Michigan State football will get one final crack at winning a conference game this season on Saturday in a neutral site game against Maryland. But, the formula behind ESPN’s SP+ doesn’t think it’ll happen for the Spartans.
Bill Connelly posted his weekly SP+ predictions for every FBS game this week, and it currently is projecting a Spartans’ loss to end the year on a nine-game losing streak. The algorithm has Maryland topping Michigan State by the final score of 27-24 — which is opposite from the current betting line that has Michigan State favored by just over a field goal.
Michigan State comes into this matchup with a 3-8 overall record and 0-8 mark in Big Ten play. The Spartans lost on a last-second field goal last week against Iowa, and currently are in the midst of an eight-game losing streak.
Maryland is also on a major losing skid, with the Terps losing their last seven games. The Terps are 4-7 overall and 1-7 in Big Ten play this year.
Kickoff from Ford Field in Detroit is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Saturday. The game will be televised on the Fox Sports 1.
My Thoughts on SP+ Prediction
I will admit I was slightly surprised to see the Spartans open as a favorite at most (if not all) sports betting books on Sunday so this SP+ prediction is actually more in line for what I expected. But with that being said, this is a game between two teams that are 1-15 in Big Ten play and both in the midst of losing streaks of at least seven games. So it really is a battle of the bottom feeders in the Big Ten and could see the game being predicted anywhere from a narrow Spartans victory to narrow Terps victory.
Complete SP+ Predictions for Week 14
Click on the post below to see the complete breakdown of every Football Bowl Subdivision game that SP+ has predicted the scores for this upcoming week:
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan State news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Robert Bondy on X @RobertBondy5.
This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: ESPN SP+ ratings system predicts final score for Michigan State-Maryland matchup
Reporting by Robert Bondy, Spartans Wire / Spartans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
