Photo by: Matthew Mitchell Photography
Post-Game Notes: Maryland
11/13/2021 11:03:00 PM | Football
Michigan State defeated Maryland, 40-21, Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stadium . . . it marked MSU's fourth consecutive win over the Terrapins . . . MSU is 6-1 against Maryland in Big Ten games and 10-2 overall . . . MSU also improved to 7-1 against Maryland in East Lansing.
OFFENSE
Kenneth Walker III collected his seventh 100-yard rushing game of the season with 143 yards on a career-high 30 carries . . . he also tallied 172 all-purpose yards (two catches for 29 yards, including season-long 17-yarder); he has totaled 150-plus all-purpose yards in six games this season . . . Walker scored two touchdowns (1 yard in second quarter; 3 yards in fourth quarter) to give him 17 for the year, which is tied for seventh most in an MSU season; his 18 overall TDs are tied for sixth most . . . Walker has 1,473 rushing yards through 10 games, which is already eighth most in an MSU season.
Payton Thorne tied his career high with four TD passes (52 yards to Montorie Foster in first quarter; 29 yards to Jayden Reed in first quarter; 2 yards to Connor Heyward in second quarter; 3 yards to Reed in third quarter) . . . Thorne also threw four TD passes against Miami and Youngstown State . . . Thorne was 22-of-31 passing for 287 yards, the second-most passing yards by a Spartan against Maryland (Brian Lewerke with 342 in 2019) . . . Thorne now has 21 TD passes, tied for sixth most in a Spartan season.
Jayden Reed led all players in the game with 210 all-purpose yards, including eight catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns (29 yards in first quarter; 3 yards in third quarter) . . . he is the first Spartan to record a 100-yard receiving game against Maryland . . . it marked Reed's eighth career 100-yard receiving game (four at Western Michigan in 2018; one at MSU in 2020; three at MSU in 2021) . . . Reed also had four returns for 96 yards, including a game-long 39-yarder on the last play of the first quarter . . . Reed has 45 catches for 829 yards and seven TDs this season.
Montorie Foster caught his first career TD pass on a 52-yard flea flicker from Payton Thorne in the first quarter.
DEFENSE
Michigan State's defense had one interception (Noah Harvey) Saturday for its ninth straight game with at least one takeaway, as the Northwestern game remains the only game this season in which the Spartans did not collect a takeaway.
The Spartan defense posted a season-high 48-yards off sacks, bettering the previous high of 34 vs. Nebraska (9/25/21) . . . MSU collected four sacks Saturday, matching their second-highest of the season for the third time this season, matching four at Northwestern (9/3/21) and at Rutgers (11/9/21), and behind the season-high seven sacks vs. Nebraska (9/25/21) . . . MSU's four sacks Saturday were by four different players: Xavier Henderson, Noah Harvey, Jeff Pietrowski and Kyle King.
Michigan State also had a season-high 56-yards off tackles for loss, topping the previous high of 38-yards, also vs. Nebraska (9/25/21) . . . MSU's 7.0 TFLs Saturday night was the fourth game with 7.0 or more, behind the season high 11.0 vs. Nebraska, 8.0 at Rutgers (10/9/21) and 7.0 at Northwestern (9/3/21).
Senior safety Xavier Henderson shared the team-lead with seven tackles, marking his ninth time in the 10 games with seven or more stops . . . Henderson also posted 1.0 sack and 1.0 tackle for loss, as he now has at least 1.0 TFL in nine of the 10 games . . . he now extends his team-lead to 10.0 TFLs on the season, while his 3.0 sacks ranks second-most for the defense . . . the 19 yards on the sack was a season-high for both sack and TFL.Â
Sophomore safety Darius Snow also shared the team-lead with seven tackles, marking his sixth straight game with five or more stops . . . Snow also added a pass break-up for his second PBU of the season.
Redshirt freshman Marqui Lowery logged a career-high seven tackles to join the defense-leading efforts, nearly doubling his previous season-high total of eight tackles entering Saturday . . . Lowery also matched his career-high with 0.5 tackle for loss, along with one QB hurry.
Senior linebacker Noah Harvey drew his 13th career start Saturday, snaring his first career interception, while logging season highs of five stops, 1.0 sack, 1.0 TFL and one pass break-up . . . Harvey snagged the interception and had a 35-yard return, the second-longest of the season by a Spartan, behind Chester Kimbrough's 62-yard return in Nebraska game (9/25/21) . . . Harvey now has 11.0 career tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks.
Sophomore defensive end Jeff Pietrowski posted a sack for the second straight game and fifth contest this season, as he now has 5.5 sacks this season . . . Pietrowski also added a forced fumble for the second game in a row, his third forced fumble of both the season and his career, matching last week at Purdue (11/6/21) and at Miami (9/18/21).
Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Kyle King registered his first sack of his career.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Senior punter Bryce Baringer boomed a season-long 69-yard punt in the first quarter, finishing the day with a 53.0 ypp average on four punts, marking his fourth game with 50+ average . . . the 69-yarder topped his previous season-long of 67-yards vs. Nebraska (9/25/21) . . . Baringer added a 63-yarder also in the first quarter, as he now has eight punts of 60+ yards this season, past of 20 going for 50+ yards . . . he also had two inside the 20 Saturday, giving him 14 this season and 27 for his career.
Senior placekicker Matt Coghlin returned to limited duty after missing last week with an injury . . . Coghlin made all three of his PAT attempts, as he is now 36-of-36 on PATs this season and 143-of-143 for his career . . . Coghlin also now has 371 career points, becoming just the second player in MSU history with 370 points, and closing in on the career record of 377 points by Brett Swenson (2006-09).
