Penn State Football: 3 Keys to beating Maryland

Stop the Funk

Penn State football’s defense had a rough go of it with Heisman front runner Justin Fields last Saturday, however don’t over look there inability to stop Buckeye running back Master Teague.

Teague ran for 110 yards and a touchdown, breaking through arm tackles and was dominant in short yardage. On the flip side, Penn State was very successful in stopping Indiana’s ground game in week 1, so time will tell if the rush defense is a unit that can be trusted or not.

Penn State fans will get an answer to that question this week, as Maryland running back Jake Funk enters this game fresh off a 221 yard rushing performance against Minnesota. Funk is back for his redshirt senior season after tearing his ACL in a game vs Temple last season, and looked healthy against the Gophers.

Penn State needs to keep Funk in check and force quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa to beat them through the air. The young group of Penn State linebackers showed some inexperience last week missing tackles, giving up 4.6 yards per carry. Penn State has traditionally pride itself on playing defense, and being ‘Linebacker U’, this is a good spot to prove that and shut down the Terrapins rushing attack.