Pre-Snap Read: Can Michigan State bounce back against Maryland? The issues and answers

East Lansing, Mich. – If you’re looking for some feel-good homecoming football moments at Michigan State this weekend, don’t expect any help from Maryland. It won’t come easy.

A beleaguered Michigan State football program, in the wake of the Mel Tucker scandal, and an horrific 41-7 loss to No. 8 Washington last weekend, will face an explosive, play-making xquarterback, sound offensive and defensive lines, and a functional Terrapin defense on Saturday. It’s going to be difficult. Maryland deserves to be favored.

Since the spring, I’ve been cautioning Michigan State fans not to read too much into the eventual outcome of the Michigan State-Washington game. I expected Washington to put up big, embarrassing numbers. The following week’s game, I said, against Maryland, would be the pivotal game on the schedule, likely the game that determines the direction of the season.

That was before all the Tucker stuff crashed down on the program.

That was before the Washington game exploded in Michigan State’s face.

That was before Harlon Barnett was tasked with trying to get all of the Spartans’ loose screws tightened within overall schemes on both sides of the ball that have yet to be proven effective after three-plus seasons.

When I watch video of blowout defeats, the game film often is not as bad as I expect. But this time, the game video was worse. Michigan State was beaten by a great QB and superior NFL wide receivers. We knew that. Not only was the overall operation sloppy and awkward (alignment penalties, substitution penalties, missed tackles), but the Spartans suffered through poor situational and positional awareness, and were also physically beaten on the offensive line, and made no impact with the defensive line.

Barnett pointed out that some young defensive backs didn’t play things at gametime the way it had been practiced all week. Barnett said offensive line coach and run game coordinator Chris Kapilovic reached out to him Saturday night and pledged to have his guys in better working order, soon. Barnett, always the affable likeable guy, responded with “Hey, I promise to be better, too.”

They know they stunk. Many of us were stunned. They were stunned. True, they had an onslaught of distractions to sort through during the week, while getting ready for the best passing attack in the country. But the loose screws, and individual physical defeats, were unnerving and hint a long season of defeats, starting Saturday, if some most of those shortcomings aren’t rectified.

Add the fact that QB Noah Kim was uneasy in the pocket in his first experience with taking a few hard hits at this level.

There are so many issues that need to be addressed heading into a conference opener against a quality Maryland team that probably doesn’t get enough respect in Big Ten country.

Maryland went 8-5 last year, beat NC State in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and is 3-0 thus far, looking to get a push-off of momentum against Michigan State like they did last year.

FINAL ANALYSIS FIRST

I looked back at what I wrote in the Pre-Snap Read prior to this game last year and a lot of the issues and storylines are the same. Michigan State was searching for a level of functionality. Maryland wasn’t great, but they were explosive and maturing as a program toward respectability. I leaned toward taking Maryland until Michigan State proved capable of doing something about its ills.

That Michigan State team was decimated by injuries. This year’s MSU’s team is trying not to become decimated by everything else.

There were a couple of times last year when I became extremely doubtful about Michigan State’s chances of turning things around and putting together quality performances. After the loss to Minnesota, I thought Michigan State was staring down the barrel of a 3-9 season. HOWEVER, the Spartans stunned me with strong, buttoned-up performances against Wisconsin and Illinois.

Say what you want about Tucker, there were times when he could rally his team to do unexpected things, dating back to the victory at Michigan in 2020 after a terrible, turnover-laden debut against Rutgers. And again later in 2020 against No. 8-ranked Northwestern (that’s right No. 8-ranked Northwestern).

A lot of things unraveled in the final days of the Tucker administration, but he never lost the team. If this stuff hadn’t happened, and even if Michigan State had been blown out by Washington, I wouldn’t put it past Tucker to rally the team for a surprising bounce back game against Maryland. They didn’t achieve it last year. Would he have gotten them rallied for this game this year? We’ll never know. That’s up to Barnett. Everyone loves him. But will they rally for him? Will they take on blocks correctly, tackle better, and play harder and smarter, one through 11, on every down? I have no idea. You’ll find out when I do.

Meanwhile, Maryland is a good, solid opponent. On defense, the Terrapins defeat blocks extremely well in the back seven and have good coverage talent at at least one cornerback position and their safeties hit hard, especially when No. 2 (Beau Brade) is in the game. They don’t have world-beaters in the defensive front seven, but they play square and rally to the ball. I didn’t expect to say this about Maryland when Mike Locksley was hired, after his 2-26 disaster at New Mexico, but the Terrapins are well-coached.

And then there is the problem of trying to outscore Terps QB Taulia Tagovailoa. He threw for 342 yards last week against a bad Virginia team. Now he is going against an arguably bad Michigan State defense.

