Michigan State football: 3 takeaways from thrilling Maryland win

Michigan State football hung on to beat Maryland in College Park, marking Jonathan Smith’s first Big Ten win. What’d we learn?

Michigan State football left the friendly confines of Spartan Stadium for the first time this year to play Maryland, and I was able to drive out and cover this thriller.

Jonathan Smith got to see the conference as a Big Ten coach for the first time, and it was a rollercoaster of a game. It started badly, with starting lineman Kristian Phillips appearing on the injury report. Phillips was the highest-rated lineman for the Spartans last week. Even worse, it does not appear to be a short-term injury, either. Smith said it was likely “long-term, potentially the season” for the described lower-body injury.

The game was a tale of momentum, and it seemed like an easy Spartan victory, then a comeback Maryland victory, and somehow, Michigan State landed on top. I think I lost a few years off my life in a SECU Stadium press box chair, but the underdog Spartans won via a Jonathan Kim field goal with a second to play. Cal Haladay made the last tackle on a lateral fest.

My heartbeat is finally returning to normal, so what did I take away?

1. It was the best of (Aidan) Chiles, it was the worst of Chiles

The first few drives for the Spartans were a rollercoaster. Aidan Chiles had a few balls that were behind or too high on the first drive, but he fit the ball into a window to have his first passing touchdown as a Spartan to Montorie Foster.

On the next drive, we saw the worst of Chiles. One pass was behind Velling, where the tight end still caught it. Naturally, it was whistled back. However, a few plays later, Chiles sailed a pass to Nick Marsh, and it went right to Maryland defensive back Glendon Miller who returned it to the MSU 17, and the Terrapins scored a few plays later to re-take the lead.

Chiles responded with a drive of his own, throwing the ball to an open Jaron Glover who fumbled, but Montorie Foster saved the drive and recovered it. He proceeded to throw a strike a few plays later to Glover, again. Glover caught the ball in stride in the end zone to tie the game back up.

The rest of the half was mostly positive for Chiles. He took a sack, but it came when the Terps brought a blitz as MSU went deep. A few of his incompletions were a result of drops. Chiles’ ball placement has room for improvement, but he looked much better than last week. At the half, the Spartan quarterback was 13-for-23 for 154 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception.

Chiles added another pick on the first drive of the second half. He had a wide-open Michael Masunas in the end zone but overthrew it to a beaten Jalen Huskey. Instead of going up 10, the Spartans had to play defense up three. To say the least, this was a frustrating sequence.

The Terrapins proceeded to tie it up. Ten of their 17 points through the third quarter were from Chiles interceptions.

Another point was his scrambling. Chiles ran out of bounds a yard short of the sticks on third down, which led to MSU punting. Maryland drove the ball the next series, retaking the lead. Chiles then had a play where he was sacked as he released the ball, leading to a weird play ruled as an interception. Chiles was incredulous when he was told that by the media post-game, firmly believing he had two sacks and a fumble. Chiles was pleased with the victory, but also adamant he, alongside the offense, still have a lot of work to do.

Personally, five interceptions in the first two games are a concern for me. That said, the 363 passing yards are the most for a Spartan since 2017. We have to take the good with the bad.

2. Spartan defense is real?

The Terrapins hung 50 on UConn in week one, and, after their opening drive, the Spartans appeared to be in danger of the same. Multiple deep shots were saved by an overthrow (mostly from some pressure from Maverick Hansen) and they drove at will, converting four third downs.

However, the defense tightened up. The only time Michigan State football allowed a score the rest of the half was when the Terrapin offense got the ball inside the Michigan State red zone.

Khris Bogle came to play, recording a sack in the first half after fighting through a block. Angelo Grose had a pair of sacks that were barely broken out of by Billy Edwards Jr. Darius Snow looked to be back in full 2021 form, sniffing out a third-quarter screen and stuffing it. Besides Maryland wide receiver Tai Felton (who went for over 170 yards against UConn) making some big plays, Michigan State football kept the Terps in check for the first half.

The first real blown coverage came on the first play of the fourth quarter, where no one flowed with Terps tight end Dylan Wade, letting them reclaim the lead for the first time since the second quarter. The defense had to change things up after the first drive, according to Smith, and all appeared well.

Maryland could not run, with only 25 yards on the ground in the second half. Maryland finished with 86 yards on the ground, but that occurred via 31 rushes. The Terps only averaged 2.8 yards a pop. We can live with that. Passing, however, that was a different story.

After being held to 81 pass yards in the first half, Maryland had 80 and 92 yards in the third and fourth quarters to gash the Spartan secondary. In addition, the first turnover, a Nikai Martinez pick, was blown back for a Charles Brantley “panic hold” which resulted in defensive pass interference on a severe overthrow on a trick play.

Overall, the pass coverage left something to be desired. Brantley had a huge interception on a tip to stop what would have been a scoring drive, and the Spartans were also aided by a missed field goal. Following the missed kick, a freshman Spartan made his presence known to the world.

3. Nick Marsh has arrived

Nick Marsh announced his presence to the college football landscape this afternoon. The freshman wide receiver was the highest-rated receiver of Jonathan Smith’s signing class, and he was picked to get immediate playing time right away. Following a spring game where Marsh went over 100 yards, his talent was evident. Marsh had a quiet debut with the Spartans against FAU, recording only one catch.

Saturday, however, was much different. Marsh came within two yards of breaking Ricky White’s freshman single-game Michigan State football receiving record and caught two passes of more than 50 yards. The second of those was good enough to tie the Spartans up with the Terrapins as Marsh scored his first touchdown in style. In a repeat of his 57-yard catch the previous quarter, Nick Marsh beat his man and split the safeties, and no one was going to catch him from behind this time. Marsh’s first touchdown was a 77-yarder to silence the Maryland crowd.

How good was Marsh’s day? Well, his 194 yards rank 10th in single-game records for the program. Those 194 yards nearly top the last three seasons of true freshman pass-catchers at Michigan State (235 yards between Jaron Glover, Brennan Parachek, Keon Coleman, and Germie Bernard). It was not just the deep ball either. Marsh had a nice grab on a screen late in the game and converted a first on the Jonathan Kim game-winning field goal drive. He also provided a great block on a Nate Carter rush on the first drive of the game.

Next week, the Fighting Nick Marshs take on Prarie View A&M. Hopefully, this goes a lot better than what we thought was our last “gimme” game. This week was another case of “survive and advance,” but we all are thankful for this form of it.