REHASH & ANALYSIS: Jonathan Kim hits game-winning FG to seal 27-24 Michigan State victory over Maryland

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – It didn’t take long for first-year Michigan State head football coach Jonathan Smith to post a memorable moment. Michigan State, as a touchdown underdog, came back from 7-point deficits on three occasions, and finally etched a 27-24 victory over the Terrapins, Saturday at SECU Stadium.

Michigan State kicker Jonathan Kim produced the game-winning points with a 37-yard field goal with :01 second left, setting off a celebration of happy Spartan players on the field and along the sideline.

“It’s big,” Smith said of the comeback victory. “It’s still early. This is game two. We have a lot of football left. At the same time, some of the messages we’re preaching, I think some of the belief that comes, finding a way, on the road, resiliently, with some durability throughout the game, that echoes some of our messages.”

“Hopefully (this will) add some confidence and some resilience that this thing ain’t over till it’s showing zeroes. And we have the capabilities to finish games, and we did today.”

Michigan State improves to 2-0 (1-0 in the Big Ten), and will face Prairie View A&M at home next week. Maryland falls to 1-1.

TURNING POINT

Michigan State tied the game at 24-24 on a 77-yard Chiles touchdown pass to Nick Marsh. It was a one-play scoring drive, moments after Maryland’s Jack Howes missed a 40-yard field goal which could have given the Terps a two-score lead.

Michigan State went with a hard-play action, faking an outside zone to the left. Marsh blew through the secondary as part of a two-receiver route. Chiles hit him in stride at the 25-yard line. Marsh outran Kevyn Humes and Perry Fisher to the goal line.

“He had been progressing throughout camp and making a bunch of plays,” Smith said of Marsh. “Game one, he was out there, we just didn’t target him as much. This game, he was going to play more and had some more targets for him. In the middle of the field, he came up huge. At the same time, he is catching the ball on the sideline. He is mature beyond his years.”

HOLDING FIRM

After Marsh’s scoring strike, Michigan State’s defense forced a three-and-out. The key play: On third-and-one, Michigan State brought Malik Spencer on a safety blitz and stuffed an inside run, with Jordan Turner making first contact and Spencer assisting.

Maryland had to punt back to Michigan State with 2:56 remaining.

“I thought defensively, coming in, we knew this was an explosive (Maryland) offense,” Smith said. “We challenged our defense just to make them earn it, and for the most part we did that.

“They (the Michigan State defense) kept responding, even when we got down, they came up huge for us. Really happy with the group effort. That’s a good offense, and a good team, on the road, first time in the Big Ten, to come up the way we did, really pleased with that.

“We had a big ol’ showing of Spartans out there, cheering us on the whole time and that was awesome.”

GAME-WINNING DRIVE

Michigan State looked for Marsh on third-and-10 at its own 16-yard line. Marsh seemed to be coming open on a post when he received contact from Maryland cornerback Jalen Huskey, drawing pass interference, a 15-yard penalty, and critical life.

Then Chiles checked down to Antonio Gates Jr. on a shallow cross for a gain of seven.

Chiles then scrambled for a six-yard gain and a first down.

Then, Chiles found Montorie Foster for 13 yards on a hitch against soft zone coverage. Next play, Chiles hit Marsh in off-coverage for a gain of 11.

Then after a Chiles zone read keeper for a gain of three, the Michigan State quarterback connected with Marsh for a gain of 6.

Then Chiles converted a third-and-one with a quarterback sneak.

Then three runs by Nathan Carter, sandwiched around a false start by Foster, set up Kim for the game-winning field goal.

“We got more explosive offensively, threw some strikes down the field,” Smith said of Michigan State’s approach late in the game. “Nick Marsh came on the stage in a big way.”

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

Chiles completed 24 of 39 pass attempts for 363 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. He added 11 rushing yards on eight carries.

“A couple of those interceptions are just his footwork,” Smith said of Chiles. “He has to throw it in proper balance. He was just inaccurate on a couple of them. There is a learning curve but the kid is resilient. We had the ball at the end and he drove it down to set it up for Jonathan Kim.”

Carter carried the ball 11 times for 59 yards, while Kay’Ron Lynch-Adams carried the ball 10 times for 46 yards.

“There is more there, I’m telling you,” Smith said of the run game. “We’ve got to get better in the run game. We have the potential to do some more. There is still meat left on the bone. We have to keep working.”

Marsh caught eight passes for 194 yards and one touchdown. Jaron Glover caught six passes for 84 yards and one touchdown, while Foster caught six passes for 53 yards and one touchdown.

Tight end Jack Velling caught three passes for 25 yards, while Gates caught his first pass of the season for seven yards in the fourth quarter.

Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. completed 26 of his 34 pass attempts for 253 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Michigan State cornerback Charles Brantley came up with Edwards’ lone interception on a deflected pass in the fourth quarter.

Maryland receiver Tai Felton caught 11 passes for 152 yards and one touchdown to lead the team. Michigan State held Maryland to 86 yards rushing. Starter Roman Hemby carried the ball 12 times for 35 yards.

Michigan State logged 493 yards of offense to Maryland’s 339. The Spartans passed for 363 yards and rushed for 130, while Maryland passed for 253 and rushed for 86.

Michigan State finished with 10 penalties for 100 yards, while Maryland finished with nine for 80 yards.

