The Maryland Terrapins and Michigan State Spartans do battle Saturday in a week 5 Big Ten college football matchup from Maryland Stadium.
The Michigan State Spartans will be looking to rebound from back-to-back losses after a 34-7 beatdown loss at the hands of Minnesota last time out. Payton Thorne has thrown for 900 yards, 7 touchdowns and 6 interceptions on 65.3% passing while Jalen Berger has a team-high 267 rushing yards with 4 touchdowns. Keon Coleman leads MSU’s receiving group with 19 grabs for 261 yards and 3 TDs while four other Spartans have 100+ receiving yards this season, including Tre Mosley who has 169 receiving yards and 3 touchdowns. On defense, Kendell Brooks has a team-high 38 total tackles while Jacoby Windmon has a team-high 5.5 sacks as part of MSU’s 12 sacks as a team this season.
The Maryland Terrapins will try to rebound after a narrow 34-27 loss to Michigan last time out. Taulia Tagovailoa’s thrown for 1,102 yards, 7 touchdowns and 4 interceptions on 74.6% passing while Roman Hemby has 342 rushing yards and 3 TDs and Antwain Littleton II has 5 rushing scores this season. Rakim Jarrett has a team-high 15 grabs for 208 receiving yards while 5 other Terrapins have at least 100 receiving yards. On defense, Beau Brade has a team-high 32 total tackles with 16 solo tackles and Henry Chibueze has a pair of sacks as well this season.
Michigan State is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games in October and 11-4-2 ATS in their last 17 games overall while the over is 4-1 in their last 5 games following an ATS loss. Maryland is 1-5 ATS in their last 6 home games and 8-20 ATS in their last 28 conference games while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games following a loss.
It’s really tempting to see Michigan State as an underdog and I wouldn’t blame you for looking at Sparty with the points. However, while Michigan State’s a solid roster that’s well-coached by Mel Tucker, the reality right now is that the Spartans have struggled against team that they’ve had to step up to or have been on their level. I thought Maryland was going to get run off of the field by Michigan, but Maryland held their own and showed a lot of poise by not cracking in a harsh road environment, even in a losing effort. I have to ride with Maryland.