Maryland Football: Penn State Routs Maryland

12th-ranked Penn State rolled into College Park and had their way with Maryland.

From the start, Penn State proved their dominance over Maryland, but the Terrapins did not help themselves at all.

The crowd of 49,680 was mostly comprised of Penn State fans, making this almost feel like a road game for Maryland.

The Terrapins defense was doing their job early. They held Saquon Barkley to just 36 yards in the first half, and even made Penn State punt three times. The issue was that Trace McSorley found so much time in the pocket, and picked apart the secondary.

As mentioned in our preview, Maryland’s game plan when going down early contributed to Penn State’s ability to put up points. Walt Bell nearly abandoned the run game and tried airing it out with Max Bortenschlager.

Once the game was out of hand, Ty Johnson and Lorenzo Harrison ripped off runs of 45 and 54 yards respectively. Potentially Maryland could have used this attack early to keep the clock rolling and their own defense off the field.

Maryland’s only score came with just a minute to go in the third quarter, as Henry Darmstadter made a 42-yard attempt after missing from 47 earlier.

After the game, DJ Durkin was visibly frustrated. He noted that this was the first game all season where he felt that his team gave up.

Statistically, this game just had unbelievable amounts of offense. Both teams combined for 837 yards, but 534 of that came in favor of the Nittany Lions.

Max Bortenschlager finished the game going 20 of 36 for 185 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. Ty Johnson and Lorenzo Harrison combined for 130 yards on just 15 rushes, almost 8.7 yards per carry.

The main story for Maryland was Junior wide out DJ Moore, who eclipsed 100 yards for the third time this season. In this game, he also broke the Maryland record for single season receptions, and became just the third Terrapin to break the 1,000 yard mark as a receiver.

After this loss, the coaching staff will dive into recruiting, as players will have an early signing period that begins December 20th.