Saturday was Coghlin's 54th career game, as he and teammate Jacub Panusiuk tied the MSU career games played record along with Mike Sadler, Marcus Rush, Shilique Calhoun, Darien Harris, Taybor Pepper and Taiwan Jones.
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OFFENSE
Kenneth Walker III collected his seventh 100-yard rushing game of the season with 143 yards on a career-high 30 carries . . . he also tallied 172 all-purpose yards (two catches for 29 yards, including season-long 17-yarder); he has totaled 150-plus all-purpose yards in six games this season . . . Walker scored two touchdowns (1 yard in second quarter; 3 yards in fourth quarter) to give him 17 for the year, which is tied for seventh most in an MSU season; his 18 overall TDs are tied for sixth most . . . Walker has 1,473 rushing yards through 10 games, which is already eighth most in an MSU season.
Payton Thorne tied his career high with four TD passes (52 yards to Montorie Foster in first quarter; 29 yards to Jayden Reed in first quarter; 2 yards to Connor Heyward in second quarter; 3 yards to Reed in third quarter) . . . Thorne also threw four TD passes against Miami and Youngstown State . . . Thorne was 22-of-31 passing for 287 yards, the second-most passing yards by a Spartan against Maryland (Brian Lewerke with 342 in 2019) . . . Thorne now has 21 TD passes, tied for sixth most in a Spartan season.
Jayden Reed led all players in the game with 210 all-purpose yards, including eight catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns (29 yards in first quarter; 3 yards in third quarter) . . . he is the first Spartan to record a 100-yard receiving game against Maryland . . . it marked Reed's eighth career 100-yard receiving game (four at Western Michigan in 2018; one at MSU in 2020; three at MSU in 2021) . . . Reed also had four returns for 96 yards, including a game-long 39-yarder on the last play of the first quarter . . . Reed has 45 catches for 829 yards and seven TDs this season.
Montorie Foster caught his first career TD pass on a 52-yard flea flicker from Payton Thorne in the first quarter.
DEFENSE
Michigan State's defense had one interception (Noah Harvey) Saturday for its ninth straight game with at least one takeaway, as the Northwestern game remains the only game this season in which the Spartans did not collect a takeaway.
The Spartan defense posted a season-high 48-yards off sacks, bettering the previous high of 34 vs. Nebraska (9/25/21) . . . MSU collected four sacks Saturday, matching their second-highest of the season for the third time this season, matching four at Northwestern (9/3/21) and at Rutgers (11/9/21), and behind the season-high seven sacks vs. Nebraska (9/25/21) . . . MSU's four sacks Saturday were by four different players: Xavier Henderson, Noah Harvey, Jeff Pietrowski and Kyle King.
Michigan State also had a season-high 56-yards off tackles for loss, topping the previous high of 38-yards, also vs. Nebraska (9/25/21) . . . MSU's 7.0 TFLs Saturday night was the fourth game with 7.0 or more, behind the season high 11.0 vs. Nebraska, 8.0 at Rutgers (10/9/21) and 7.0 at Northwestern (9/3/21).
Senior safety Xavier Henderson shared the team-lead with seven tackles, marking his ninth time in the 10 games with seven or more stops . . . Henderson also posted 1.0 sack and 1.0 tackle for loss, as he now has at least 1.0 TFL in nine of the 10 games . . . he now extends his team-lead to 10.0 TFLs on the season, while his 3.0 sacks ranks second-most for the defense . . . the 19 yards on the sack was a season-high for both sack and TFL.Â
Sophomore safety Darius Snow also shared the team-lead with seven tackles, marking his sixth straight game with five or more stops . . . Snow also added a pass break-up for his second PBU of the season.
Redshirt freshman Marqui Lowery logged a career-high seven tackles to join the defense-leading efforts, nearly doubling his previous season-high total of eight tackles entering Saturday . . . Lowery also matched his career-high with 0.5 tackle for loss, along with one QB hurry.
Senior linebacker Noah Harvey drew his 13th career start Saturday, snaring his first career interception, while logging season highs of five stops, 1.0 sack, 1.0 TFL and one pass break-up . . . Harvey snagged the interception and had a 35-yard return, the second-longest of the season by a Spartan, behind Chester Kimbrough's 62-yard return in Nebraska game (9/25/21) . . . Harvey now has 11.0 career tackles for loss and 4.0 sacks.
Sophomore defensive end Jeff Pietrowski posted a sack for the second straight game and fifth contest this season, as he now has 5.5 sacks this season . . . Pietrowski also added a forced fumble for the second game in a row, his third forced fumble of both the season and his career, matching last week at Purdue (11/6/21) and at Miami (9/18/21).
Redshirt freshman defensive tackle Kyle King registered his first sack of his career.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Senior punter Bryce Baringer boomed a season-long 69-yard punt in the first quarter, finishing the day with a 53.0 ypp average on four punts, marking his fourth game with 50+ average . . . the 69-yarder topped his previous season-long of 67-yards vs. Nebraska (9/25/21) . . . Baringer added a 63-yarder also in the first quarter, as he now has eight punts of 60+ yards this season, past of 20 going for 50+ yards . . . he also had two inside the 20 Saturday, giving him 14 this season and 27 for his career.
Senior placekicker Matt Coghlin returned to limited duty after missing last week with an injury . . . Coghlin made all three of his PAT attempts, as he is now 36-of-36 on PATs this season and 143-of-143 for his career . . . Coghlin also now has 371 career points, becoming just the second player in MSU history with 370 points, and closing in on the career record of 377 points by Brett Swenson (2006-09).
Saturday was Coghlin's 54th career game, as he and teammate Jacub Panusiuk tied the MSU career games played record along with Mike Sadler, Marcus Rush, Shilique Calhoun, Darien Harris, Taybor Pepper and Taiwan Jones.
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