Michigan State has been bad on defense for the past two seasons. I thought there was progress in the first two games this year, just in the Spartans’ ability to play multiple zone defenses with quality positioning, communication and breaks on the ball – albeit against poor Central Michigan and Richmond passing attacks.

Taovailoa was second-team All-Big Ten last year, and is more dangerous outside of the pocket than in it. But he’s dangerous everywhere.

Michigan State’s offense was terrible last weekend. The run game is stuck, and Nathan Carter played through pain last weekend. It remains to be seen how many carries he has left in him, while Jalen Berger and Jaren Mangham are doubtful for this game.

The o-line has been a disappointment, with veterans J.D. Duplain and Nick Samac struggling at left guard and center so far this season.

Can Michigan State get some of its offense squared away during this game? Against a respectable Big Ten defense? And put up enough points to outscore Maryland?

Maryland is coming off a 42-14 victory over Virginia. That game was close through three quarters, although the Terrapins were clearly the better team throughout.

Michigan State is coming off the blowout loss against Washington.

Part of the calculus in trying to figure out this game is considering how good, or great Washington is. And how bad, or terrible, Virginia is.

That all remains to be seen. But there is no question, regardless of the level of opponent, that Maryland was better prepared to play good, sharp, quick and sometimes physical football last week than Michigan State.

Maryland isn’t exactly Ohio State. But based on what we saw last weekend – and recalling the problems Michigan State has had in getting its defense on the same game and its run game established – the prospect of Michigan State finding a way to outscore Tagovailoa and the Terrapins seems less than 45 percent.

THE LATEST ON MICHIGAN STATE

What did we think we knew coming into this season?

* We thought Kim would be more physically talented than former QB Payton Thorne, which he is. Nothing against Kim, but Michigan State could have used Thorne’s experience and calmness last week. It wouldn’t have affected the outcome of the game, but Michigan State’s offense would have operated better.

Kim has shown flashes of high-end talent. But his uneasiness in the pocket was a concern last weekend.

Granted, he was playing with no run game, shaky pass protection and a defense that wasn’t providing a shred of complementary football. It’s hard for any QB to succeed in those situations. But he’s not going to progress as a QB, regardless of those around him, if he doesn’t find the ability to stand strong in the pocket in the face of danger. That’s easy for me to say, not having ever done anything like that in mylife. But this is a guy with terrific talent. And if he wants to make progress toward his ceiling of potential, that’s an intangible he must master.

In the meantime, if he is shaky in the pocket again in this game, it will be interesting to see if Barnett considers going with redshirt-freshman Katin Houser. Houser had a good performance last week against Washington’s reserves.

Kim has better arm talent. But it’s conceivable that Houser could provide a grit factor that could give the team a boost. If Barnett and this team becomes desperate, Houser is an option.

* We thought the run game would be a plus. I expected Carter to be an upgrade over Berger. When healthy, he is. But Berger was also an upgrade over the 2022 version of Berger, and was showing a nice capacity to settle in as a pass-catching threat. Then he was lost to injury.

Meanwhile, Michigan State’s run blocking failed to impress against Central Michigan and Richmond, and was worse when the Spartans tried to move up in weight class last week.

On the bright side, junior left tackle Keyshawn Blackstock moved better laterally in pass protection as a reserve last weekend than he did in the first two games.

Reserve center Dallas Fincher was better against Washington than he was in the first two games.

Reserve guard Kevin Wigenton (6-5, 320, R-Soph., Colts Neck, NJ) looked like a capable player last week, better than he has looked in the past. He hasn’t looked bad in the past. He just looked like a young second-stringer. Now he’s starting to make a dent in people.

Geno VanDeMark has looked progressively good early this season, but he struggled against Washington, after sustaining an undisclosed but non-major injury.

But run blocking with the expected characters: Brandon Baldwin, Duplain, Samac, VanDeMark and Spencer Brown, has missed the mark thus far. Kapilovic is aware of the problem. He’s working on it. They must show progress, starting Saturday.

* We came into the season expecting the defensive front seven to be a strength. But it hasn’t turned out that way. Junior linebacker Cal Haladay added weight for the 2023 season, hoping to play with more punch and durability. But he looks a step slower.

On the d-line, Michigan State expected to benefit from a deep rotation. But defensive end Tunmise Adeleye and Khris Bogle didn’t play last week (Bogle played the first four snaps, actually, but wasn’t able to go back in).

Zion Young had to play 51 snaps. That’s probably too many for him. He played okay in spurts, but Michigan State was back to having too many players trying to pace themselves.

Simeon Barrow has not been the difference-maker that we expected. He was good last year. He played to great reviews in the spring and August. So we expected an upgrade from where he was a year ago, but that’s not yet been the case.

