Maryland’s defense forced Michigan State’s offense into a third and ten at the Spartans’ own 16-yard line, with less than two minutes to go and the game tied at 24. Spartan quarterback Aidan Chiles received the snap in the shotgun and fired an incomplete pass to Nick Marsh on the right side. As the ball fell to the ground, it settled right next to a yellow penalty flag.
A pass-interference call on Jalen Huskey kept the Spartan drive alive and they didn’t waste their second chance. Michigan State drove the ball into field goal range for its sixth year kicker, Jonathan Kim. From 37 yards out, Kim sent a go-ahead field goal right through the yellow uprights.
Michigan State beat Maryland on Saturday, 27-24, in the teams’ first conference game of the season. The win is Michigan State’s first against the Terps since 2021 and fourth in College Park.
“We didn’t get it done. Special teams, penalties, the big plays on defense, and then the inability to run the ball on offense,” said head coach Michael Locksley. “When I see that from a big picture things, here’s what I see. I see all those things are correctable.”
Maryland was penalized nine times for a total of 80 yards, the majority of which came on the defensive side of the ball. Two of Maryland’s eight penalties resulted in a first down for Michigan State.
The penalties weren’t the only struggles that Maryland’s defense had.
Michigan State found several holes in the Maryland secondary, completing four passes of 20 or more yards. The longest play was a 77-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter that tied the game at 24 immediately after the Terps’ Jack Howes missed a 41-yard field goal that would’ve put Maryland up by ten.
The pass came from Chiles and landed in the hands of the freshman receiver Marsh who raced past the Maryland secondary all the way to the endzone. Marsh finished as the Spartans’ leading receiver with eight catches and 194 yards.
“We were poor in the middle of the field. We were poor in deep parts of the field with play action shots,” said Dante Trader Jr. “… So, biggest thing is, like, we got a lot of young corners, so I got to do better, [Glendon Miller] has to do better, you know, to help these young players gain confidence.”
Chiles ended the game with 363 passing yards to go along with three touchdowns and a 62% completion percentage.
“Our goal was to make him beat us throwing the football and guess what, he did,” said Locksley.
Despite the Terps’ defensive struggles, they excelled at taking the ball away. Maryland’s defense forced three Spartan turnovers, all of them interceptions.
Huskey earned his first interception as a Terp and Glendon Miller added on to his first interception of the season against UConn, with two more in this game. Miller is the first Terrapin since 1995 to have three interceptions in the opening two games of a season.
The Terps’ offense leaned heavily on the passing game.
Billy Edwards Jr. completed 26 of his 34 passing attempts for 253 yards and two touchdowns. Edwards Jr.’s first touchdown was a 15 yard pass to Tai Felton on the game’s opening drive and his second was to tight end Dylan Wade in the fourth quarter. Felton led the Terps in receiving for the second straight week, totaling 11 catches and 152 yards.
Maryland’s offense got minimal help from the running game, being held to 86 yards — 2.8 yards per carry — by the Michigan State defense. Roman Hemby led the running back room with 35 yards on 12 carries. Edwards Jr. scored the Terps lone rushing touchdown near the end of the first quarter.
Maryland looks to fix the mistakes and rebound against Virginia on Saturday in a matchup of former ACC rivals. Tyler Lochte and Jack Bowman will have the call for WMUC Sports.
