Penn State Football: Recipe for making Terrapin Stew
By Joey Lovell
As the clock clicked all zeros Saturday evening in the sound Penn State football drubbing of Indiana, attention turned to the upcoming opponent, the Maryland Terrapins.
Sporting a 6-3 record, coming on the heels of a 23-10 defeat to Wisconsin on Saturday, Maryland represents arguably Penn State’s stiffest remaining test.
Here is an early breakdown of Maryland’s strengths and weaknesses.
Offensively, Maryland will go as far as their QB, Taulia Tagovailoa, will carry them. In his third year as a starter for the Terps, he has 69.9 competition percentage, 2,078 yards, 14 TD’s and six interceptions in eight games (he sat out the game against Northwestern with an injury). The younger brother of Miami Dolphins and former Alabama star Tua, Taulia is solid QB with good accuracy but limited mobility, unlike his brother.
In his first year starting at Maryland, in 2020 and the Covid season, he led Maryland to an upset of then ranked No. 18 Penn State 35-19. In that game, Taulia went 18-26 for 282 yards, three TD’s but even more importantly, zero interceptions. Last year’s game had Tagovailoa throwing for 371 yards on 41-57 passing (71.9 %), with each a TD pass and interception. This year Taulia is decreased his interception rate down to .7 % of his passes.
The Terps rushing attack features two RB’s: soph. Roman Hemby and redshirt freshman Antwain Littleton. Hemby is the feature back, rushing for 747 yards on 121 carries (6.2 yds/car), seven TD’s and adding 239 yards receiving on 26 receptions and one TD. Littleton brings a definitive change of pace, as he checks in at 6’0″ 265 lbs. Don’t let that size fool you though, as he has rushed for 317 yards on 53 attempts (6.0 yds/car) with six rushing TDs. As a team, Maryland is 164.8 yards per game with a 4.7 yards/carry. In its three losses this season, Maryland averaged 104 yards on the ground.
In the aerial attack, Maryland has six receivers with 21 or more receptions. Compare that number to Penn State’s three receivers of 21 or more receptions and you see their receiving corps is deep. Leading the way is two-year starter Rakim Jarrett, who has hauled in 34 catches for 376 yards and three TD’s. But with five other targets with 21 or more receptions, it’s easy to see that Tagovaliloa spreads the rock around quite effectively.
On the defensive side of the ball, they are averaging giving up 239 yards through the air and 137 yards on the ground and surrender an average of 24 points a game. In the three games they lost this year, in two of them they were outrushed by more than 100 yards. Their loss against Purdue saw them in an aerial shootout, with both teams combing for over 600 yards through the air.
The main ingredient for a Penn State football victory is a healthy dose of Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton. The only time that the Nittany Lions did not win the rushing battle was their drubbing against Michigan. Even in the defeat to Ohio State, Penn State outrushed the Buckeyes 111-98 yards. If Penn State can continue their resurgence in the ground game, they should be able to move one win closer to a double-digit win season and a spot in a New Year’s Six bowl game.
Not bad for a squad that many predicted would go 8-4 or worse.