special teams is one of the most important facets of a football game, and after Saturday’s 20-3 loss to No. 11 Notre Dame (3-0), the No. 21 Spartans (2-1) know it better than anyone else.
Against the Fighting Irish, MSU had its fair share of struggles on special teams, with senior kicker Dan Conroy missing an early 44-yard field goal attempt and sophomore running back Nick Hill returned only one punt, for a total of six yards.
The lack of a return game factored hugely against MSU’s offense, giving the Spartans an average starting field position at their own 20-yard line, being pinned inside the 15-yard line four times during the game.
One of those came when Hill, back to return the punt, let the ball roll instead of calling for a fair catch where it was downed at MSU’s own six-yard line.
“I felt overall my performance was all right,” Hill said of Saturday’s game. “(On the) punt, I thought I made pretty good decisions back there … I’ve been hearing there’s a couple I should have caught, but our scheme is that if it’s inside the 10-yard line, you’ve got to let it go.”
Head coach Mark Dantonio said during Tuesday’s press conference he wasn’t overly concerned with Hill allowing the punt to roll inside the 10-yard line, but that he would have to emphasize getting some room to run on returns in practice this week.
Dantonio also downplayed any potential concerns with Conroy, who is four-for-seven on field goal attempts this year.
“I know he missed a couple, but nobody’s perfect,” Dantonio said. “He’s very hard on himself; (he) needs to get in the groove. He’ll do the job; he’s done it here in the past.”
Revisiting the run
One bright spot in MSU’s loss came from junior running back Le’Veon Bell, who did the most he could with limited touches. Bell carried the ball 19 times for 77 yards and had four catches for 20 receiving yards.
When the Spartans were unable to get moving in the second half, Dantonio switched to a hurry-up offense, running less and throwing more. He said in Tuesday’s press conference he may have made a mistake becoming impatient with the game plan, but Bell agreed that the offense needed to be jump-started somehow.
“A three-yard run is a good run,” he said. “But at the same time, (in) a good defense, you have to have some type of explosive play; you can’t take it in from the 10-yard line every time.”
Although the Spartans were knocked down by Notre Dame, Bell said he’s been assuming more of a leadership role in practice to make sure his teammates don’t get down on themselves. Bell said he’s been leading by example, putting forth more effort and enthusiasm and hoping it catches.
“I’m not allowing this team to fall backward,” he said. “I’m going to make sure everyone keeps their heads held high as we move forward.”
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