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EAST LANSING — Senior linebacker Antjuan Simmons has been named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week and redshirt senior kicker Matt Coghlin has earned Big Ten Special Teams Co-Player of the Week honors following MSU’s win over No. 8 Northwestern last Saturday.

Simmons and the Spartan defense held the previously undefeated Wildcats to 20 points and 63 yards rushing in the victory. The Ann Arbor, Michigan, native logged a game-high 13 tackles, including two tackles for loss and a 4-yard sack. He has recorded double-digit tackles in four of MSU’s five games this season and ranks second in the Big Ten with 10.6 stops per game (53 total tackles). Simmons also leads the Spartans with 6.5 tackles for loss.

Coghlin was 3-of-4 on field goals against the Wildcats, including the game-winner from 48 yards out with 3:35 left in the game that put MSU on top, 23-20, in the eventual 29-20 win. Coghlin also connected from 44 yards and 22 yards in the game. He now has four game-winning field goals in his career (34-yarder as time expired to beat No. 7 Penn State in 2017; 21-yarder with five seconds left to defeat Indiana in 2019; 33-yarder with 2:14 remaining to beat Maryland in 2019).

This marks the third time in his career Coghlin has earned Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week accolades (2017 vs. Penn State, 2018 vs. Indiana).

Michigan State (2-3) returns to action at noon on Saturday, to host No. 3/4 Ohio State (4-0) in Spartan Stadium at noon on ABC.