5 things to watch in Friday’s Penn State vs. Maryland college football game
The No. 12 Penn State Nittany Lions (3-0) will take on the the Maryland Terrapins (2-1) in College Park, Maryland, at 8 p.m. Friday (FS1) in a Big Ten matchup. Here are five things you should keep an eye on:
Will KJ Hamler be more involved in the PSU offense?
Among returning Big Ten receivers who were named (consensus) honorable mention or better on last year’s all-conference teams, no player is receiving fewer offensive touches per game this season than Hamler.
He is the Nittany Lions’ most electrifying offensive threat. But that hasn’t seemed to matter up to this point. He has just 11 offensive touches through three games — 3.67 offensive touches per game — which is fewer per game than Purdue’s Rondale Moore (9.3), Minnesota’s Tyler Johnson (6.0), Nebraska’s J.D. Spielman (4.75), and Ohio State’s K.J. Hill (3.75).
“We’ve got to get him more touches with the ball in his hand,” James Franklin said Tuesday.
It’ll be interesting to see if that comes to fruition against Maryland. WR coach Gerad Parker said, ahead of the Buffalo game, that the staff has “got to find multiple ways” to get the ball in Hamler’s hands. Then Hamler had three offensive touches against the Bulls. Franklin said after that game that Hamler needs the ball more — and then in the next game, against Pitt, Hamler again had three offensive touches.
This is the most obvious oversight of the offense. And if Hamler doesn’t get more touches Friday night, it’s time to start questioning offensive coordinator Ricky Rahne more vociferously. Teams might try to zero in on Hamler — and Franklin likes to say Penn State’s offense takes what the defense gives it — but no Big Ten team is struggling more than Penn State when it comes to getting its superstar the ball.
Struggling offensive lines
Both offenses have the potential for explosive plays — but both offenses are also held back by their offensive lines.
According to Football Outsiders, which tries to calculate what yards the offensive line is responsible for, Maryland has the No. 81 run-blocking offensive line this year compared to Penn State’s No. 88. In pass blocking, Maryland ranks No. 63 while PSU is No. 69.
When it comes to tackles for loss allowed, Penn State is No. 71 nationally (6.0 TFLs allowed per game) while the Terrapins are No. 111 (7.67).
OK, that’s enough numbers for now. But the point is this: The trenches have the potential to determine the outcome of this game, and neither offensive line has a big leg-up over the other.
Last season, Penn State thumped the Terps 38-3 after racking up 15 tackles for loss and five sacks. But Maryland has some impressive defensive players itself this season, such as LB Keandre Jones, and that could lead to a very inconsistent game offensively.
The Terps also have another issue to overcome, however. Senior right guard Terrance Davis is out at least a month after suffering a sprained MCL two weeks ago.
Special-teams matchups
Vegas is essentially projecting this to be a one-score game and, in close games, special teams could make all the difference. Especially in this one.
KJ Hamler is a big play waiting to happen as a returner for Penn State, and Maryland’s DJ Turner has already returned a punt for a 55-yard touchdown. And, outside of that unit, the field-goal kickers will also be worth keeping an eye on — for altogether different reasons.
Maryland kicker Joseph Petrino suffered a groin injury in the Sept. 14 game against Temple. Although Mike Locksley said he doesn’t “foresee there being any issues there,” there’s no telling whether there’ll be some discomfort on longer attempts Friday night. (Groin injuries tend to have a high recurrence rate.) Penn State, meanwhile, has what might be the strongest leg in school history.
Although Jake Pinegar is the kicker on shorter attempts, Jordan Stout has proven his value on the longer attempts. Stout is 2-for-2 this season, with a 53-yarder and a school-record 57-yarder. So, if Penn State can reach the Maryland 40, it stands a legitimate shot at three points.
Penn State on third downs
Nowhere has the Penn State offense been more inept than on third down. The Nittany Lions are ranked No. 127 nationally — out of 130 FBS teams — for converting just 7-of-30 attempts on third down.
That’s a rate of 23.3 percent, putting the Nittany Lions behind the likes of Rutgers (30.2 percent; No. 119), hapless UConn (34.1 percent; No. 106) and winless Rice (34.5 percent; No. 104).
“We have to be better on third down,” Franklin said on Tuesday.
It likely won’t get any easier against Maryland. The Terps’ third-down defense has been solid so far and ranks No. 6 nationally by allowing its opponents to convert just 11 of 46 third-down opportunities (23.9 percent).
Maryland RB Anthony McFarland and Penn State RB Ricky Slade
These two are worth watching for very different reasons.
McFarland is Maryland’s X-factor, an explosive redshirt sophomore who rushed for 1,034 yards last season while averaging 7.9 yards per carry. Against Ohio State last year, he had 21 rushes for 298 yards. It’s hard to envision Maryland winning Friday night without a big game from McFarland.
Slade is on the other end of the spectrum. He entered the 2019 season as the heir apparent to second-round NFL draft pick Miles Sanders. But he lost his starting job in Week 3 to Journey Brown and, so far, has just 21 yards on 12 carries. Penn State running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider intimated earlier this week that some of that has just been bad luck. Speaking generally, Seider said sometimes line play dictates backs’ success — and 12 carries is a small sample size to glean a lot of information from.
Slade will still get touches Friday — he did have a nice 40-yard catch against Pitt — but, to live up to expectations, he’ll need to break out of this rut in short order. Slade is capable of more, and he’ll have another chance to prove himself Friday.
This story was originally published September 26, 2019 at 1:28 PM.