Jalen Sami played only two snaps last week. Defensive tackle Dre Butler, who has been a pleasant surprise thus far this year, went down with an undisclosed injury late in the game. If Butler and Sami aren’t available, and Ben VanSumeren and Florida State transfer Jarrett Jackson remain unavailable, then Michigan State is back to having a three-person DT rotation of Barrow, Maverick Hansen and Derrick Harmon.

I said tight end blocking would be an x-factor as to whether this team could aspire to win more than seven games. Tight end blocking has shown improvement, but too many areas of expected strength have faltered. Meanwhile, starting tight end Maliq Carr is still too up-and-down for the coaches’ tastes in a lot of areas. They need more consistency from him, which is something that can be said about many areas of the team.

Same pageness on defense was a big question mark. It looked better in the first two games, just with the ability to get in and out of multiple coverages while looking like they knew what they were doing.

Michigan State has good, young individual talent in the secondary. But they were stationed way too deep for several of Washington’s chuck plays last week. Meanwhile, I counted three unsightly assignment busts.

Dillon Tatum was influenced out of position on the first play of the game when he was supposed to stay as deep as the deepest in cover-three. That play went for 30-plus yards.

Tatum was good and physical in run fits and patrolling his coverage areas the rest of the day.

Angelo Grose missed his coverage assignment in the flat on one occasion, ending up too close to teammate Jacoby Windmon in zone coverage and leaving the flat uncovered. That error went for about 12 yards. Not an expensive sin, but he’s had too many of them over the years.

And remember the play late in the game when Washington passed over Haladay’s head for a big gainer to the tight end? No one blames you if you had stopped watching by then. But that wasn’t Haladay’s fault. Malik Spencer was supposed to be a twin deep safety on that play as part of cover-four, but he missed a signal and was up at the linebacker level patrolling the short hook area as if it were MSU’s dime defense.

Those three plays didn’t get Michigan State beat. But those are the type of plays Michigan State needs to eliminate if it wants to win some of these tightly-contested Big Ten games coming up.

The most unnerving part of pass defense was the super-soft cushions MSU’s young defensive backs were allowing, all over the field. That’s not what they were coached to do. They have talented. They are coachable. I feel they will benefit from last week’s lesson. So does Barnett.

“We have three guys back there who are true sophomores and haven’t played a whole lot of football here at Michigan State,” Barnett said. “No excuses, because that’s one of our deals. We talk about no excuses. I’m just giving an explanation. A lot of those guys who looked at the film were like, ‘Man, why’d I do that?’

“(It was) really their first big game, and when you have your first big game, sometimes you’re so excited that you’re not as disciplined as you need to be, your eyes aren’t looking at the right stuff, you’re not doing some stuff that you’ve done all week in preparing for the guys. You’re like, ‘Man, why did I do that?’

“It happens. It happens. But they will bounce back this week. They are true Spartans and they will bounce back this week and will be ready to go, I promise that.”

THE LATEST ON MARYLAND

Maryland is 3-0 with victories over Towson (38-6), Charlotte (38-20) and Virginia (42-14).

Last week, Maryland was clearly the better team most of the night against Virginia but the game was closer than the 42-14 score indicated.

However, Virginia led 14-0 early in the first quarter. The game was tied 14-14 at the half.

Two key plays put Virginia out of the game:

* Trailing 21-14 and regaining momentum, on the 15th play of a drive, in the red zone, Virginia had a slot fade in the end zone intercepted by Maryland’s terrific cornerback Tarheeb Still.

Maryland then drove and went up 28-14.

* Virginia’s next offensive snap resulted in another INT, this time tipped by a drop linebacker, deep in UVa territory. Maryland quickly made it 35-14. Ballgame.

* Earlier, Virginia dropped a sure TD on a deep pass when trailing 21-14.

Virginia was out-manned in this game, but if three or four plays had gone differently, this could have been close in the final minutes.

Maryland out-gained Virginia, 461-354.

Maryland has trailed 14-0 in each of its past two games.

THE BOOK ON MARYLAND

Maryland is a smarter, more pragmatic team than I remember.

The Terps have come around to be respectable on defense. Maryland had allowed an average of 30-plus points per game from 2019-2021, but came around last year to allow “only” 23.2, which ranked No. 8 in the Big Ten.

Maryland isn’t great on defense. But they aren’t bad. They don’t HAVE to win in a scoring shootout.

Their defense was decent enough, structured well enough against Virginia, that it made me look up their defensive coordinator and last year’s stats to recall where they ranked.

They were No. 8 in the Big Ten in yards allowed per play, which is right there with Minnesota as a respectable, bowl-eligible unit.

The defensive coordinator is Brian Williams, in his second year at DC and d-line coach. He is a Florida A&M grad who broke into coaching as a defensive analyst at Florida State in 2013.

