Blue White Illustrated

2 0 1 7 K I C K O F F S P E C I A L our campus, on our roster, that we're working really hard, developing and working with, and they're doing a great job. So it's a process. Football is the ulti- mate team sport. We play a nine-game [conference] schedule, so you've got to have depth on your roster. You're going to face injuries. You're going to face some guys missing time and being out. And you've got to build your roster all the way down. "We're definitely not there yet in terms of where we want to be, from one through 85 or one through 105. But we're certainly a lot closer, and I like where we're at. I think we have a team that can go compete with anyone we play." The Terps didn't do that last season, falling by 24 points to Penn State, 59 to Ohio State and 56 to Michigan. It was Durkin's first season after arriving from Michigan, where he served as defensive coordinator, so some transitional diffi- culties were to be expected. But if Mary- land is to gain ground in the years to come, it will have to recruit on par with its well-heeled rivals. For all the progress that it made last year, it still finished be- hind Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State in the Rivals recruiting rankings, and it's trailing this year, too, with the Nittany Lions rated first and the Buckeyes third as of this writing. But that's life in the best division of what may now be the best conference in college football. The Terps are faced with one of the bigger challenges in the Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision. They may turn into giant killers. They may become gi- ants themselves, or they may remain stuck with Indiana and Rutgers in the East Division's second tier. The only cer- tainty is that they can't afford to stand still. Not in a conference as competitive as the Big Ten has become. "I think we have good depth, good coaches, great players," commissioner Jim Delany said. "Each year is hard to predict, each year writes its own story, so I'm always reluctant to be overconfident. But I think what we have in place in terms of coaches, players, venues, television – all conspire together to give us a great of- fering to college sports." ■ Penn State opposed to Friday night games Friday night football is coming to the Big Ten, but not without some reservations. A number of confer- ence coaches have expressed con- cerns about playing on Fridays, a day traditionally reserved for high school games. One of those coaches is Penn State's James Franklin. Speaking at Big Ten media days in Chicago last month, Franklin praised conference leaders for allowing members to "have their own opinion on how they would handle it," but said that the Nittany Lions' preference would be to avoid playing Friday night games. "It's not something that we're looking to do," Franklin said. "Friday is for high school and Saturday is for college and Sunday is for the NFL. It's worked out that way for a long time, and it's worked out really well. Each level complements the next. It's something we believe in strongly and it's sacred, and that's how we con- tinue to see it going in the state of Pennsylvania and speci

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