EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Damone Jones, frustrated and disappointed in the way his final game ended put it best, saying it was "Murphy's Law" that doomed Penn State this season.

He defined it, "Anything that could possibly go wrong, did go wrong."

The special teams saw this happen time after time.

Penn State's special teams have been a problem all season and against the Spartans it was no different. The one area that saw improvement was in the return game, but the usually solid punting game faltered. Penn State's place kickers have struggled all season, especially from longer than 40 yards.

"This is as bad of a football game we have played in some time," Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said "We broke down in so many ways. We broke down in the kicking game."

On one hand, the kick return team looked as good as it has all season, mainly due to Calvin Lowry's play.

He averaged almost 40 yards per kick return and over nine yards per punt return. But then on his final punt return of the afternoon he took his eyes off the ball and it deflected off his arms and bounced into the arms of Michigan's State Jeremiah McLaurin.

"We did a better job in our return game," Paterno said. "I think Lowry showed a lot of spunk out there."

Lowry also made several tackles on punt coverage.

But Penn State did allow the big return. On one of the few kicks that David Kimball didn't get out of the end zone, DeAndra Cobb returned it 54 yards into Penn State territory. Penn State's defense held and forced the Spartans to punt.

Punter Jeremy Kapinos has been reliable all season. On Saturday, he had a statistically sound game, averaging 40 yards on nine punts, but the numbers were misleading.

For the first time he shanked a punt that went off the side of his foot and traveled nine yards, giving Michigan State very good field position at its own 37-yard line. The Spartans marched the ball down the field and scored on the possession.

Then, for the second time this season, a Kapinos punt was blocked. The first block came against Iowa and was picked up and returned for a touchdown. The punt on Saturday was only partially blocked by Kiel Beltinck and traveled seven yards. The block was similar to the Iowa one as Beltinck came right up the middle.

The blocked punt followed a missed kick, which has become all too familiar for the Lions' faithful.

Robbie Gould drilled a 29-yarder in the first quarter. Before the half, he had a chance to cut the Spartans lead but missed on a 47-yard field goal. Entering the game, Gould was 2-for-8.

The special teams' poor play was only part of the reason for the 31-point defeat, as the offense and defense struggled mightily too.