With less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter, Michigan State trailed 27-13 against Maryland, searching for a touchdown to remain in the game.
The Spartans had a 4th-and-10 on the Maryland 19-yard line, and Payton Thorne surveyed the field before leaving the pocket and scrambling needing 10 yards.
Thorne came up six yards short, resulting in a turnover-on-downs that saw the Spartans’ hopes for the come-from-behind win dwindle down.
Maryland football played its first game under newly-named SECU Stadium against Michigan State in its conference home opener. The Terps entered halftime up eight and didn’t allow a point in the second half, defeating the Spartans, 27-13.
“To me this is the third game in a row where our defensive staff led by coach [Brian] Williams [did] a tremendous job of making the necessary adjustments at the half and coming out and playing really good defense,” coach Mike Locksley said.
The Terps’ opening drive started from the seven as a hold on the opening kickoff negated a 45-yard return by Jacob Copeland. Despite the long field ahead, Maryland struck first as Antwain Littleton II capped off the 12-play, 93-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown rush to the left.
Littleton’s score marked his sixth consecutive game with a touchdown, the longest streak for the Terps since Lance Ball accomplished the feat from 2005-2006.
“I really pride myself on getting those extra yards, converting first downs and helping the team score on our drive,” Littleton said.
Taulia Tagovailoa threw for 66 yards on the drive, putting him over 6,000 for his career. In the fourth quarter, Tagovailoa passed Boomer Esiason for third all-time in career passing yards at Maryland.
Michigan State responded with relative ease, moving the ball 77 yards in eight plays to tie the score at seven. Elijah Collins capped off the drive with a 12-yard touchdown rush.
Maryland re-gained the lead just two minutes later.
The Terps’ opening play of the drive was a beauty as Tagovailoa extended the play to find a wide-open Corey Dyches near the sideline for a 44-yard gain. Tagovailoa calmly stepped up in the pocket, and once pressure came, scrambled to his right before firing off the pass to Dyches.
Colby McDonald scored from two yards out just three plays later.
Both defenses shored things up the rest of the quarter, each forcing a punt. Maryland led 14-7 after the first.
“They were giving us a lot of different personnel looks in odd personnels … so we were trying to communicate that and get in the best adjustment possible,” Ahmad McCullough said.
Michigan State moved the ball into the redzone on its opening drive of the second quarter, but Jakorian Bennett forced an incompletion on third down in the endzone with strong coverage on Jayden Reed. The Spartans were unable to capitalize on fourth down as Ben Patton missed a 33-yard field goal wide right.
The Spartans got the ball back in less than two minutes after Maryland went three-and-out, and this time found the endzone. Thorne saw Reed open in the corner for the score, but the botched snap on the point-after-attempt kept Maryland up by one, 14-13.
On just its second drive of the second, Maryland moved the ball 80 yards in 13 plays for its third touchdown of the first half. Tagovailoa found an open Rakim Jarrett in the endzone while rolling to his right for the five-yard score, extending the Terps’ lead to eight with 42 seconds left in the half.
The Terps almost had a massive defensive score to end the half as Dante Trader Jr. intercepted Thorne on a tipped pass and took it to the house for six, but a questionable personal foul penalty called on Corey Coley Jr. wiped off the touchdown. Michigan State kept possession and moved 15 yards further down the field as a result of the penalty.
“I’m not going to go down that rabbit hole about that flag and the lack of a touchdown,” Locksley said. “At some point, I think we’ll earn the respect around here to where we are able to take advantage of calls like that.”
Jack Stone attempted a 45-yard field goal to end the half but his kick was blocked by Bennett, keeping Maryland ahead 21-13 at halftime.
Tagovailoa spread the wealth in the first half, completing 21 passes to 10 different receivers. Jeshaun Jones led in catches with four for 41 yards.
Chad Ryland got the scoring started in the second half with a 43-yard field goal, his 24th in a row dating back to last season— tied for the Big Ten record.
Ryland got a chance to break the record late in the third quarter, but his 50-yard kick missed wide right.
Michigan State’s offense struggled mightily in the third as the Spartans registered only eight yards on ten plays in the quarter. All eight yards came on the ground.
“Coaches put us in a good position where we could just line up and play fast,” Tarheeb Still said.
Ryland’s 43-yard make was the lone score of the third. Maryland entered the fourth up 24-13.
Littleton took the second play of the fourth 68 yards inside Michigan State’s ten-yard line. Littleton used a strong stiff arm to break away from a Spartan defender before exploding down the sideline, finally being brought down at the two.
“They didn’t have [a] defensive end over there, it was just a corner but he shot very wide so I knew if I kept it skinny I was going to break out and that’s what I did,” Littleton said.
Four straight Littleton handoffs up the middle resulted in just one yard and a turnover-on-downs as Maryland was unable to grow its lead further.
Ryland bounced back from the missed field goal with a 51-yard make midway though the fourth, extending Maryland’s lead to 14.
Michigan State went for it on 4th-and-10 late in the quarter, but a six-yard scramble from Thorne wasn’t enough to keep the drive moving.
Maryland cruised the rest of the way, securing the victory. The win was the Terps’ first over the Spartans since 2016, and improved the Terps to 4-1, 1-1 in conference play.
Maryland returns home next weekend for a matchup against Purdue, looking to remain undefeated at SECU Stadium.
