Nick Marsh scored the tying touchdown against Maryland with a 77-yard pass.
Nick Marsh scored the tying touchdown against Maryland with a 77-yard pass.
College Park, Maryland. – The entire visiting team must have breathed a collective sigh of relief after Maryland’s field goal attempt failed in the fourth quarter.
The Spartans were still one touchdown behind, but were not out of the game yet.
Aidan Chiles and Nick Marsh – two of the team’s youngest players – gave Michigan State fans reason to cheer.
With the Spartans’ backs against the wall, Chiles threw a strike to the first-year wide receiver. It was a perfect pass and a great route. Marsh powered in and left two Terrapins behind.
Marsh scored his first collegiate touchdown with a 77-yard pass that tied the game with 4:11 left in regulation.
At that moment, the future of the Spartans’ offense became apparent.
Michigan State trailed Maryland three times during Saturday’s game, but each time the Spartans found a way to answer. Jonathan Kim capped the 27-24 victory with a 37-yard field goal.
“I’m really happy with the group that found a way to win the game,” coach Jonathan Smith said after his first road win of his tenure. “I thought it was a good football game, back and forth… I’m really happy with how we finished both halves and of course the field goals, which were important.”
RESULT: Michigan State 27, Maryland 24
There is still a lot of uncertainty about how good the Spartans can be this season, but the new coaching staff and a roster with 61 new players who weren’t at Michigan State last season are finding a solution.
Michigan State came to Maryland trailing by 8.5 points, but the Spartans showed resilience on the road and pulled out the win in the fourth quarter. Their performance was bold, exciting and promising.
“It means a lot to me,” linebacker Jordan Turner said. “We’re a new team, but it’s nice to see how everyone stuck together when things didn’t go the way we wanted.”
Last week, Chiles showed his limitations in his shaky debut for Michigan State.
This week he has shown progress.
Chiles tripled the number of passing yards he threw the previous week and recorded the seventh-best single-game performance in Michigan State history. In his second career start, Chiles completed 24 of his 39 passes for a whopping 363 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions.
“I wasn’t scared today. I can say that for sure,” Chiles said. “I went out there and made mistakes, but I came back and washed it away and got it back, so it is what it is.”
The Spartans still have a long way to go, as Saturday’s game was full of mistakes, but the improvement from Week 1 to Week 2 was promising.
Michigan State made a point of getting the offense going early in the game. After the Terrapins scored on the opening drive, Michigan State responded with a touchdown of their own.
Madeline Kenney talks to Nick Marsh and Aidan Chiles about the late 77-yard touchdown.
Madeline Kenney talks to Nick Marsh and Aidan Chiles about the late 77-yard touchdown.
Many of the players who struggled last week – Chiles, Nate Carter and Montorie Foster Jr. – were more important this time around, especially on Michigan State’s first drive. Carter managed a 30-yard run. Moments later, Chiles found Foster in the end zone, who received a 9-yard pass to tie the game.
The Spartans didn’t have a single player gain 30 yards against Florida Atlantic. But on Saturday, Michigan State had three players gain 30 or more yards at halftime.
With Alante Brown out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, Marsh had more of an opportunity to contribute. He caught a pass for 57 yards in the fourth quarter, in addition to his 77-yard score, and finished the game with 194 yards.
With Maryland posing a far greater offensive threat than Florida Atlantic last week, Michigan State set out to smother the Terrapins as much as possible. If Maryland wanted to score, Smith told the team, it had to make sure the points were scored.
Michigan State started out weakly on defense, allowing the Terrapins to score on a 15-yard pass to Tai Felton, but the Spartans made key stops throughout the game, especially at the end, to keep the game close.
Michigan State took a 17-14 halftime lead after Kim made a 50-yard field goal to end the second quarter.
The teams traded blows throughout the game. Terrapins quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. found Dylan Wade for a 28-yard touchdown pass that gave Maryland a 24-17 lead early in the fourth quarter.
After Jack Howes kicked a 45-yard field goal to tie the score in the third quarter, he set up for a 41-yard attempt that could have extended the Terrapins’ lead, but his kick missed.
Michigan State was lucky and responded with Marsh’s touchdown before Kim’s kick sealed the Spartans’ first road win of the season.
“It’s big. It’s still early. This is Game 2. We’ve got a lot of football left,” Smith said. “But at the same time, some of the messages that we preach, some of the beliefs that come from finding a way along the way, resilience and consistency throughout the game, reflect some of our messages that we’ve been preaching.”
Michigan State (2-0, 1-0 Big Ten) will try to maintain its perfect record next week when the Spartans host Prairie View A&M in East Lansing on Saturday.
@madkenney
