Blue White Illustrated

sowing confusion. Redshirt freshman An- thony McFarland is their leading rusher with 1,022 yards, about half of which he amassed the past two weeks against Indi- ana (29 carries, 210 yards) and Ohio State (21 carries, 298 yards). "They do a really good job with the mis- direction in terms of the trading, shifting, fly sweeps, fake fly sweeps, inside zone," Franklin said. "They try to give you a little bit of misdirection, try to get you hesitating for a second, so now their offensive line and tight ends can get leverage on their blocks, and all of a sudden [McFarland] comes screaming out of there, and he can run. I think he's a legitimate 4.3 guy. So the combination of what they do [schemati- cally] and [having] a playmaker carrying the ball – it's problematic." The Terps have had their share of on- field difficulties. In the third quarter of their game against Indiana two weeks ago, starting quarterback Kasim Hill suffered a torn ACL, ending his season. Tyrrell Pi- grome, a 5-foot-11, 205-pound redshirt sophomore, filled in against Ohio State, hitting 6 of 13 passes for 181 yards. Pigrome has played off and on since 2016 and will get the start against the Nittany Lions. Reflecting on what could be his final game at Maryland, Canada admitted that it's been a difficult season as the Terps have tried to regroup following McNair's death. "There have certainly been challenges," he said. "First and foremost, the loss we had and dealing with that… that's horrible, that's indescribable, that's something that none of us are ever going to get over. "The situation, the role and all that [is to] just kind of do your job where you are at the time, and that's what I've done. That's what we've all done. We've all just stepped up, done our job, focused on our players. "We're really proud with how our players have played. The last two weeks, I wish we would have won, I wish the kids would have had that success. And obviously on Satur- day, my only focus will be on finding a way to win the game." That will be Penn State's focus, too, and despite months of wet, dreary weather that has created season-long parking problems, Franklin is working to maximize the Nit- tany Lions' home-field advantage. "I think these seniors deserve that sta- dium to be sold out and rocking to pay re- spect to them," he said. "And we're going to need it. We're going to need that to go 1-0 and get another win this week." N O V E M B E R   2 1 ,   2 0 1 8 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 3 NATE BAUER 9-2 | My perspective on this Penn State team, what it is and what it wants to be, has shiBed dramatically from the start of the season until now. At first, this was a group that could hide the deficiencies of its defense by simply being too explosive offen- sively for most opponents to keep up with on the scoreboard. By the midpoint of the sea- son, that imbalance became more of a 50/50 split and, in the time since, it has shiBed further in favor of the defense than anyone could have predicted. Still, it remains true, Penn State's offense is a shell of itself, while the defense has become strong enough to rely on when it comes time to win a game. I expect that to hold true Saturday in the regular- season finale. Against a Maryland group that is one-dimensional offensively and just aver- age defensively, the Nittany Lions will again be conservative in their offensive approach while remaining confident that their defense will stand up to Maryland's one-trick pony rushing game well enough to earn a win. | PENN STATE 27, MARYLAND 13 PHIL GROSZ 9-2 | Given the tumultuous head coaching situation at Maryland, it really is surprising that interim head coach Matt Canada has been able to post a 5-6 record going into the Terrapins' season finale against Penn State. What isn't surprising is that four of Maryland's five wins have come at home against Texas, Minnesota, Rutgers and Illinois. The Terps' only road victory was against Bowling Green on Sept. 8. And that isn't surprising from a team that is totally one-dimensional on offense. Maryland's running game is ranked the third in the Big Ten with averages of 244.4 yards per game and 6.0 per carry. This is an area where the Terps have an advantage over Penn State. The Nittany Lions' run defense is ranked 10th in the Big Ten. If Maryland is going to beat Penn State, it will need to rush for more than 250 yards and control the clock. Even though Penn State's run defense has struggled at times this season, the Lions have allowed only 14 rushing touchdowns. One-dimensional offenses rarely beat Penn State, and Maryland, except for its game against Ohio State, is averaging only about 150 yards rushing against ranked op- ponents. | PENN STATE 45, MARYLAND 31 MATT HERB 9-2 | The past two weeks, Penn State has been fortunate to face a couple of inexperienced quarterbacks in Wisconsin's Jack Coan and Rutgers' Artur Sitkowski. Without having to worry much about the passing game, the Nittany Lions were able to focus on stopping the run and did so well enough to earn back-to-back victories. Mary- land, too, has been written off as one-dimensional, but while the Terps do indeed rely heavily on their Anthony McFarland-led ground attack, I'm not so sure that quarterback Tyrrell Pigrome belongs in the same category with Coan and Sitkowski. It seems to me that if Maryland needs a play in the passing game, Pigrome is capable of making it. That's concerning, because the Lions can't afford to spot the Terps a double-digit lead the way Ohio State did last week before rallying to win in overtime. This Penn State offense just isn't proficient enough in the passing game to win a shootout. I suppose it's possible that the Terps leB it all on the field against the Buckeyes, but it's far more likely that they'll be amped up to defeat their border rival and achieve bowl eligibility. Penn State will have to play much better than it did against Rutgers to avoid ending its regular season with an upset loss. I'm not going to bet against Trace McSorley and company on senior day, but this one figures to be close. | PENN STATE 27, MARYLAND 24 TIM OWEN 8-3 | This isn't going to be the blowout that it was a year ago. Despite facing serious adversity all year, this Maryland team is galvanized and plays with heart. These guys could make this much more of a game than Penn State fans might want to see, but on senior day, Trace McSorley's final game in Beaver Stadium, I don't see the upset taking place. | PENN STATE 33, MARYLAND 27 RYAN SNYDER 10-1 | I'm a little worried about this game. Maryland has lost its starting quarterback, but Tyrrell Pigrome has stepped up, while freshman Anthony McFarland is also beginning to break out. I'm going to lean Penn State, but the Lions could be on upset alert. | PENN STATE 31, MARYLAND 28 S T A F F P R E D I C T I O N S

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