Penn State Football Behind Enemy Lines: Maryland Terrapins
At 3:30 on Saturday afternoon no. 11 Penn State (7-1) will do battle with a reeling Maryland Terrapins (5-3) squad that has not won a game since September.
Ahead of the matchup Scott Greene of Terrapin Sports Report joined us to preview the matchup. It's time to dive into this week's behind enemy lines.
Maryland started the season 5-0 and looked primed to have one of their best seasons since the early 2000s. Well, since then, they have lost 3 games in a row, and, with their remaining schedule, making a bowl game may not be a guarantee. What has gone wrong?
SG: Where does one begin? It starts at the top with the coaching staff. Coaches have made some questionable calls in the past few games and an argument can be made that those questionable calls were costly. Costly to the point that they were the difference between winning and losing.
With that said, it is hard to put any loss strictly at the feet of the coaching staff. On offense, costly turnovers have led directly to points for the other team. Drops by receivers and missed assignments by blockers have also been an issue.
On defense, a unit that was as sure tackling as any in the country over the first five games is suddenly missing tackles all over the place. The secondary has also struggled in recent weeks as opposing receivers have found themselves wide open for one reason or another.
And finally, a team that had one of the best turnover margins in the country over the first five games of the season is -4 in the turnover department during their three-game losing skid. Add it all up and you have a team that is struggling to beat anybody at the moment.
Taulia Tagovaiola is the straw that stirs the drink for the Maryland offense. How has his season gone? While his completion percentage is down, his yards per game and QB rating are both up from last season. Has he met expectations?
If you had asked me this question after the team's 5-0 start, I would have said Taulia has met expectations. But after the three-game losing streak, I'm inclined to say expectations have not been met.
Early in the season, the Terps were able to overcome multiple pick-sixes by Tagovailoa. But a pick-six at Ohio State with a 10-point lead was an absolute momentum killer against a top-5 opponent on the road. You simply cannot have a fifth-year senior starting quarterback making those kinds of mistakes in a game of that magnitude and expect to win.
Then last Saturday at Northwestern after Maryland took an early 7-0 lead, Tagovailoa was sacked and fumbled inside the Terps' 15-yard line on a play where the ball seemingly just slipped out of his hand. Northwestern scored the tying touchdown three plays later and suddenly had momentum back in their favor. The Terps still had a chance to win the game late as Tagovailoa drove the offense down into Northwestern territory down six with less than two minutes remaining, but an overthrow in the middle of the field was intercepted by the Wildcats to seal the victory for the home team. Both the Illinois and Northwestern losses were soul-crushing, but Tagovailoa's two turnovers versus Northwestern were arguably the two biggest plays of the game.
So while yes, Tagovailoa has looked good for much of the season, he still commits too many costly turnovers that teams are simply going to struggle to overcome against opponents with similar or superior talent.
Who are some players on the Terrapin defense that Penn State fans should be watching on Saturday afternoon?
One name to watch out for is starting JACK linebacker Kellan Wyatt. The sophomore has 9 quarterback hurries over the past five games and has a team-leading 3.5 sacks. He also had a season-high five tackles in the Terps' most recent game versus Northwestern. He seems to get better almost every time out.
Sticking with the pass rush, linebacker Donnell Brown is another name to know. He's recorded a sack in each of the Terps' past three games and has a team-high 10 quarterback hurries. Brown has also proven to be pretty good in pass coverage with a couple of interceptions earlier in the season.
Finally, the one that makes the Maryland defense go is safety Beau Brade. He was the team's leading tackler a season ago and is the Terps' leading tackler once again this season, despite having missed the UVA game. He's always around the ball and has an interception and 3 pass breakups for good measure.
How does the fan base feel about Mike Locksley? When he was hired excitement was obviously high, but it's year 5, he owns a sub-.500 record as Maryland head coach and a 2023 season that seemingly should have been his best yet appears to quickly be going off the rails.
I think leading into this season, most Maryland fans were pleased with the progress the team had made over the past couple of seasons, going from 7 to 8 wins and winning back-to-back bowl games for the first time since the Ralph Friedgen days. Things were looking even better after this season's 5-0 start.
But then the Illinois loss happened. With the expectations that Locksley himself set for this season — competing for a Big Ten championship — and then to lose to Illinois during Homecoming weekend no less, it brought many of the detractors out of the woodwork. Then couple the Illinois loss with last Saturday's loss at Northwestern and suddenly even the most ardent supporters have been questioning if Locksley is the right guy for the job in the long term.
Whether Locksley is the right guy or not in the long run, folks need to remember that not many wanted to even interview for the Maryland job following the departure of DJ Durkin. He got the program back to respectability and in a much better place than he found it. But if the Terps were to fail to win another game this season, he'll likely have a tall hill to climb moving forward.
What has to happen in order for the Terps to pull the upset?
For Maryland to pull the upset Saturday, several things likely need to happen. First, they likely need to get out to an early lead and get the home crowd into the game and fully behind them.
Second, and this might go against conventional wisdom, I think they need to just throw out all of their running plays and throw the ball all over the field, as often as possible. Given Maryland's struggles running the ball this season and how good PSU's defense is versus the run, I don't see any reason to even try to establish a run game this week. Throw the ball short, throw the ball deep, let your playmakers on the outside make plays, and see how the chips fall.
Finally, to pull the upset, the Terps will almost certainly need to win the turnover battle, something they haven't done since Week 5 versus Indiana. And beyond just forcing turnovers, they will likely need to convert those takeaways directly into points.
Score Prediction?
Penn State: 31 || Maryland: 13
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