What to Watch For: Michigan State vs. Maryland

East Lansing, Mich. – Let’s face it, there may be no team in the Big Ten that needs a victory more than Michigan State does. Amidst the turmoil of head coach Mel Tucker’s expected firing, and coming off of a 41-7 shellacking at the hands of Washington, the Spartans need good fortune and they need it now.

There may be no better opportunity than Saturday at 3:30 when Michigan State (2-1) hosts Maryland (3-0) in Spartan Stadium (NBC) for the program’s 107th Homecoming Game. It will be the 14th meeting between the two schools with Michigan State holding a 10-3 overall series advantage with a 7-1 mark in East Lansing.

At stake, a chance to return to some normalcy for Michigan State in what has become a chaotic, tumultuous, and in many respects a sad situation. At stake, an opportunity to gain some joy and bring some smiles to Spartan fans and faithful around the country. At stake, a chance to save a season that is in danger of being derailed for the second year in a row.

“What we saw on tape a week ago will not be the team we face on Saturday,’’ said fifth-year Maryland coach Mike Locksley said. “Because now, they will have a little more time now to kind of galvanize. I would expect that they’ll do a tremendous job of coming together. We expect to get their best on Saturday.’’

With interim head coach Harlon Barnett at the helm, the Spartans have preached discipline and attention to detail this week, as a very good Maryland team comes to town, hot off a dominating 42-14 victory over Virginia.

In that game, Terrapins’ redshirt senior quarterback, Taulia Tagovailoa, younger brother of Miami Dolphins’ QB Tua, passed for 342 yards and one touchdown.

It was Tagovailoa’s 13th career 300-yard passing game.

Maryland on offense

And while no one would mistake the Maryland signal caller for Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., he is definitely one of the better passers in the Big Ten and another strong QB that Michigan State will be hard pressed to slow down for four quarters on Saturday.

Tagovailoa enters Saturday boasting 889 yards passing through 12 quarters of football on 66-of-99 completions with five TDs against two interceptions.

A Maxwell Award, Davey O’Brien Award, Manning Award and Polynesian Player of the Year watch list recipient, Tagovailoa, who leads the Big Ten in passing yards and total offense at 301.7 per game, has run for just 16 yards on six attempts, but it’s not the yardage gained on his runs that make him dangerous, it’s his ability to move around and navigate in the pocket under duress to get the job done.

Tagovailoa orchestrates a UMD offense that comes in averaging 39.3 points and 480 yards per game.

Redshirt sophomore running back Roman Hemby heads the ground attack for the Terps with 243 yards and four scores on 40 carries.

Maryland’s top receivers are graduate senior Jeshaun Jones, who has 13 receptions for 198 yards and two scores, and redshirt junior tight end Corey Dyches, who checks in with16 catches for 195 yards and one score.

Junior wideout Kaden Prather is also a threat in the passing game with 164 yards on eight receptions with two TDs.

Michigan State on defense

The Michigan State defense tasked with stopping Maryland’s progress will be looking to erase the embarrassment it suffered in the Spartans’ loss to Washington. And you better believe that the success that the Huskies’ enjoyed through the air will be something the Terps will be looking to duplicate on Saturday.

Look for UMD to try and replicate the success that Washington enjoyed by getting redshirt junior linebacker Cal Haladay isolated on Huskies’ tight end Jack Westover who scored three times against Michigan State last Saturday.

Haladay leads the Spartans in tackles with 22, which includes two for loss and one interception.

It looks like Michigan State could get some much-needed upgrades on defense, with the return of redshirt junior linebacker Darius Snow, who returned against Washington in a reserve role. If Snow is healthy enough after recovering and rehabbing from a season-ending knee injury he suffered last season against Western Michigan, look for him to get more significant playing time against Maryland, especially if Jacoby Windmon is still limited with an upper body that decreased his play against Richmond and Washington.

Two players to watch on Michigan State’s defense who seem to be coming on and could be game changers in the Spartans’ defense are freshman linebacker Jordan Hall, who has 2.5 tackles for loss and sophomore defensive end Zion Young, who has 11 tackles, including three for loss. As good as young has been to this point in the season, there is a potential concern about wearing down if he has to play too many snaps due to injuries at the d-end position. Young is a risk to wear down if the Khris Bogle and Tunmise Adeleye are unavailable against Maryland.

Sophomores Malik Spencer, Jaden Mangham and Dillon Tatum are second, third and fourth in tackles for Michigan State and have combined for 48 stops. Mangham is the only member of the secondary with an interception for a group that has 11 pass breakups, and for a defense that has 25 tackles for loss but is surrendering 375 yards of offense and 20.7 points per game.

Michigan State on offense

Offensively, Michigan State is averaging 27.7 points and 377.3 yards per game but that is misleading because most of those points were scored and yards gained were in wins over Central Michigan and Richmond.

Redshirt junior quarterback Noah Kim leads the offense with 707 yards passing, good for five TDs and just one pick. Kim has completed 48 of 84 passes attempted for an offense that is producing 263.3 passing yards a contest.

The run game, which is led by redshirt sophomore Nathan Carter’s 272 yards and four scores is producing just 114 yards per game. With redshirt junior Jalen Berger and senior transfer Jaren Mangham both out with injury, Michigan State will likely try and get production from senior Jordan Simmons and redshirt sophomore Davion Primm.

Led by 5th-year senior Tre Mosley’s 11 catches for 144 yards and one TD, Michigan State has three additional wide receivers who have been strong contributors. Redshirt junior Christian Fitzpatrick adds 164 yards on six catches, while redshirt freshman Jaron Glover has contributed seven receptions for 152 yards and senior Montorie Foster Jr. has pitched in with five receptions for 80 yards.

That group will be going up against a Maryland defense whose strength seems to come from its secondary. Senior defensive back Beau Brade tops the team with 13 tackles and one pass break-up in two games, despite not playing in the Virginia game.

Sophomore linebacker Caleb Wheatland adds 12 stops for a Maryland D that has given up 314.7 yards and 13.3 points per game through three contests.

Senior defensive back Tarheeb Still, who spearheaded Maryland’s defense against the Cavaliers with two interceptions, adds 11 tackles, including one for loss.

Sophomore linebacker Jaishan Barham has a team-leading two sacks and seven tackles, while sophomore linebacker Caleb Wheatland comes in as UMD’s third double-digit tackler with 12 for a Terps team that has totaled 14 tackles for loss so far this season.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

MICHIGAN STATE: Some fire and desperation would be nice. Yes, there’s a lot going on that has affected this team mentally and emotionally, but this group needs to find a way to circle the proverbial wagons and do whatever is necessary to save its season.

MARYLAND: The Terrapins seem to be getting into a groove that has featured significant and timely contributions on both sides of the ball. Maryland has an identity and just needs to play mistake-free football to spoil Michigan State’s homecoming.

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