He was hired at Maryland in 2019 as an OLBs coach and has worked his way up in College Park.

His calling card is working on defeating blocks every day in practice. It’s noticeable. Every coach probably spends some time on defeating blocks, but you get what you emphasize. And he emphasizes it. He’s a former d-line coach and he teaches all 11 on that side of the ball to use violent d-line hand techniques to beat blocks, and it shows up.

Josh Gattis is Maryland’s offensive coordinator. He is the former OC at Michigan. They run a conventionally modern spread/pistol offense with a highly-mobile QB who throws extremely well on the run.

The Terps had to replace four starters on the offensive line, but I don’t notice a dropoff. Their o-line looked fine last week against Virginia.

The Maryland WRs are good, not great. Their TE, No. 2 (Corey Cyches), is built like a WR, but they use him as a mismatch against linebackers when possible.

MARYLAND PLAYERS TO KNOW

* QB 3 TAULIA TAGOVAILOA (5-11, 208, R-Sr., Ewa Beach, HI)

Was a four-star recruit, ranked No. 180 in the nation.

If you’re reading this, you know who this guy is, and his background. He’s good. Occasionally very good. Not as prone to mistakes as he was when he was younger, as is the case with most QB progressions.

DO YOU BLITZ TAGOVAILOA?

* His completion pct is actually better when blitzed (72.7) than when not blitzed (64.2).

His completion pct is 54.2 when under pressure.

He averages more yards per completion (9.1) when pressured than when kept clean (8.9).

Curious about comparisons to MSU’s Noah Kim? Kim is 6-of-10 with a 124.2 NFL rating on intermediate throws to his left, but just 2-of-10 and 42.5 on passes to his right.

Kim is completing just 36.4 percent of his passes when pressured (62.5 when kept clean).

Kim is completing 54 percent at 6.3 per attempt when not blitzed. He is 60 percent at 13.0 per attempt when blitzed. That last figure surprised me a bit.

Interestingly, Kim has a 95.4 “winning” grade on deep balls (7 of 17, with an average of 16 yards per attempt). He is at a “failing/losing” grade of 35.3 (15 of 22 and 5.5 per attempt on short passes of 0 to 9 yards).

Getting back to Tagovailoa, and plays of note last week:

+ Pure Tagovailoa on a key play from his own end zone last week on third-and-10, feeling a four man rush, STEPPING UP TO HIS RIGHT, zipping it on the run to his WR on a 12-yard curl vs man-to-man.

That play turned that drive around, and began turning the game around. Maryland was trailing 14-7 at the time with 7 minutes left in the first half.

++ Same drive, a four man rush pressured him out of the pocket, running to his right. You don’t want that. He has speed, vision and accuracy out there, especially when scrambling to his right.

He zpped it to WR 1, Kaden Prather, on a scramble rules crosser for a gain of 40-plus.

+ On 4-2 inside the 10-yard line, really nice accuracy on a slant to WR Jeshaun Jones into a very tight window, RIGHT NOW. He also had his TE open on a curl and probably should have gone to him. But he made it work with a difficult throw.

+ On third-and-seven early in the second half, with the game tied at 14-14, Virginia came with a zone pressure. They blitzed a LB from the field side while dropping a DL into coverage. The idea is to speed up the QB’s decision and maybe confuse the pass protection while still keeping seven in pass defense.

That makes sense, in theory, against Tagovailoa. And the edge rusher came unblocked into the backfield. But Tago just did a little spin move to his left and suddenly he’s out in space, running at a high rate of speed, making downfield reads, dangerous.

I’d rather him scrambling to his left, like he was on this play, than scrambling to his right. But he still made it work.

He didn’t see anyone open in the 7-man coverage. The zone defense had eyes on the QB and was aware to track him down once he decided to tuck it and run. But with his speed and slipperiness, he still managed to gain 8 yards and the line of gain.

Good defensive call. Good 11-man awareness on defense, but QB still freelanced with his feet on third down to move the chains.

At some point, do you just give up on trying to get pressure on him and rush 3 instead? He’s only been sacked twice this year, and neither one came via a blitz.

Virginia sacked him once last week on a third-and-long. Virginia had two stunts working as part of a four-man rush. They spring one then two pass rushers loose and they managed to corral Tagovailoa rather than letting him escape. Easier said than done. Kind of need two guys to get home. One usually isn’t enough.

THE MARYLAND RUN GAME

* Maryland is predominantly a zone team, and not a bad one. Then midway through the 3Q last week, they spring a well-executed pin-and-pull sweep to the short side with the guards pulling. They executed it like a charm. Quick and physical. And it sprang third-string RB Colby McDonald for a gain of 35, and keyed a TD drive as they pulled away to a 28-14 lead.

