MSU’s head coach Mark Dantonio who continues to coach from the press box as he recovers from a heart attack he suffered last month cited team maturity in dealing with a 6-3 deficit at halftime to stay unbeaten and tied for first place in the conference.
“The thing I wanted to see out of our football team was maturity. And when you can handle adversity and come back in the second half, you show a lot of maturity,” he said.
In the first half Illinois defense gave up very little ground. Michigan State gave up two field goals with the help of penalties and a muffed punt return by Keshawn Martin to trail 6-3.
In the second half however Michigan State was the team that stepped it up defensively. MSU had two of its three interceptions and a forced fumble in the second half. All-American linebacker Greg Jones finished with 14 tackles. Robinson, cornerback Johnny Adams and safety Marcus Hyde grabbed the interceptions.
Illinois quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase, a redshirt freshman, finished 15-of-27 for 141 yards and three interceptions.
Illinois had a 123-77 advantage in total yards at halftime, but MSU led 294-255 by the end of the game.
“I was not real excited at halftime. I thought we were sluggish in the first half,” Narduzzi said. “We came in at halftime, cleaned some things up and the boys came out to play in the second half and played some championship football.”
This was not only the first time Michigan State has gone 7-0 since 1966, it is the first time all season that Michigan State has had trouble running the ball. MSU only had 4 rushing yards when the half time whistle blew.
Much of that was because of the Illini (3-3, 1-2), who have lost to two unbeaten ranked teams (Missouri and Michigan State) and held both to their lowest point total of the season.
Quarterback Kirk Cousins, who was 13-of-24 passing for 201 yards, lofted a pass to a open B.J. Cunningham for 48 yards and a touchdown with 8:26 remaining in the third quarter. That score put the Spartans ahead 13-6 and was the first touchdown of the game.
Sophomore Larry Caper, who had a 15-yard sew-up touchdown run with 2:35 remaining, led MSU rushers with 37 yards.
Otherwise, it was kicker Dan Conroy, a former walk-on, who did the scoring for MSU. He also set a school record for consecutive field goals made to start the season. He made four Saturday and has 13 on the season.
The past record was 10, set by Paul Edinger in 1999. The all-time record for consecutive field goals at MSU is 15, set by Brett Swenson, the kicker Conroy is following in the role.
“I can’t get ahead of myself, but when I do go out there I feel confident,” Conroy said.
The University of Michigan wasn’t as fortunate in their 38 to 28 homecoming loss at the hands of the Iowa Hawkeyes. 
Much like the last few games, mistakes and turnovers turned out to be costly for the Wolverines. During the first five games of the season, Michigan only turned the ball over once however, in their last two games, Michigan has turned the ball over SEVEN times. This included four more on Saturday with three interceptions and a fumble.
Special teams continued to be a factor for Michigan as well. For the second straight week, they had a field goal that was blocked.
To make matters worse for Michigan, Denard Robinson left the game in the third quarter with what appeared to be an arm injury when he was hit in his right arm while running for a first down. In his relief, Tate Forcier came on and attempted to lead Michigan to a comeback that fell short. Forcier finished 17 of 26 passing for 239 yards in less than two quarters of work, throwing one TD pass, running for another score while throwing two interceptions. The final interception was the dagger for the maize and blue.
In the end, 522 yards of total offense against an Iowa defense that was allowing an average of 242.2 — fourth best in the country — wasn’t enough. Michigan limps into its bye week with two straight losses.
