It’s relatively simple how Maryland beat the Penn State Football team on Saturday. The Terrapins were better in one-on-one situations and their quarterback performed much better than Penn State’s against single coverage.
But it’s never that simple, is it?
This loss, which emotionally is akin to the 27-10 loss to Temple in 2015, was one of the more complete breakdowns that Penn State has had as a team under James Franklin. Yes, they’ve lost by bigger margins, but this was a team that Penn State was supposed to beat in a game that they desperately needed to save their season.
Normally we’ll start with the offense, but today we’ll examine how the Nittany Lions defense was dissected by a sophomore quarterback in his third career start.
Access Granted
The reality of Saturday is that Maryland did very little that Penn State wasn’t ready for.
The Terps run a relatively conservative, ball-control offense full of quick passes that rely less on their young quarterback, and more on their playmakers to get yards after the catch.
Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa’s average depth of target on first down passes was 2.8 yards according to PFF. On second down passes, it ballooned to a whopping 4.0 yards. When you combine this with a basic, power running game, viola, you have the Maryland offensive game plan for Saturday.
Despite facing a predictable gameplan, Penn State did not force a single third-and-long (nine or more yards according to the official stats) during the first half when the game was still in contention. To make matters worse, Tagovailoa pretty much got whatever he wanted on third down.
