Game Preview: Penn State vs. Maryland
Penn State (4-3, 1-3 B1G) will look to avoid dropping their fourth straight game when they take on Maryland (5-3, 2-2 B1G) Saturday at Beaver Stadium. The game is slated for a noon kickoff.
Both Penn State and Maryland are teams heading in similar directions as the Nittany Lions have lost three in a row, while the Terrapins have dropped two of their last three. Penn State is coming off a tough, double overtime loss at the hands of the Ohio State Buckeyes, while Maryland is coming off a demoralizing 52-7 beat down at the hands of the Wisconsin Badgers.
Despite the loss, Penn State should be able to draw many positives from their game against Ohio State. First, after giving up 17 first half points, the Nittany Lions kept the Buckeyes scoreless for the rest of regulation. Their offense scored 17 unanswered points and played one of their better second halves of football this year. There is still plenty of room for improvement, but there seems to be some semblance of progress now.
“I talked to the team on Sunday after the game, and I felt a difference in our team in terms of their focus and in terms of their preparation and in terms of their enthusiasm and energy,” said head coach James Franklin Tuesday in his weekly presser.
This week’s matchup pits two teams, with two very different strengths, against one another. Maryland has a high-powered offense, having scored over 30 points in five of their games. They rely heavily on the arm, and occasionally the legs, of dual-threat quarterback C.J. Brown. However, Brown has been much more limited in the run game recently after starting the season with five rushing touchdowns in his first five games.
“They got a really fast and productive wide receiver unit. That's one of the things I would say in general about Maryland their skilled positions are really good,” said Franklin. “C.J. Brown is their sixth year senior at quarterback. I recruited C.J., know him extremely well, athletic guy who plays extremely well and is able to make plays with his arm, as well.”
On the other side of the ball, Penn State is led by the ninth ranked defense in the nation. Behind the spectacular play of their defense, Anthony Zettel and Mike Hull in particular, the Nittany Lions have kept themselves in every game. The problem is that their offense still hasn’t done nearly enough to catch up with their stellar defense. The offense did show signs against Ohio State, but the majority of their offense came after defensive takeaways, or stops that led to good field position.
Penn State’s defense should be able to contain Maryland, especially if they were able to cause such distress to an Ohio State offense that was ranked in the top five coming into last week’s game. The key for the Nittany Lions will be getting the offense going consistently.
Maryland gives up just under 30 points a game, while Penn State scores just over 20 a game. The Nittany Lions have been terrible all year in the run game, and while Christian Hackenberg hasn’t been awful, he sure hasn’t been the Hackenberg of last year. He has now failed to throw for more than 225 yards since week three against Rutgers. He has three more interceptions than touchdowns, and only two touchdowns since week two. If Penn State is to win this game they are going to need Hackenberg to start performing like he is capable of.
After Penn State welcomed more than 107,000 fans into Beaver Stadium for the Whiteout game, Franklin hopes to have a similar crowd this Saturday.
"Tremendous challenge for us, excited to be back at home," said Franklin. "Love to have the opportunity for the first time in the last four years to have back-to-back sellouts.”
ComRadio will have complete coverage of the game, starting at 9 a.m. with The Tailgate Show outside of Beaver Stadium.
Photo Credit: (AP Photo/York Daily Record, Jason Plotkin)
Jack Milewski is a freshman majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him please email him at jbm250@psu.edu.
