Maryland (3-0, 0-0 B1G) at Michigan State (2-1, 0-0 B1G)
When: Sat., Sept. 23 | 3:32 p.m. EST
Where: East Lansing, MI | Spartan Stadium
Watch: NBC – Jac Collinsworth, Jason Garrett, Zora Stephenson
Listen: 105.7 FM (Balt) / 980 AM (DC) – Johnny Holliday, Steve Suter
Maryland will look to move to 4-0 for the second time in the last three years, and in order to do so, they’ll look to pick up their first win in East Lansing since 1950.
Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa will look to make it seven consecutive games with at least one touchdown pass as he hopes to find the soft spots against a Spartans’ secondary that allowed over 530 yards through the air a week ago. But what should Maryland fans look for if the Terps look to extend their unbeaten streak? After looking at how to watch and listen to Maryland vs. Michigan State, we look at three storylines to watch for our game preview:
With Noah Kim under center, the Spartans have struggled to establish a consistent vertical threat with Kim completing less than 45% of his passes ten or more yards downfield. Couple that with the Spartans’ limited depth at running back, and Maryland’s front seven has a chance to show its true potential.
That involves an active day from Maryland’s defensive line, a starting trio that has combined for zero TFLs or sacks through nonconference play. They’ll have their hands full with a Spartans’ front that returns five players with starting experience, led by all-conference selection J.D. Duplain. Maryland’s linebacker room, especially the depth of the inside ‘backers, has been on full display through nonconference play as they give the defense a chance to win at the line of scrimmage.
The Spartans will be led by Nathan Carter at running back, who enters Saturday third in the conference in rushing yards per game (90.7) thanks to consecutive 100-yard games to open the season. Michigan State is expected to be without Jalen Berger on Saturday and the Terps’ front seven will get a chance to continue its momentum on the road.
14 different linemen have played in at least one non-conference game as head coach Mike Locksley has consistently said the unit is a work in progress as, led by offensive line coach Brian Braswell, the staff works to iron out the starting five.
Maryland shifted around its starting five during the open portion of this week’s practice with Kyle Long working with the first team, while Conor Fagan and Marcus Dumervil were working as the second-team tackles. On Saturday, the protection will face its toughest test yet against a Michigan State front seven that has several disruptors.
The Spartans’ ten sacks through three weeks are a bit inflated considering seven came in the week two win vs. Richmond, but linebackers Cal Haladay and Jacoby Windmon combine to give the room firepower. Haladay sits tenth in the conference with 22 total tackles, while the Spartans have a deep defensive line rotation that’ll work to stifle and overpower the Terps’ interior protection.
The offensive line will look to build off a “good, not great” performance against Virginia.
“We gave up some pressures. Fortunately for us, our quarterback has the ability to be elusive in the pocket. Had he not been an athletic guy, could have been more trouble for us,” Locksley said on Thursday. “Wasn’t necessarily scheme related as much as it was fundamentally and technical, some technical things that we had to get corrected. And again, we’re continuing to try to put the best five out there and we’ll continue to evaluate that position. But I thought they were good, not great.”
The immediate postgame message following the week two win was dissatisfaction with the slow start. Six days later, Maryland followed that up with another slow start. The postgame message was similar following last Friday’s win vs. Virginia, with Locksley adding, “I think I have enough proof that we’re a team that’s built to overcome adversity and I don’t think I need to see us down 14-0 anymore to know that we’re capable.”
In an offseason filled with heightened expectations with Big Ten championship aspirations brewing, meeting expectations to begin your first road test of conference play is the time to do it.
Maryland will hope reinstalling its team good-on-good periods will be the move needed to move the needle.
“I do think the team period brings it all together whereas team run is focused on a run team, the 7-on-7 is focused on the pass and then we usually bring it together to do it all in a team period at the end of practice. We’ve instituted it back this week because we’ve had two days off,” Locksley said on Thursday. “When you have the schedule that we had, obviously with 13 straight days without a day off, because Sundays [are] typically the day off and when you play on a Friday, we move everything up a day. And coming out of training camp, you know, our bye week is in a few weeks. So we definitely pay close attention to the player loads. We pay close attention to all the analytics and all the data that we get every day in practice. And to me, you know, I think the compliment is when you see how fast we play on game day. I would say we are a fast team and it’s a lot of it’s due to how we try to practice and ensure that our players are at an optimal level of conditioning and speed on game day.”
“So, we did implement the team good-on-good periods back. So far so good, but you know what? We’ll know a lot better Monday or Saturday in the first quarter.”
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