Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/906349
O T H E R M A T C H U P S THE LOWDOWNMaryland has struggled at times in the kicking game, as kickers Henry Darmstadter and Adam Greene have combined to hit only 7 of 13 attempts. Punter Wade Lees has averaged 39.1 yards, and Maryland's net punting average of 35.7 yards ranks last in the Big Ten. One bright spot has been Moore, who has averaged 11.0 yards on 13 punt returns. Penn State's special teams units had some problems against Nebraska, but that game was an outlier. For the most part, they've been solid all year. // EDGE Penn State SPECIAL TEAMS THE LOWDOWNThis will be Penn State's first true road game in this series since 1993. (The 2015 meeting between the two teams was played in Baltimore.) Even so, it will be interesting to see the crowd's allegiance. Maryland's av- erage attendance is only 37,636 per game, and its students will be home on Thanksgiving break this weekend. Penn State fans have been known to take advantage of situations like that. // EDGEEven THIS 'N' THAT THE LOWDOWN D.J. Durkin has drastically improved Maryland's recruiting in his two seasons in College Park. Last year's class was rated 17th in the country by Rivals.com, while this year's group is 13th with less than a month to go before the start of the early signing period. However, it's going to take a while for that trend to begin producing on- field results. James Franklin is a bit further along in the process, and those improvements are already ocurring. On Saturday, Penn State will be looking for its second consecutive 10-win regular season. // EDGE Penn State COACHING STAFF N O V E M B E R 2 2 , 2 0 1 7 B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M 5 has been enjoying an outstanding season, leading the Big Ten with 72 catches for 933 yards and eight touch- downs. WR Tavion Jacobs is next with 43 catches for 520 yards and five TDs. After those two, no one on Mary- land's offense has more than 10 catches. Penn State's pass defense ranks eighth in the Big Ten. CB Amani Oruwariye is tied for third in the league with four interceptions, while Grant Haley has two. Penn State is fourth in the Big Ten with 33 sacks, including four apiece by Miller and Shaka Toney. // KEY MATCHUP Gray will be looking to keep Miller out of the backfield, while OT Damian Prince will do battle with Toney. In the second- ary, Haley will likely matchup against Moore. The Nittany Lions will definitely be hoping to fare better this week than they did against Nebraska. // EDGE Even