How can Penn State football avoid the upset by Maryland on the road? Here are Saturday’s 2 key matchups
Penn State football is now on a three-game losing streak and will have a road matchup as it tries to stop the streak. The Nittany Lions will take on the Maryland Terrapins in College Park at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in Columbus. Penn State enters the game 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten after losing to Iowa, Illinois and Ohio State in its last three games. Maryland is 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten.
Let’s take a look at the two key matchups that will determine if the Nittany Lions can stave off the upset by the Terps.
Jon Sauber: Maryland QB Taulia Tagovailoa and WR Rakim Jarrett vs. Penn State’s pass defense
The Maryland offense torched the Penn State defense last season from the opening kickoff as the Terrapins dominated the Nittany Lions on their way to a 35-19 victory in a game that was 35-7 before the fourth quarter.
The Terps did that on the back of a standout performance by Tagovailoa and the Maryland offense. Tagovailoa was on point with most of his throws and the game and carved up Penn State. He found his best weapons — including Rakim Jarrett, who will take the field with his quarterback again Saturday — and they took care of business when they had space to work.
The Maryland quarterback finished the game with 282 yards and three touchdowns through the air on 18-of-26 passing. He found seven different pass catchers in the game, with Jarrett leading the way. That duo connected five times for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Those two scores were the first two of the game and showed just how dominant the Terrapins would be in the game.
The good news for Maryland is what has already been stated — both Tagovailoa and Jarrett are back for this year’s iteration of the game.
The bad news is that this isn’t the Penn State defense they took to task last season. This is a group coming off a stellar performance against the Ohio State Buckeyes — who have the best offense in the country — and is ready to snap a three-game losing streak that is much less its fault than the offenses.
Jarrett will likely still get his catches, but he hasn’t gone over 100 yards since the team’s season opener against West Virginia when he had six catches for 122 yards and a touchdown. He played well against Indiana in Maryland’s win on Saturday, catching five passes for 88 yards, but he’ll need to be much closer to the player he was in last year’s game in order for the Terps to win.
Penn State cornerbacks Tariq Castro-Fields and Joey Porter Jr. are well equipped to handle Jarrett and are in a better position to do so this season with a pass rush that can get home and give them less time to cover in the secondary. Tagovailoa should have less time to find his top weapon and that will make life more difficult for him, given that his top target through the team’s first four games, Dontay Demus, is out for the year after suffering an injury against Iowa on Oct. 1.
Tagovailoa’s connection with Jarrett will have a fairly big impact on their team’s chance of upsetting the Nittany Lions Saturday afternoon.
Kyle J. Andrews: Penn State’s pass rush vs Maryland’s pass blocking
The cliche is that the battle is won in the trenches. That’ll be on full display as Penn State’s defensive front attempts to get after Maryland’s quarterback. Penn State has generated 15 sacks for 118 yards lost in eight games this season. Defensive tackle PJ Mustipher had one sack for a loss of nine yards and sustained a leg injury that left him out for the remainder of the season against Iowa. Coziah Izzard has filled in at the position with a sack of his own for an eight-yard loss.
Penn State’s sack leader is defensive end Arnold Ebiketie, who has 5.5 sacks for 36 yards. Linebackers Brandon Smith and Curtis Jacobs each have two apiece with Smith knocking back quarterbacks for 15 yards and Jacobs for 11. Ellis Brooks and Daequan Hardy each have a sack and Jesse Luketa has 0.5 sacks on the year. Ebiketite is ranked ninth by Pro Football Focus in the Football Bowl Subdivision of all edge rushers with a grade of 88.8. He’s also 15th in the country with a pass rushing grade of 90.4.
Maryland has given up 15 sacks on the season for 127 yards, ranking right outside of the top 50 teams for sacks allowed on the season. Quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa has gone 198-for-282 on passes (70.2% completion rate) for 2,384 passing yards, 17 touchdown passes and eight interceptions. His passing efficiency rating of 155.4 is the second highest in the Big Ten.
It all begins up front with an offensive line of Jaelyn Duncan, Mason Lunsford, Aric Harris, Johari Branch and Spencer Anderson. Heading into the season, Duncan was named to the 2021 Athlon Sports Preseason All-Big Ten team. They have kept Tagovailoa upright for the most part, allowing two sacks in last week’s victory over Indiana. Tagovailoa went 26-for-40 on passes for a career-high of 419 yards and two touchdowns against the Hoosiers.
The biggest key for the Nittany Lions here is to get to Tagovailoa early and often. The Maryland junior has a tendency to led the game spiral out of control when he’s pressured. A clear example is against Ohio State on Oct. 9, where he was sacked five times and picked off twice for a quarterback rating of 47.8. The Terrapins lost the game 66-17. While Carlos Carriere caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Tagovailoa with 7:37 for Maryland to be down 21-10 and aforementioned wideout Rakim Jarrett caught a 43-yard pass, Maryland was still down 56-17 with 0:47 left in the third quarter.
Penn State has athletic defensive ends and outside linebackers who can get around their offensive line. If they can get to the quarterback in time, it could be a long day for Maryland.
