It doesn't take a football savant to figure out how Maryland and Penn State plan to take away the other team's offense Saturday at Beaver Stadium.
Even the two respective quarterbacks, fifth-year senior Perry Hills for the Terps and redshirt sophomore Trace McSorley for the Nittany Lions, know what to expect in their matchup in State College. Hills and McSorley will see defenses stacked to stop the running game.
The Nittany Lions will be trying to slow down Maryland's six-man wrecking crew that tore through Purdue for 400 yards last week en route to a 50-7 win in College Park. The Terps have been averaging 300 yards a game during the team's 4-0 start.
Maryland hopes to limit Penn State sophomore Saquon Barkley as they did last year and Minnesota did last week before he danced and darted to a 25-yard touchdown run on his team's first play in overtime to beat the Gophers, 29-26.
Without giving away their game plans, both quarterbacks said this week that it's more about how their offenses execute than what the defenses do to try to limit the respective running games, including their own ability to scramble.
"They do a couple of things, they bring a lot of zone pressures, they'll play middle field closed, middle field open, but at the end of the day it's not so much what they do, it's executing what what we need to do with our offense and what your job is," Hills said.
Said McSorley, "I wouldn't say it puts more pressure on me as a quarterback trying to force things in the passing game or feel like I have to run to get our running game going. Just have to trust the system, trust the offense, trust the call ... and make sure guys are on the same page so we can execute [the plays]."
Asked this week what it will take for teams to stop concentrating on Barkley, McSorley said, "We're going to have to beat them passing the ball and beat them over the top. I think that's the only real way if teams continue to do that.
"It's kind of a high risk-high reward deal. Saquon's our main threat, you want to take him away and force us to beat you another way. If they decide to do that, we need to beat them over the top … and continue to find other ways to get Saquon the ball where he's in space."
Maryland did that a year ago at M&T Bank Stadium. In a 31-30 defeat, the Terps limited Barkley to 65 yards on 20 carries, with no run being longer than 10 yards. Quarterback Christian Hackenberg threw for 315 yards and three touchdowns.
"Last year they kind of did a little different kind of approach to what we'd seen all year, loading the box with a linebacker and extra safety help trying to stop Saquon and our run game," McSorley recalled. "It's something we need to be ready for again if they do it again this year."
McSorley, who threw for 335 yards on 19 of 41 passing and rushed for another 73 yards while Minnesota was limiting Barkley to 63 yards on 20 carries, has noticed a difference in Maryland's secondary this season.
"They've done a really good job of keeping guys in front of them, and not giving up that big play and not giving up those explosive plays," McSorley said. "It's something we're going to have work on in practice to make sure we can create those explosive plays, kind of those fun plays that can get guys going and get you momentum."
While McSorley was mostly a spectator in Baltimore, getting in for one play that resulted in a sack, Hills had one of his most productive games as a Terp. He was 19 of 28 for 225 yards and a touchdown passing, along with 124 yards on 26 carries and a touchdown running.
But after keeping Maryland in the game for more than three quarters, Hills committed three of his four turnovers on his team's last four possessions.
The Terps, who won 20-19 on at Penn State two years ago on a field goal in the final minute by Brad Craddock, lost 31-30 last year.
"It was definitely a heart-wrenching game, I wish I could have back some of those mistakes," said Hills, who committed Maryland's first two turnovers of the season last week against Purdue. "It was a really fun game. Even my [current] roommate, [freshman] Jake Funk was in the stands and he said the crowd was ecstatic. It was a great atmsophere. But we came up one point short and we hope not to let that happen this year."
Maryland coach DJ Durkin had his team work this week on protecting Hills better than it did at times last week, giving him time to make plays with his feet and his arm if the Nittany Lions take away the running game.
Durkin said in a teleconference Thursday that there's enough "run-pass options" in the game plan to keep opponents off-balance.
"We're prepared for a lot of different looks," Durkin said. "I definitely believe Perry is up to the task. I feel very strongly about the way he can deliver the ball down the field and I think our receivers will do a good job when they get it."
Hills seems confident that the Terps can continue their early season success despite a Homecoming crowd in a stadium that holds around 107,000.
"Honestly, we like playing in environments like that instead of one where there is no fans at all," Hills said. "It gets you energized to say, 'We're going to prove all these people wrong and make them shut up.' Guys are going to be really excited about it."
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