When Maryland visits Michigan State in the season finale for both Saturday night in Detroit, the game will feature teams on lengthy losing streaks.
Maryland (4-7, 1-7 Big Ten) has fallen in seven straight games, while Michigan State (3-8, 0-8) has dropped eight in a row.
“Like looking at yourself in the mirror,” Terrapins coach Mike Locksley said about the Spartans.
While Maryland has given Locksley an assurance that he will return for his eighth season, there is much uncertainty about the status of Michigan State’s second-year coach Jonathan Smith.
Dissatisfaction came to a head last weekend when Michigan State surrendered a fourth-quarter lead for the second time in three weeks, falling at Iowa 20-17.
Smith said on Monday that he has not received any word from the administration whether he will be back next season.
“College coaching nowadays, it’s a week-to-week thing. We got another week to do it,” Smith said. “I’m still really confident in the people that are in the building right now.”
The eight-game skid is tied for the second longest in program history and last happened in 1981-82. Since joining the Big Ten in 1953, Michigan State has never lost all of its conference games in one season.
Spartans quarterback Aidan Chiles, who was benched earlier this month and has not been available the last two weeks because of a foot injury, could return on Saturday.
Chiles threw for three touchdowns and a career-high 363 yards last year as Michigan State won at Maryland 27-24.
After losing late leads in each of its first three losses this season, Maryland has dropped each of its last four games by no fewer than 15 points, including a 45-20 home loss last week to then-No. 18 Michigan.
Playing indoors at Ford Field on Saturday, Locksley hopes for a victory for what he described as his “most connected and committed team that I’ve been a part of.”
“We need to finish this iteration the right way, as best as we possibly can, to send our seniors out the right way,” Locksley said. “We have a chance to write our own ending to a really tough year.”
