Penn State versus Maryland: Predictions

Corey Hunter, Contributor

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all of our readers. I hope you enjoy food, friends, family, and of course, football!

The Nittany Lions cap off the regular season with a trip to College Park, Maryland to square off against the Terps. I’ll admit, at the start of the season I saw this game as a potential trap game. Maryland came out the gates strong with a big win at Texas. Injuries at the quarterback position , however, have derailed this once-promising season. If memory serves, the Terrapins are on their 3rd or 4th string quarterback. Sophomore Max Bortenschlager has had to carry the load as the Maryland signal caller. To say he is a “game manager” might be generous, but we’ll go with that.

The biggest offensive weapon on the Maryland squad is wideout DJ Moore. The junior leads the Big Ten in receptions (72), receiving yards (933), touchdowns (8), and receptions per game (6.5). His 933 yards are incredible because the Terps, as a team, have only passed for 1731 yards all season. So, Moore has accounted for 53.9% of all the Maryland receiving yards. Certainly the Nittany Lions will need to be aware of where Moore lines up, especially with Safety Troy Apke suspended for the first half due to his targeting penalty last week.

For Penn State, they need to keep trying to right the ship on both sides of the ball. The 42-point first-half outburst last week was a great start. They were balanced both running and passing the ball. Saquon Barkley went over 1000 rushing yards for the season, and Trace McSorley is only 9 passing yards shy of eclipsing 3000 yards for the second consecutive season. And, with 210 passing yards or more against Maryland, McSorley will become only the third PSU quarterback to ever throw for 7000 or more yards for their career (Hackenberg, Mills).

With a win on Saturday, Penn State will post its second consecutive 10-win season. Quite an accomplishment for a team that was destined to need at least ten years to recover from post-sanction obscurity. Sure, I am disappointed that the Nittany Lions are not going to be in the playoffs again this year, but when the bar has been set that high, we are “back” as a program and “back” as national contenders again. For that, I am supremely thankful this holiday season.

As for the game Saturday, Penn State needs to avoid a post-holiday let down. If they do, they have too much firepower to allow Maryland to get the win.

Penn State – 33
Maryland- 14