That was a sign of a well-coached team to execute a play like that, that they hadn’t shown all game, execute it so sharply, and pick the right time to spring it on an opponent.

* Hemby rushed for 162 yards two weeks ago against Charlotte, but shared carries with Littleton and McDonald last week.

* Antwain Littleton was stopped for gain of 1 on third-and-four last week on an inside zone. But Maryland stuck with it and converted third-and-shorts for the rest of the game, with the inside zone.

Littleton (6-1, 232, R-Soph., Greenbelt, Md.) was a 3-star recruit, ranked the No. 85 RB in the nation. He weighed 265 in high school.

He rushed for 320 yards last year.

RB 23 Colby McDonald (5-11, 208, Jr., Accokeek, Md.)

+ Had a 35-yard run last week on a pin-and-pull, very well-blocked.

* Solid third-string stutter step guy. Michigan State could use him right now.

* He was a 3-star recruit, ranked No. 79 RB in the nation.

* HE rushed 30 times for 140 yards last year. He scored a 2-yard TD against Michigan State last year.

MARYLAND RECEIVERS

Maryland has good size and ability at the three starting WR positions, and a matchup challenge at TE. They might not have any NFL guys at this position, but they aren’t bad.

WR 6 JESHAUN JONES (6-1 ,188, Gr., Fort Meyers, Fla.)

* 3-star recruit, ranked No. 111 in Florida.

* Leads team with 198 receiving yards. He has 13 catches, including 2 TDs.

+ 64 yarder on play action, sprint out deep shot TD gave Maryland a 21-14 lead in the second half last week.

Really tricky route. Not just an out-and-up, Jones really sold the quick hip sink to the out, then the up. Play action for a deep shot and he was open by 7 yards.

This type of play, made possible by Tagovailoa’s ability to throw on the run and ability to sprint to a favorable launch point quickly, is part of why Maryland has dangerous explosiveness.

WR 1 KADEN PRATHER (6-4, 212, Jr., Montgomery, Village, MD)

* Four-star recruit, ranked No. 13 in Maryland.

* 8 catches on the year. Battled and injury that was supposed to keep him out last week, but he played anyway.

+ Showed good quickness for a big WR on the speed out last week for a gain of about 15.

WR 10 TAI FELTON (6-2, 185, Jr., Ashburn, Va.)

* 3-star recruit, ranked No. 28 in Virginia.

* 8 catches on the year.

* 23 catches last year

* Tried to go deep to him late in the 1H last week on a deep post, INC.

WR 5 OCTAVIAN SMITH (5-11, 174, Soph., Burtonsville, Md)

* 7 catches on the year.

* Four-star recruit, ranked No. 5 in Maryland.

TE 2 COREY CYCHES (6-2, 215, R-Jr., Oxon Hill. Md.)

* He’s listed as a TE, but he’s actually a wide receiver in most formations.

* Was HM All-Big Ten lats year.

* Leads team with 16 catches.

* Leads all “tight ends” in the FBS in receiving yards with 195 and is second in receptions.

* I’m not sure what kind of a blocker he is, but they try to use him as a mismatch player in the pass game on safeties and linebackers. He’s not quite big enough to body up a safety like a classic mismatch TE. But he’s an issue.

I went through the Maryland-Virginia game once. If I had time, I would go through it again for tells on what the play is going to be, depending on where No. 2 lines up. I’ll bet there are some. And I would watch him more closely as a blocker for tells in the run game, depending on where he is. But I didn’t get to that. But No. 2 is an interesting puzzle piece to their operation.

(TE 85 Preston Howard, 6-5, 238, R-Fr., Arbutus, Md.)

* Three-star recruit, ranked No. 10 in Maryland.

+ Sprang free for a 33-yard catch, the first reception of his career, last week on a short play-action release. Looked big and athletic, hurdling a defender in the process.

(TE 17 Rico Walker, 6-4, 248, Fr., Hickory, NC)

* Not physical.

– Dropped a short curl last week in the fourth quarter.

JORDAN HALL TIME?

With Haladay seeming to lack a step of speed this year, and struggling, and freshman Jordan Hall playing with good speed, and Maryland utilizing a mismatch tight end, it will be interesting to see if Hall’s playing time increases and Haladay’s decreases. I wouldn’t be surprised.

GUESS THE GAME PLAN PART 1

With Michigan State having played more zone this year than in past Septembers, and the pragmatic usefulness of zone defense against a mobile QB, look for the Spartans to continue to play zone in this game. And they had better be less charitable with their drops than last year. And it will be interesting to see if Hall gets more time as a zone drop linebacker than Haladay.

