MSU's first Big Ten opponent, the Maryland Terrapins, will be its first major hurdle of the season following a somewhat worrying performance against Florida Atlantic last Friday that displayed some inexperience from the new team.

While the Smith era started with a win, MSU's 16-10 escape of the Owls was far from what coaches and fans hoped to see. 

"It was frustrating on our end," offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren said. "Because it felt like the past week, week and a half, two weeks leading up to that game, I felt like, 'man, these guys are playing with confidence, they’ve gotten past some of that stuff.'"

Sophomore quarterback Aidan Chiles struggled, his first throw as a Spartan resulting in an interception and throwing another at the goal line in the second half. He was the story entering the evening, but MSU's defense emerged the headliner. 

Michigan State’s football team has a lot of work to do to compete with Maryland Saturday, and the outcome of the game will showcase this team’s current level of skill and execution. 

The Terrapins played UConn this past Saturday and won, 50-7. They have an aggressive team with experienced players, which may be a recipe for disaster for the young, new-regime Spartans hitting the road for the first time. 

And, to make matters worse for MSU, it suffered several key, long-term injuries last Friday. 

Key Injuries

Three MSU rotation players endured long-term injuries against FAU, including junior defensive back and captain Dillon Tatum, junior defensive back Khalil Majeed and fifth year wide receiver Alante Brown.

Tatum was substituted for junior safety Malik Spencer following Spencer's ejection from the game for targeting, and was injured on the first play after halftime. Tatum is expected to be out for multiple months, according to Smith, if not the rest of the year, with a lower-body injury. Majeed is doubtful to come back and also suffered a lower-body injury.

Brown suffered an upper-body injury on Friday and will not see the field until at least November if he’s able to at all, Smith said after practice Monday. 

This isn’t the first time MSU’s football team has suffered significant injuries in week zero. Starting linebacker Darius Snow and captain safety Xavier Henderson were both injured severely in 2022 against Western Michigan during college football's inaugural weekend.  

With significant players injured on defense, fans should hope Smith’s plans for a deep roster were executed.

Chiles, MSU offense looks to rebound

MSU's offense struggled to execute against FAU. Chiles was frustrated with his performance and took responsibility for the loss after throwing two interceptions and struggling to find a rhythm. 

Smith said he thought the pocket was clean most plays, but it all comes down to taking care of the ball and efficiency in the red zone, where the Spartans turned it over three times against FAU. Smith has experience with this from coaching at Oregon State, where his red zone touchdown rate ranked second in the Pac-12.

Other frustrations within the offense include Brown’s injury, which will result in other receivers, like freshman Nick Marsh, seeing the field more.

Lindgren said offensively, MSU had a disappointing performance with inconsistencies and errors in technique and assignment, which were all mistakes that had been made at the beginning of fall camp.

MSU can ill afford to fall behind offensively in a conference road environment Saturday. A lot of it falls on Chiles, who will need to take a step forward from last week in order to deliver a strong performance.

Spartan defense enters College Park confident

The Spartan defense had great energy against FAU, sometimes to its detriment, forcing three turnovers while managing four personal foul penalties and a targeting ejection. If it wants to do the same against the Terrapins, it'll need to do so without its captain safety. 

Maryland had a similar experience in its first game, when quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. took a late hit resulting in an ejection for UConn and a brawl between the two teams.

Smith said understanding the targeting rule and tweaking some of his approaches to coaching low versus high tackling will be a focus this week, and he’s looking to eliminate some of the small, two-to-three-yard runs that add up over time. 

With receivers like Tai Felton, who had two touchdowns and 178 receiving yards against UConn, and a quarterback like Edwards, who two threw for 311 yards and two touchdowns, Maryland presents an early-season challenge in Michigan State’s schedule and true test of whether or not the Spartans can compete at a higher level for now.

Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 7, at SECU stadium. FOX will air the game.