Michigan State football: 3 things to know about Week 4 opponent Maryland

3. Washington lite

When I say Washington lite, I mean they are a pass heavy team but nowhere near the skill.

Sure, Taulia Tagovailoa leads the Big Ten in passing yards and Maryland leads the conference in total yards, but it’s three games against bad teams and as mentioned before, they stall out before getting too close to the endzone.

I know last year’s stats aren’t relevant to this year, but Maryland put up almost 500 yards against MSU last year but only put up 27 points, 21 of those coming in a pretty competitive first half. If MSU had the president of Pi Kappa Phi four White Claws deep at offensive coordinator, they win that game last year. But instead, they had Jay Johnson and Michigan State was shut out.

No, nothing about the Washington game was fun, but maybe the defense learns where they failed last week and use it to sharpen up against another passing team.

Defensively, they are very middle of the pack, ranking eighth in total defense in the Big Ten. Yes, I think Michigan State has more talent than any other team Michigan State has played, but the talent gap wasn’t the reason Washington destroyed them. I think being another week removed from the Mel Tucker situation will give the team a clearer vision of the football tasks at hand.