Michigan State football kicker Ben Patton blocks out the noise for key field goals

EAST LANSING – To try and solve Michigan State football’s ongoing kicking problem, Mel Tucker last week turned to the rest of his players for help.

As in making noise. Lots of it. Right in their teammates’ faces as they went through an open field goal competition.

“The week has been exciting with that, actually,” wide receiver Jayden Reed said Saturday. “At the end of every practice, we would bring everybody else to run around to distract the kickers. We haven't been doing that all season.”

Ben Patton again earned the job vs. Rutgers, after a windy trip to Illinois resulted in the competition in the first place. The redshirt junior clanged an extra-point attempt in the second quarter and sent a 31-yard field-goal try wide right in the fourth quarter.

MSU hung on to upset the Illini despite Patton. But the competition and commotion calmed him going into Saturday’s game, and the Rochester native delivered fourth-quarter kicks of 34 and 48 yards that ended up the deciding points in a 27-21 victory.

“I really like having the guys in my ear. It kind of helps you drown out the noises in your own head, just having that white noise around you of having a large crowd,” Patton said Saturday after improving to 3-for-5 on field goal tries. “For me, it's more therapeutic than if I just had coach (Mel) Tucker in my ear saying the same stuff. It's a lot better to have the entire crowd there, kind of like it was out there for that 48-yarder. The fans were feeling it, they were excited, and we just went out there and got the job done.”

The Spartans (5-5, 3-4 Big Ten) host Indiana (3-7, 1-6) at noon Saturday in the final home game of the season at Spartan Stadium. Temperatures are expected to dip below freezing with snow possible, which will provide a physically frigid reminder of how far Patton has come in a year.

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The 5-foot-10, 205-pound graduate student transferred to MSU in August after completing his undergraduate degree in business administration and finance at Auburn, where he kicked his first three seasons. A first-team all-state selection at Rochester Adams High in 2018, Patton made both of extra point attempts and took two kickoffs in one game as a freshman in 2019. He served as a holder for five games in 2020 but didn't kick again for the Tigers until last season, making 5-for-6 field goals. That included two in the annual Iron Bowl rivalry against Alabama, including a career-long 49-yarder in the second overtime of Auburn's eventual 24-22 loss in four OTs.

“The weather is probably the biggest difference that you could sense,” Patton said of returning to Michigan from Auburn. “It's nice to get back. My parents are able to come to every game, my brother and just a bunch of family that hasn't been able to see me play being 13 hours away down in Alabama. It's a lot nicer being only an hour away from Rochester.”

Patton arrived at MSU midway through preseason camp and lost the job to Jack Stone, a true freshman. Stone missed two of his three field goal attempts, had another blocked and missed a PAT, and now handles kickoffs. The left-footed Patton made a cameo appearance and made an extra point against Maryland, then took full-time field goal duty in MSU’s win over Wisconsin. He is 11-for-12 on PATs.

Then Saturday, he found himself surrounded by reporters after seemingly stabilizing the kicking spot for now and showed he brought a little bit of the south home with him.

“I didn't get interviewed after the Iron Bowl, unfortunately. This is just kind of a surreal experience kind of looking around and seeing everybody here,” the 21-year-old said. “I feel more comfortable going out there and hitting the 48-yard field already talking in front of y'all.”

MSU ranks 94th nationally in scoring at 24.3 points a game, a big reason teammates embraced the opportunity during practice to try and disrupt and distract Patton, Stone and Stephan Rusnak as they took turns taking field goals.

“Since the whole team has been all eyes on our kicker for the past seven days, Ben hasn't missed one," quarterback Payton Thorne said. “Maybe that's what it takes. But it was huge. We won by six points and had two field goals. It was great to see. So credit to him with sticking through it the whole year.”

Patton said some teammates yelled in their faces, some sprayed water at them, one mocked the piece of tape Bryce Baringer put on the grass to help him with the hold – “He's like, 'That tape's not going to help you.' And I was like, 'Well, it's not for me, it's for the holder,'” Patton quipped.

The goal, though, he understood was to simulate the chaos and commotion of a gameday environment.

“The guys want to get you uncomfortable, because they want you to make your kicks when it really matters,” he said. “Going out there for practice, you can kind of downplay and be like, 'Oh, what's gonna happen if I miss this?' Not really anything - maybe your teammates are upset, maybe you have to run a lap or run down and back.

“But in games, obviously, there's a lot more riding on it. So just being able to have those guys hold you accountable in practice and kind of get on you in that sense allows you to be more locked in when it comes to the big show.”

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Patton also complimented Baringer for his holds and Michael Donovan for his snaps. And he also made sure to point to Jacob Slade’s block of a Rutgers field goal attempt that led to his critical second field goal that was a yard short of his Iron Bowl boot.

“It just emphasizes the importance of special teams," Patton said. "A lot of people harp on the the main four of kickoff, kick return, punt and punt return. But field goal is just as important, and so is field goal block.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State football's Ben Patton blocks out noise for key FGs