KEY THIEVERY

Maryland was leading 24-17 and driving into Michigan State territory when Brantley stepped in front of a slant pass attempt for a diving interception at the Michigan State 25-yard line. Maryland’s receiver seemed to lose the ball in the sun.

But Michigan State went three-and-out, held to gains of one, and two yards on a pair of Lynch-Adams runs. Then on third down, Carter dropped a pass in the flat that likely wouldn’t have gone for first down yardage.

Michigan State didn’t capitalize on the turnover, but stemmed Maryland’s momentum.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED

Trailing 24-17 and trying to answer, Michigan State’s Chiles hit Marsh on a pretty 57-yard strike. Marsh ran past Maryland’s off coverage with a corner-post double move.

However, Michigan State went backward on its next two plays. After a false start by left tackle Stanton Ramil, Carter was stopped for a loss of four on a toss sweep. Then Chiles was stopped for a loss of 1 on a scramble.

Then on third-and-20, Chiles had a pass attempt slip out of his hands and intercepted in the backfield by Glendon Miller.

“(The win) shows the potential, not just of those two (Chiles and Marsh),” Smith said. “But we have to find a way to be more efficient offensively. Too many missed assignments. The penalties flipped on us this week. We got turnovers again. Tonight we were explosive enough to kind of make up for that.”

MARYLAND’S GO-AHEAD TOUCHDOWN

Maryland scored on a 28-yard TD pass from Edwards to tight end Dylan Wade on the first play of the fourth quarter. Michigan State had an assignment bust on the play, with linebacker Jordan Turner late in following the wide-open Wade down the sideline.

Michigan State appeared to be in a combination coverage on that play, with two deep safeties. Michigan State was in man-to-man at cornerback on the left sideline, with Brantley following a WR over the middle. That left a void down the left sideline for Wade, and Turner didn’t go with him.

Wade had lined up in the backfield as a set back, and snuck out unnoticed down the left sideline.

TURNING POINT

Michigan State led 17-14 coming out of halftime and was generating more momentum on its opening series of the second half. But Chiles missed tight end Michael Masunas in the end zone on what could have been a 31-yard TD pass. Masunas was open. But Chiles missed him, a few yards wide to the right, and into the hands of cornerback Huskey, who had been beaten on the play.

If Chiles was accurate with that pass, Michigan State could have gone up 24-14 and gained firm control of the game.

Maryland then tied the game at 17-17 on its first drive of the second half, with Howes hitting a 45-yard field goal. Edwards hit Felton with a deep 35-yard shot against Michigan State second-string cornerback Ade Willie. That marked the first time since the opening drive of the game that Michigan State played press man-to-man on a wide receiver. Willie stayed hip-to-hip with the speedy Felton most of the way, but Edwards hit him with a perfect pass.

MSU’s next possession ended when Chiles, on a third-and-nine scramble, darted to the sideline and held the ball out, hopeful of clearing the line of gain. But he was short by a yard, and Michigan State punted on fourth-and-one at their own 44-yard line midway through the third quarter.

THE FIRST HALF

Michigan State took a 17-14 lead on the last play of the first half when Kim kicked a 50-yard field goal.

Kim had just missed from 55 yards, but Maryland was drawn off-side on the play, giving Kim another shot from a closer distance.

Chiles completed five passes on the drive, driving from the Spartans’ own 12-yard line.

Chiles completed passes to Glover (gain of 8), Velling (gain of 10 a third-and-10 scramble-to-throw), Foster (gain of 14 on a dash comeback) and Marsh (gains of 12 on an out route to the wide side of the field, and 6 on a slant).

Chiles was sacked twice on the drive.

Michigan State came back from deficits of 7-0 and 14-7 to tie the game twice in the first half.

Michigan State tied it at 7-7 on a 9-yard Chiles-to-Foster touchdown pass on a double slant. Carter had a 30-yard run on a wide zone, to the Terps 15-yard line. That’s the side of the line where redshirt-sophomore Gavin Broscious made his first start at right guard in place of Kristian Phillips, who was out with an undisclosed injury.

Earlier in the drive, on third-and-three Chiles hooked up with Marsh for a 13-yard pass on a corner route, plus 15 for a late hit penalty.

Michigan State tied it at 14-14 on Chiles’ 34-yard TD to Glover on a skinny post. Glover blew past Huskey’s zone coverage.

Earlier in the drive, on third-and-four at the Terps’ 37-yard line, Lynch-Adams carried for a gain of 16 on an inside zone to the left.

Maryland took a 7-0 lead on the opening drive of the game. Maryland sprang receivers open deep on four occasions on the drive, with QB Edwards overthrowing three of them.

He finally connected on a 15-yard slot fade to the corner, to Felton, working against Chance Rucker. Earlier in the drive, Ed Woods, Brantley and Rucker were each beaten deep. Brantley was flagged for pass interference in the process.

After that drive, Michigan State didn’t play press man-to-man for the rest of the first half. Instead, Michigan State most stayed with cover-four zone. Maryland didn’t attempt a deep pass the rest of the half, and instead carved out a measure of success with inside runs, but nothing crippling for the Spartans through two quarters.

Maryland took a 14-7 lead after Terps DB Miller intercepted a Chiles pass. Chiles had Marsh semi-open on a dig route vs man-to-man, but missed him way high. Miller intercepted and returned it to the Michigan State 17-yard line.

The Terps capitalized on the short field two plays later when Edwards scored on a 7-yard RPO keeper.