Maryland is set to kick off conference play when Michigan State heads to SECU Stadium on Saturday, marking the earliest conference game since the Terps hosted Miami (FL) back in 2011.
Kickoff is set for 3:30 PM on BTN as Maryland will look to move to 2-0 in hopes of securing their third consecutive win against the Spartans. The sportsbooks point to the Terps as a touchdown favorite with the lone moving between 7.5 to 9 points this week. Part of that is a result of Michigan State’s season opener as the Spartans struggled offensively as quarterback Aidan Chiles completed less than 50% of his passes, doing just enough to secure a 16-10 win at home, but defensive lineman Jordan Phillips took note of Michigan State’s potential on the ground.
"I think they do a lot of good things with the stretch [runs], the outside zone. They also run inside zone, a little bit of gap scheme too. They pull both guards. They also run that counter. I think they do a lot of good things on tape. Up front, they're very competitive. They play with low pad level and they play fundamentally sound which tells me that they're coached really good."
While the Spartans look to retool their offensive identity, it was the defense that led the way after registering seven sacks and ten sacks while allowing ten points.
“Their two [defensive] ends – big, big-time players,” head coach Mike Locksley added. “Obviously, I had a chance to recruit Khris Bogle a little bit in my previous place, and really good player. [He] transferred in there from Florida. 27, their linebacker. I mean, every time I look at the depth chart, I'm like this guy is still here. It's like, he's been there for 10 years but he's one of those guys that's always around the football. They play good team defense. Their [defensive] coordinator is a guy that is well respected in this league. I know he's had Minnesota in the top ten in defense over the years. I know Jonathan went out and went to go get him. He was a guy that he kind of said, hey, I want to go get a guy that understands the Big Ten and I think they've got a pretty good understanding of what they want to get accomplished. But it starts with their front seven, and the physicality will create a different kind of challenge for us this week.”
While Maryland will look to pick up where it left off in the passing game, quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. pointed to the run game as capable of handling the Spartans’ pressure.
“They're a very experienced front seven. They got some new pieces at linebacker and upfront from the portal but they're very experienced, they're very stout. They play the run well. They're physical. Just watching the one game from FAU, aside from any tape outside of that, they played the run really well and they got after that quarterback. I think the biggest thing that coach [Josh] Gattis hit on yesterday and what we've been telling ourselves since Sunday when we started watching the tape, we've just got to execute. We've got to cover them up, allow Roman [Hemby], allow the running game to get going.”
"They're a tough team so we're going to have to put last week behind us,” running back Nolan Ray added. “Just get better technically, be tough, physical up front, on the perimeter -- everywhere."
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