Zone dropping and pass coverage usually is something that comes along later for a freshman linebacker. But Michigan State needs Hall’s experience level and football mind to catch up with his legs and physical ability. It’s headed in that direction.

+ 28-yard catch on a switch release deep down the sideline last week as the primary on a play designed for him.

+ Nice, tight, curl at 11 yards on third-and-10 to get separation and give Tagovailoa a target, moving the chains. That wasn’t a TE route at all.

He lined up as a slot WR, and made a switch release to the outside, then turned on a time for the curl. Good go-to concept.

GUESS THE GAME PLAN PART II

If and when 27 is on the field for Michigan State (Haladay), look to see if Maryland motions to get tight end, No. 2, in his vicinity, or if they run No. 2 into Haladay’s area from the back side. Either way, it will be interesting to see if opponents begin to pick on Haladay. Maryland happens to have the type of instrument in No. 2, Dyches, who could pose a problem for that matchup.

MARYLAND OFFENSIVE LINE

I don’t see any glaring weaknesses in this group. They run their inside zone stuff pretty well. When asked to pull, they do it quickly, with a feeling of a surprise element to it. They’re solid-to-good.

They have first-year transfers at three positions on the o-line and it looks like they’ve made it work pretty good, with three decent back-ups as well.

LT 74 DELMAR GLAZE (6-5, 328, R-Jr., Charlotte, NC)

* Three-star recruit, ranked No. 63 in North Carolina.

* HM All-Big Ten last year.

+ Good straight line speed, rambles with athleticism.

+ Heavy impact guy as a down blocker.

LG 51 COREY BULLOCK (6-4, 331, Sr., Accokeek, Md.)

* Transfer from North Carolina Central.

* No-star recruit. Was All-MEAC at North Carolina Central.

+ Great job with a pull and seal to provide the main block which sprang RB Cory McDonald for 35 yards last week.

+ Good drive block on a 3-yard TD run in the fourth quarter last week to blow the game open.

C 66 ARIC HARRIS (6-3, 295, Sr., Pensacola, Fla.)

* Transfer from Hutchinson CC.

* Started last week.

* Started three games last year, and nine in 2021.

[C 52 Mike Purcell (6-4, 325, Gr., Dayton, Ohio)]

* Transferred from Elon this year.

* Was Second-Team All-CAA last year..

RG 70 AMELIO MORAN (6-5, 311, R-Sr., Virginia Beach.)

* Was a three-star juco prospect.

* Transferred to Maryland in 2020.

+ Pretty good combo block and seal to pop Littleton for a gain of 7.

[RG 76 Kyle Long, 6-6, 328, R-Soph., St. Louis)]

+ Excellent zone block to spring Henby for a 3-yard TD on third-and-three last week when it was 21-14 early in the fourth quarter.

RT 72 GOTTLIEB AYEDZE (6-5, 320, Sr., Germantown, Md.)

* Transfer from Frostburg State.

+ Good job with combo block and outside seal on an inside zone for Hemby, gain of 9.

– Gets beaten on inside slants a little too much.

DEFENSE CHARACTERISTICS

* They are multiple with their fronts and coverage, and they don’t screw themselves up (with one exception^). Credit to them. That’s decent quality control with decent talent. Not great in either way, but competitively decent.

* They are multiple with coverages but they don’t disguise a whole lot in pass defense. They are libel to be in press man with a single safety deep on one play, and then off cover-four zone the next, but it’s not disguised at pre-snap. That makes it a bit easier for a poised, veteran QB. Michigan State’s QB isn’t yet in that category.

^ Defensive front 7 allowed a 13-yard TD run on the opening drive against Virginia with a simple gap error. The inside linebackers, 1 Jaishawn Barham and 11 Ruben Hyppolite, didn’t get squared away to man the weak B gap. They left it unhosted. But I didn’t see any glaring errors the rest of the game.

Later in the second quarter, on a second-and-six, they showed a 3-4 that could bring five rushers easily, but dropped into a sound 8-man coverage. Virginia’s QB checked down to a short curl for a gain of three, but I’m not confident Noah Kim will look comfortable going through his reads when abruptly seeing a new coverage like that.

Then zero (no safeties) off-man on the next play, third-and-three. (Virginia rolled out and completed a 5-yard pass to move the chains, but Maryland does a good job of showing multiple looks without screwing themselves up.)

Maryland had made strides toward becoming solvent on defense last year.

Something I wrote about Maryland after the Terrapins’ competitive game against Michigan last year: Maryland mixed it up and went with cover-two on third-and-eight late in the 3Q. QB McCarthy patted the ball, was blind-side sacked from behind at his own 10-yard line and was very fortunate not to fumble.

DEFENSIVE FRONT

* They showed three different fronts on the first three snaps of the game last week:

* a two-gapping 3-4

* a one-gapping 3-4

* a two-gapping 4-3/over.

