The Terps run onto the field before their 20-19 victory against Penn State at Beaver Stadium on November 1, 2014.

Whatever you do, please don’t call Saturday’s Maryland-Penn State football bout a “rivalry game.”

Maybe it’s because I grew up more than 500 miles from College Park and came to this university with no ill will toward the Nittany Lions.

Or maybe it’s because I realize what constitutes a rivalry. And it doesn’t involve a lopsided 2-35-1 all-time record.

Players and coaches, for the most part, dismissed the notion throughout the week, as they should have.

Fans seem to think otherwise, though.

After the Terps’ thrilling come-from-behind win at Penn State last year, former coach Randy Edsall famously quipped “Let the rivalry begin” on national television. Apparently your second win in 38 tries is monumental enough to mark the start of something special.

Well, the freshly fired Edsall won’t get another taste of the rivalry.

And none of the current Terps will, either, because it’s not a rivalry.

Sure, last season’s contest had its rivalry-esque moments. There was the pregame scuffle, the lack of a handshake and even a game-winning field goal in the final minute.

But a rivalry isn’t built in one game, and the previous 37 certainly didn’t help make a case.

Prior to last season’s tilt at Beaver Stadium, the programs hadn’t played since 1993. The final score of that contest, which was played before nearly all of the undergraduates at this university were born, was 70-7.

The Terps hadn’t won since 1961 and have been outscored by an average of 19.4 points per game all-time against the Nittany Lions. Historically, the matchup resembles David versus Goliath more than it does a rivalry.

Ten years from now, it wouldn’t surprise me if that were a fitting title for the meetings between the programs. But the Terps have to prove they can beat Penn State more than once when the Nittany Lions are having a down year.

“It’s hard to make it a rivalry when you’re not competitive in between the white lines,” interim coach Mike Locksley said. “We got off to a pretty good start last year with a tough win and a come-from-behind win up at their place. We’re still so new in the Big Ten conference, and I’m sure we have plenty of time to create a bunch of rivalries within playing in the eastern half of the conference.”

I know the schools are close to each other. I know the coaches recruit from the same region. And I know plenty of the players hail from the opposing states.

At the end of the day, though, you have to step up on the field. And unfortunately for the Terps, their predecessors endured blowout losses.

This university is crying for a rival because it left its ACC history behind.

But it seems like deeming Penn State the Terps’ rival derives more from desperation than from anything tangible. And that’s not how you want your first Big Ten rivalry to start.