Maryland Pride
From 1960 to 1993, the Terrapins football team faced off with Penn State in all but three seasons. During that span, the Nittany Lions won 30 of 31 games, including a 70-7 victory in the most recent meeting more than two decades ago.
Over the course of the entire series, dating back to 1917, Penn State has compiled a 35-1-1 record against the Terps, with an average margin of victory of 20 points.
So while the word “rivalry” has been thrown around loosely this week as the teams prepare for their first matchup as conference foes — which kicks off at noon on Saturday in Beaver Stadium — coach Randy Edsall and the Terps aren’t ready to slap that label on what will once again become an annual bout.
“It’s good for the area for us to play against each other,” defensive coordinator Brian Stewart said. “It’s good for the conference for us to play against each other. Our fan bases are excited about it, but I think rivalries start or are started when they are 50-50 or 47 percent to 53 percent. Right now, we have a ways to go.”
Lopsided history aside, the anticipation for Saturday’s game has been amplified thanks to a myriad of storylines connecting the two programs.
The stage was set in May, when newly hired Penn State coach James Franklin, who spent eight years as a wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator with the Terps over two stints from 2000 to 2010, took a shot at Edsall’s recruiting operation.
Speaking to a group of Nittany Lions alumni assembled in Baltimore, the former Vanderbilt coach said he considered this state “in-state” from a recruiting perspective.
“They might as well shut them down,” Franklin said, “because they don’t have a chance.”
Edsall responded to the comments at a charity golf tournament in Pennsylvania weeks later, telling reporters “talk is cheap.”
“We’re not going to boast and brag,” he said. “We’re more about substance at Maryland. We’re going to find guys that fit the profile we’re looking for. We’re going to worry about ourselves and not worry about anything else.”
Since then, the Terps have gone 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the Big Ten, good enough for third place in the East Division. Penn State, meanwhile, sits at 4-3 and 1-3 in conference play.
And as much as Edsall has downplayed the development between him and Franklin, the chance to settle the score comes this weekend in University Park, Pennsylvania.
“Penn State has always recruited down here, and Penn State has pretty much always gotten who they wanted to get down here,” Edsall said Tuesday. “It goes back to beating them on the field to change those things.”
While a coach in College Park, Franklin was one of the Terps’ best recruiters. All it takes is a quick glance at the team’s two-deep depth chart, and Franklin’s mark on the program becomes apparent.
Starting quarterback C.J. Brown, starting center Sal Conaboy, starting inside linebackers Cole Farrand and L.A. Goree, starting defensive end Andre Monroe, starting nose guard Darius Kilgo and starting running back Brandon Ross all landed with the Terps at least in part thanks to Franklin’s recruitment during his time as offensive coordinator from 2008 to 2010.
“When you’re in the coaching business, you wind up going against some guys that are very close friends,” said offensive coordinator Mike Locksley, who coached alongside Franklin in College Park from 2000 to 2002. “For me, the best way to handle it is to prepare for the opponent; that’s what we’ve done and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
On top of the coaching and recruiting ties, the Terps also have 13 players on their roster who hail from and played high school football in Pennsylvania, including Brown and Conaboy.
“Penn State is big up there,” said Conaboy, a Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania, native. “Every time I go home, I’ve got to hear about it, I’ve got to see all the Penn State stickers on the cars. So it’s going to feel good to go up there and get to play them.”
Edsall admitted Tuesday that the Terps, as a program, still trail Penn State, whether you look at recruiting or the historical head-to-head series.
Saturday gives the fourth-year coach an opportunity to start a new chapter and take a step toward forming what could one day be a bitter rivalry.
“You have to win games, and that’s one thing that we haven’t done here at the University of Maryland,” Edsall said. “If you are ever going to make a series a rival, there has to be wins on our side.”