Then they settled into a 3-4 or a 3-3 as their base defense.

HOWEVER, the multiple fronts came back into play on money downs and third downs.

On 3-6 early in the 2Q last week, they showed an over 4-3. Then stemmed into a straight 3-4 before the snap, and No. 45 (Kellan Wyatt) bumped out to a stand-up five tech DE.

Wyatt, put on a good shoulder fake to the inside, then at the junction point transitioned to an outside rush with a two-handed wipe, showed nice change of directing in hemming in the QB for a sack.

Good defensive concept, good individual play.

Would Michigan State LT Brandon Baldwin get that blocked? 45 isn’t as good as the DE’s Michigan State saw last weekend. But over the course of a game, Baldwin might spring a leak or two against 45.

Bottom line: good scheme, good multiplicity, good individual talent and skill. Sack.

DEFENSIVE LINE PERSONNEL

DE/EDGE 45 KELLAN WYATT (6-3, 262, Soph., Glen Burnie, Md.)

* 3-star, No. 12 in Maryland.

* Started four games last year.

+ Not bad at setting the edge vs the run in the Virginia game.

+ Decent job containing the outside on a zone read to his side.

[DT 93 6-3, 333 Tre Colbert (6-3, 333, Gr, Temple, Texas)]

* Transfer from Angelo State, where he was all-conference.

+ Decent job playing a screen on third-and-long, running laterally and getting the tackle. Not fast, but that’s not his calling hard.

DE 44 EDGE CALEB WHEATLAND (6-2, 231, Soph., Cenreville, Va)

* Three-star recruit, No. 29 in Viginia.

DE 15

(DE 5

Weak at the point of attack. If 5 is in the game, run right at him .Probably can clar him out with a single blocker.

(DE 19 Donnell Brown, 6-3, 254, Upper Marlboro, Md.)

* Transfer from Saint Francis, Pa. Two-time FCS All-American.

+ As a drop OLB, deflected a pass for an INT early in the fourth quarter.

DE 5 QUASHON FULLER (6-3, 266, R-Jr., Fort Myers, Fla.)

* Four-star recruit, No. 22 in Florida, No. 206 in nation.

* A little stiff at DE, nothing special. Started and played 41 snaps last week.

* Had only seven tackles last year.

LINEBACKERS

MLB 11 RUEBEN HYPOLITE (6-0, 230, Sr., Fort Lauderdale)

* Four-star, ranked No. 61 in Florida.

* Started eight games last year.

* Keeps looking like he’s on the verge of breaking through and becoming a standout, but it hasn’t quite happened yet. But he’s okay.

ILB 1 JAISHAWN BARHAM (6-4, 233, Soph., District Heights, mDe)

* Rivals250 four-star, ranked No. 122 in the nation and No. 3 in Maryland.

* Shaping up into becoming a standout player.

* Had two sacks against Charlotte.

(ILB 9 Fa’NAJAE GOTAY (6-0, 230, R-Sr., Fort Myers, Fla.)

* Has been in the playing group since 2018. Four starts last year.

* Three-star recruit, No. 114 in Florida.

* Started four games last year.

– Missed a tackle in the left flat last week.

+ Good job as a blitzer, changing direction and tracking down the QB for a loss of 16 early in the 3Q. Looked like a smooth-rambling athlete on that play. That play was a game-changer. It was tied at 14-14 at the time.

PASS DEFENSE

* Virginia’s back-up QB Anthony Colandrea was 12 of 15 for 144 yards in the first half last week. He finished 23 of 39 for 262 with 1 TD and THREE interceptions.

– allowed a 19-yard TD on a sprint out left, throw back right to the wide open RB in the flat against the Maryland defense who was turned inside out by a good fake. But pass defense was secure and solvent the rest of the game.

DEFENSIVE BACKS

4LCB TARHEEB STILL (6-1, 196, Sr., Sicklerville, NJ)

* Was a three-star recruit, ranked No. 21 in New Jersey, No. 14 by Rivals.

* Good player. He will get All-Big Ten votes.

* Had two INTs last week against Virginia.

+ Intercepted a slot fade in the end zone early in the fourth quarter when the game was 21-14. Huge play. Read the route and undercut it.

+ INT in press cover-four last week, dropping into zone when showing press-man at pre-snap. He has a good feel for angles and smart footsteps. Quality player.

* Had five tackles including one TFL against Charlotte.

* Virginia touted him for the Paul Hornung Award watch list in the preseason, and I can see why.

* Was HM All-Big Ten as a freshman in 2020. Led the nation in pass break-ups per game.

+ Pretty good in press coverage, sticky vs the release move and good agility at the top of the route, although he gave up a well-thrown, well-covered out route on third down last week in the second quarter.

