Previewing Penn State vs Maryland: Mike Locksley on PSU fans, Lions defense, more

Penn State football visits its neighbors to the south this Saturday, looking for a little bit of revenge.

The Nittany Lions lost to Maryland for just the third time in 44 all-time games between the programs last season.

Maryland head coach Mike Locksley discussed the confidence his team can derive from that victory, and more, during his weekly press conference.

Locksley hopes to keep Penn State fans out

Home games can sometimes turn into road games for the Terrapins when the Nittany Lions come to town.

In the Nittany Lions’ last two road games against Maryland, heavy Penn State contingents turned out in College Park. By the end of those games, the Nittany Lion fans were the majority. Penn State won those two contests by an aggregate score of 125-3.

This year, Locksley is hoping for something different — both on the field and in the stands.

“We’re hopeful that we can get our fans in the seats and not their fans,” he said in his opening statement. “I know their fans will do everything they can to be in The Shell and support their team but I’m hoping we can do our part to keep them out of here.”

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A subplot to this game for the 5-3 Terps is the potential to obtain bowl eligibility for the first time since 2016.

Locksley hopes to achieve that in front of Maryland’s home fans.

“It’s here now and it’s here for our taking,” he said.

Thoughts on the PSU defense

Locksley offered plenty of complimentary words for the Penn State defense, calling it “formidable.”

Even after surrendering 33 points to Ohio State last week, the Nittany Lions can boast the No. 8 scoring defense in the country, allowing 17 points per game, on average.

Locksley highlighted Penn State’s red zone defense, which also ranks in the top 10 nationally.

Penn State’s secondary garners plenty of plaudits, but, for Locksley, Penn State’s success on defense starts up front.

“I think the strength of their defense is their front seven,” he said.

“Really strong and twitchy athletic guys on the front four, and then they’ve got linebackers on the second level that are really athletic, big guys.”

Locksley said his team’s challenge is to establish the run against that front.

The Terps haven’t surpassed the 100-yard threshold on the ground in any of their last four games. Locksley wants to see some more balance back in Maryland’s offense.

A ‘tough-a** game’

Locksley did not hold back when he discussed the kind of game he expects on Saturday.

He brought up the series history, which Penn State leads 40-3 with one tie, and noted that he thinks last season’s 35-19 win can help Maryland make some progress mentally.

“This is going to be a tough game,” Locksley said. “We expect it to be tough. They’ve had their way with us if you look at the history of it. I do think that in the last few years we’ve tried to do everything we can to be competitive. I think our team has a little confidence coming from last year in that we went up there and we beat a really good Penn State team. After that game, I think they righted the ship for their season and went on to have a great finish

“To me, we expect it to be a tough-a** game. We expect it to be one of those games where the team that makes the least amount of mistakes, the team that has the most explosive plays will have an opportunity to win. We need to make it that kind of game, got to get it into the fourth quarter and get ourselves in position to come out with a win.”