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<\/div>\n<\/div>\nLansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch and Detroit Free Press beat writer Chris Solari discuss MSU’s loss at Iowa and decisions that led to it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch breaks down Michigan State\u2019s football game against Maryland on Saturday at Ford Field in Detroit. Time: 7 p.m. TV: FS1. Betting line: MSU -4.<\/em><\/p>\n MSU\u2019s defense has improved significantly in the second half of the season, especially in the first three quarters of games. That they wear down late is largely a product of a lack of help. MSU\u2019s offense and special teams have gotten worse in ways as the season has gone along. The Spartans<\/a>, however, showed some things offensively against a stingy Iowa<\/a> defense to make you think they might have the goods to score enough to win one of these games at some point. Maryland presents the best \u2014 and last \u2014 opportunity to do that.<\/p>\n The question is whether MSU\u2019s offensive line can protect just well enough to let the Spartans’ passing game find some rhythm. Because some of MSU\u2019s playmakers seem to be in form, including receiver Chrishon McCray and the Spartans\u2019 tight ends. That doesn\u2019t include the two best players on the Spartans\u2019 offense the first month of the season, receivers Nick Marsh and Omari Kelly, who I\u2019m sure would like to finish the year on a high note. Running back Elijah Tau-Tolliver has come on late in the year, too, behind a line that\u2019s clearly better at run-blocking than pass protection. This MSU team might be one decent night of protection away from a pretty good overall performance, especially given Saturday’s opponent. But considering that MSU is allowing a Big Ten-worst 3.36 sacks per game and QB Alessio Milivojevic has taken 4,724 hits over the last three games, it\u2019s also hard to imagine a decent night of pass protection from the Spartans against anyone.<\/p>\n \u201cSurging\u201d is a relative term. But there is no question the Spartans are a better defense than a month ago, especially defending the pass. MSU hasn\u2019t allowed a 200-yard passing game since Indiana and, over the past four games, only Minnesota has thrown for more than 150 yards against the Spartans. A lot of that is opponent-dependent. MSU has faced Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State and Iowa, all teams with limitations in the passing game.<\/p>\n But Maryland also falls into that category, as well, with a freshman quarterback in Malik Washington who\u2019s thrown eight touchdown passes, seven interceptions and is only averaging 5.5 yards per pass attempt, which is the lowest of any starting QB in the Big Ten. Washington is a big, athletic QB, who is capable of making plays on the ground. And Maryland protects him a heckuva lot better than the Spartans do Milivojevic. The Terrapins<\/a> allow the second-fewest sacks in the Big Ten.<\/p>\n Even so, this is a Maryland team that\u2019s averaging just 16.4 first downs per game in conference play, third from last in the Big Ten. MSU, for comparison, is a few spots ahead at 17.4 first downs per game in Big Ten games. The Terrapins also have a fairly pedestrian rushing attack. This MSU defense isn\u2019t going to overwhelm anyone. But the Spartans should be able to continue being the defense they\u2019ve become over the last month, since coordinator Joe Rossi made his way down to the sidelines.<\/p>\n MSU\u2019s Ryan Eckley has a chance to lead the nation in yards per punt with a good game indoors Saturday. It\u2019s also a chance to make amends for an off day that came at the worst time at Iowa last week \u2014\u00a0including an 11-yard shank and a final punt that was supposed to go out of bounds but instead landed in the hands of Iowa\u2019s all-everything return man, who ran it back into MSU territory, setting up the game-tying touchdown.<\/p>\n Eckley is still just a whisker from leading college football in punting, averaging 48.64 yards, a little more than two-tenths of a yard behind Western Kentucky\u2019s Cole Maynard. For a lot of this season, Eckley has been a weapon for the Spartans. If this is indeed his last game before leaving for the NFL, MSU could use one final night of booming and pinpoint Eckley punts. Playing at Ford Field \u2014 and not against Iowa\u2019s Kaden Wetjen \u2014 should help.<\/p>\n The last time Jonathan Smith faced Maryland, early last season, the Spartans looked like they might be on their way, and Aidan Chiles and Nick Marsh looked like a duo that would be wreaking havoc on the Big Ten week after week. That Sept. 7, 2024, 27-24 win feels like years ago. Smith is now perhaps coaching his final game at MSU, his tenure in limbo at best. Maryland coach Mike Locksley, who\u2019s produced the same number of wins over the past two seasons, is being brought back next year for an eighth season, despite a 39-74 record as a head coach. Smith probably wishes he had Maryland\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t think winning this game will change a thing for Jonathan Smith\u2019s future. The cake is likely already baked at this point. But Smith has been trying to make the case over the last couple weeks that he needs another year. There is no case if you can\u2019t beat late-season Mike Locksley with comparable talent in a quasi-home game.\u00a0<\/p>\n In terms of entertainment value, there are worse ideas tham going to Ford Field with a cheap or free ticket for a cozy night of college football to cap a holiday weekend. If your extended family is still hanging around, and you’re working on your third puzzle, 3-8 MSU vs. 4-7 Maryland looks pretty good for a Saturday night. That said, I don\u2019t know how many people will take the bait. I\u2019d guess the crowd will top 20,000, which, as someone who\u2019s covered regular-season MAC football games at Ford Field, can feel like a decent atmosphere. If it gets too much smaller, though, this could be a depressing setting. I think most MSU fans are over the Jonathan Smith era, but they\u2019d like to see this group of players enjoy a win again. The question is whether that and\/or the cheap ticket are enough to bring them out.<\/p>\n MSU has lost eight straight. Maryland has lost seven in a row. There haven’t been ties in college football in 30 years, so somebody has to win. These teams have had similar journeys, both in terms of the arc of the season and how they\u2019ve fared against common opponents. Both of these teams would have a real shot to win the MAC, so perhaps this serves as the undercard for the MAC championship game a week later at Ford Field, between Western Michigan and Toledo or Miami-Ohio or Central Michigan or Ohio. MSU has been snakebitten late in games by tough breaks, questionable decisions and some bad officiating. Maryland has been just as unfortunate and sometimes overmatched this season. The Spartans have been the more competitive team for the past month. I think they can find a way to not to lose this one.<\/p>\n Make it:<\/strong> MSU 27, Maryland 24, in overtime<\/p>\n MORE:<\/strong> Couch: 3 quick takes on Michigan State’s 20-17 loss at Iowa<\/a><\/p>\n Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n MSU football video analysis after the Spartans’ 20-17 loss at Iowa Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch and Detroit Free Press beat writer Chris Solari discuss MSU’s loss at Iowa and decisions that led to it. Lansing State Journal columnist Graham Couch breaks down Michigan State\u2019s football game against Maryland on Saturday at Ford Field … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11589,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Prediction-preview-TV-betting-line.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11588"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11588\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11590,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11588\/revisions\/11590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1. Can MSU put it all together, just once?<\/h2>\n
2. MSU\u2019s surging defense vs. Maryland’s limited offense<\/h2>\n
3. Ryan Eckley<\/h2>\n
4. Mike Locksley vs. Jonathan Smith<\/h2>\n
5. The crowd at Ford Field<\/h2>\n
Prediction<\/h2>\n
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