= Gets a little on his heels and too square when playing press. That’s not the way Michigan State has taught it over the years. Seems like it would make him susceptible to slants when he is in press coverage, but still doesn’t allow much separation. Interesting player.

NB 26 GAVIN GIBSON (5-11, 175, Soph., Hickory, N.C.)

* Was a 5.5 three-star, ranked No. 22 in North Carolina.

* Solid player, bright future.

+ Good job staying home and executing a nice sweep tackle to cause a reverse to lose 6 yards last week.

+ Next play, he does a good job dodging a WR block and executing another stiff sweep tackle on a bubble screen, holding it to a gain of 6.

CB 3 Ja’QUAN SHEPPARD (6-2, 202, Sr., Zephyrhills, Fla.)

* Three-star recruit, ranked No. 254 in Florida.

* Transfer from Cincinnati.

* First-team All-AAC last year.

* First start as a Terp last week.

* Got turned inside out by a flea-flicker on the first play of the game last week, giving up a 49-yarder down the left sideline.

– Missed tackle in space last week in 1Q. Played off man to man, off by 7 yards, allowed a hitch and then missed the tackle.

[CB 17 Lionell Whitaker (5-11, 186, Soph., Miami)]

* 5.6 three-star recruit, ranked No. 94 in Florida.

– Gave up pivotal deep ball to Ronnie Bell in Michigan game last year.

* Played 19 snaps last week.

(20 Perry Fisher, 6-3, 198, R-Fr., Talllahassee)

* Was a three-star recruit, No. 119 in Florida.

– In off coverage was beaten easily inside on a slant while Maryland rushed five, for a gain of 17 when the score was 21-14 late in the third quarter. Maryland isn’t guilty of many head-scratchers these days, but that was one. The coverage seemed to set up this inexperienced DB to fail, similar to last year when a second-string DB was beaten deep by Michigan’s Ronnie Bell for 48 yards at a key moment.

* Played 22 snaps last week.

12 S DANTE TRADER, 5-11, 200, Jr., Delmar, Del.

* 5.6 three-star recruit, ranked No. 25 in Maryland

* Great lacrosse player, No. 5 recruit in the nation for 2021.

* Second-year starter.

+ Good job over the top in single-safety-deep to cover a deep shot in the 3Q last week. Just cruising in the area, covering ground, where he’s supposed to be.

– But then bit on a QB scramble and allowed a Virginia WR to get behind him in cover-two, but the Virginia WR dropped a sure deep TD pass that would have tied the game at 21-21.

+ INT last year in the fourth quarter vs SMU out of cover-two zone. QB overthrew over the middle with Maryland’s LBs taking good drops.

13 FS GLENDON MILLER (6-4, 201, R-Jr. Orange Park Fla)

* Three-star recruit, No. 144 in Florida.

* Quality second-stringer who filled in for Beau Brade last week.

+ Good job scraping across for hard hit on RB on outside run.

2 FS BEAU BRADE (6-1, 210, Sr., Clarksville, Md.) last week

* Three-star recruit, No. 24 in Maryland.

* HM All-Big Ten last year.

* Missed the Virginia game with an undisclosed injury. Was named game captain this week, which some observers believe indicates that he will be back on the field Saturday.

* Excellent hitter.

* He’s a hammer. Will break himself to deliver a hard hit.

* Excellent with the hard sweep tackle, which used to be a Narduzzi trait. They teach it well at Maryland.

SPECIALISTS

The punter, Colton Spangler, averaged 45.1 per punt last year. He’s averaging 43.7 this year.

First-year kicker Jack Howes is 3-of-5. He is 1-of-3 from beyond 40.

ADD IT ALL UP

I’m not seeing any glaring weaknesses from Maryland. On defense, they are solid but unspectacular. Can we trust the Spartan defense to be better than that? Maryland defeats blocks and tackles better than Michigan State and is more reliable in execution of coverages. That can change in a week. But Maryland seems more trustworthy in these important areas as of now.

Michigan State has the potential to be functional on offense, but Maryland is more consistently productive. Period.

Has a more explosive, trustworthy QB, a more connected pass defense. Maryland isn’t great in the trenches but they’re better than Michigan State has been.

For Michigan State to win this game, Kim has a lot of growing up to do in one week, the offensive line and run blocking needs to get a grip, the defensive front needs to become the stoppage force we expected it to be, and the secondary needs to rebound from last week’s lessons as a more mature group. All of that is possible, but we haven’t seen it in flesh and blood yet this year.

Maryland hasn’t exactly been dominant. But they were the better team last year, and appear to be the better team thus far this year, and they have the senior, experienced, multi-faceted, more productive, more trustworthy quarterback.

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