Maryland end their three-game losing streak with a 38-35 win over Indiana last week. Now, the Terps have 22nd-ranked Penn State headed to College Park in a game that means more than just a win and loss. Maryland and Penn State sit at 5-3, so the winner of this game goes bowling but even head coach Mike Locksley knows the ramifications of Saturday’s game.
“A team that's right up the road from us, that focuses a quite bit of their efforts in recruiting here in our home state,” Locksley said on Tuesday. “We welcome them here to The Shell, hopeful that you know we get our fans in the seats and not their fans. I know their fans will do all they can to be in the in The Shell and support their team but I'm hoping we can do our part to keep them out of here.
Penn State has dominated the two times they have played in College Park since the Terps joined the Big Ten (the 31-30 game in 2015 was at M&T Bank), but the Terps also pulled out a convincing 35-19 win in Happy Valley last fall. This season, the Nittany Lions entered the season with playoff aspirations, yet find themselves on a three-game slide heading into November with national attention surrounding head coach James Franklin and his long-term status.
Even still, Locksley is expecting a contested battle between the two sides come Saturday afternoon. “This will be a tough game. We expect it to be tough. You know they've had their way with us. If you look at the history of it, I do think that you know, the last few years we've tried to do everything we can to be competitive,” Locksley added. “Last year I think our team has a little confidence coming from last year in that, you know, we went up there we beat a very good Penn State team,” recalling the 35-19 win. “You know, they went on after that game and I think they righted the ship with their season and went on to have a great finish. So to me, we expect it to be a tough ass game, expect it to be one of those games where you know, the team that makes the least amount of mistakes, the team that has the most explosive plays will have an opportunity to win. And to me, we need to make it that kind of game. We got to get it into the fourth quarter of the game and give ourselves, put ourselves in position to come out with a win.”
So what do the Terps need to do? We take a look:
Don’t get away from the run game: The Terps struggled to run the ball against Indiana last week averaging under 2 yards a carry. However, on the drive to make it a two-score game in the final minutes, the Terps were able to pick up a couple of important third-down conversions with the run game. They also rushed for three touchdowns at the one-yard line of Indiana between Tayon Fleet-Davis and Challen Faamatau. Peny Boone is expected to return this weekend while Isaiah Jacobs continues to battle through a high ankle sprain, but if Maryland can continue to run the ball even if it’s struggling, it could affect the game. It would allow them to use play action and might catch Penn State off guard. Penn State poses a threat in the front seven with Jesse Luketa, Ellis Brooks, Brandon Smith, and Arnold Ebiketie leading the way as the Terps’ offensive line prepares for the challenge. “I think the strength of their defense is their front seven, the four guys upfront. They've been aided by a couple of transfer players that have come in and added some, they moved number 40 from linebacker to [defensive] end, he has been a force, really strong twitchy athletic guys in the front four and then they've got linebackers on the second level that are really athletic, big guys,” Locksley said of the Penn State defense. “So to me the front seven, it starts with them probably trying to establish a way to stop the run. For us our challenge will be for us to establish the run and work diligently to get that back to where we create a little more balance in our offense.”
Get Rakim Jarrett involved: Rakim Jarrett went off against Penn State last year with five catches, 144 yards and two touchdowns. With the loss of Jeshaun Jones and Dontay Demus, Jarrett became the de facto number one. Going to him early and often could lead to some big plays on the offensive side of the ball. Penn State will be keeping an eye on him throughout the game to try and limit his impact. However, with Carlos Carriere and Marcus Fleming emerging as reliable targets in the last few weeks, that could lead to one of them breaking a long one. Locksley also said on Tuesday he called on veteran receiver Brian Cobbs to capitalize the chance ahead of him. “Part of the meeting [Monday] was to challenge him to say listen, we’re at that part of the climb where it becomes really treacherous, we’re sitting at five, we got a lot of great opportunities before us starting with this one here this weekend and we need a guy like Brian Cobbs to kind of have a Carlos Carriere type moment which to me is something that we’ll continue to challenge because we have talent.”
Make Clifford uncomfortable: Last year, Maryland sacked Sean Clifford seven times and intercepted him twice. He completed less than 50% of his passes, in part, because of the pressure that Maryland was putting on him. In that game last year, both Mosiah Nasili-Kite and Ruben Hyppolite had two sacks. Demeioun Robinson and Sam Okuayinonu will also be counted on to get to Clifford. The outside ‘backer depth has thinned out with the season-ending injury to Durell Nchami, injury to Deshawn Holt, and transfer of Frankie Burgess but Locksley was complimentary of Robinson in his first career start. “I thought he set the edge for us the way we need to be to be done, he affected the quarterback with good pass rush, not necessarily getting the finished sack but creating a little uncomfortableness for that quarterback in the pocket,” he said of the former five-star. Veteran Lawtez Rogers filled in at both JACK and defensive end in the win over Indiana as Locksley tabbed him as a “steady force, an older player that has shown great leadership.” If Maryland can have a repeat of that performance on Saturday, they will give themselves a chance to win.
Limit the big plays: Indiana was able to stay in the game mainly because of some big plays given up by Maryland’s defense. On Stephen’s Carr 66-yard TD run, Ahmed McCullough went to the wrong gap and allowed left a hole for him. With less than 1:30 left in the game, the secondary had a breakdown in coverage that left Ty Fryfogle wide open for a 52-yard gain. Jakorian Bennett had an interception go right through his hands and into Miles Marshall’s lap for a 41-yard gain, setting up an eventual touchdown. Limiting the big plays will be very important against Penn State who has the firepower to capitalize between their backs, Jahan Dotson, and Parker Washington. “Last week we had nine explosive plays and Indiana had eight. Turnovers wise we had one and they didn't have any so we kind of balanced it out there that we were still fortunate to be able to get to win. You know, some of the big plays we saw with Indiana obviously were the big play down there at the end, the 66 yard run…those types of plays are plays that we can't have against good teams like Penn State.” Locksley knows Dotson has had big-play ability since he arrived in College Park, but he can’t consume the defensive gameplan. “Penn State has Parker Washington, they’ve got Jahan Dodson, the two tight ends, they've got running back out of backfield and they got a really good quarterback that's really progressed in his system so will be quite a challenge. I still expect them to try to establish the run because we've shown inability the last few weeks to stop the run. And then set things up with play action shots where we've got to do a good job of being in coverage and playing man coverage the way we’re capable tomorrow.”