The Maryland Terrapins are reeling.
After a 5-0 September and while riding a ton of momentum, ’October Maryland’ reared it’s ugly head again. After letting a 10-point lead slip away at Ohio State, the Terps dropped their homecoming contest against Illinois, and after a bye week, things didn’t change in an embarrassing loss at Northwestern - one of the worst programs in the Big Ten.
Now at 5-3, here comes November, a month that Terrapins head coach Mike Locksley is only 3-11 in since coming back to College Park in 2019. And it starts with a rivalry that’s not really a rivalry, as Maryland hosts No. 9 Penn State.
As the Big Ten expands and divisions are eliminated, the Nittany Lions and Terps won’t play every season like they have when Maryland entered the conference in 2014. They will play next season, but more sporadically after that.
The two neighboring state schools first played in 1917, but this “rivalry” is one of the most lopsided in college football, with Penn State winning 42 of 46 meetings with the Maryland, with one tie.
Off of a Rose Bowl win last season, the Nittany Lions had even higher College Football Playoff expectations for 2023, but those hit a bump in a 20-12 loss to the Buckeyes on Oct. 21.
Maryland also had greater expectations after back-to-back bowl wins, but their three-game losing streak has the Terps now scrambling to find a sixth win for bowl eligibility amid a tough November slate.
On this episode of District of Sports, I’m joined by Joe Smeltzer of Nittany Sports Now to gauge the view of the matchup from Penn State’s side, talk about the relationship between head coaches Mike Locksley and James Franklin, and keys for each team ahead of the game.
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