For the second time this season, Penn State will visit an NFL venue, as the Nittany Lions meet Maryland Saturday in the Baltimore Ravens’ M&T Bank Stadium for a 3:30 p.m. game on ESPN. It is the 39th meeting between the teams, but just the second as Big Ten members.
It could be a historic day for Nittany Lion quarterback Christian Hackenberg, who could become the school’s career leader in passing yardage, completions and attempts. He will need to surpass 74 yards passing, 11 completions and 29 attempts to top all three lists.
MARYLAND INTERIM HEAD COACH MIKE LOCKSLEY
• Mike Locksley was named the interim head coach on Oct. 11, 2015. This will be his first game serving in the role.
• Locksley is in his 10th season at Maryland. He was an assistant coach from 1997-2002, primarily working with the running backs, and has served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach since 2012.
• He has three seasons of experience as a head coach, serving in the role at New Mexico (2009-11).
• Locksley was a defensive back at Towson from 1989-91.
PENN STATE IN NEUTRAL TERRITORY
• The Nittany Lions are 51-20-4 all-time in regular-season neutral site games, including wins in the last four.
• Penn State and Maryland have met at a neutral site three previous times, all at Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium. The last neutral site meeting between the teams was a 47-7 Penn State win in 1991 when assistant coach Terry Smith was a team captain for the Nittany Lions.
• The Maryland game in M&T Back Stadium will mark Penn State’s third consecutive season with a neutral site regular season game.
• Penn State opened the 2013 and 2014 seasons with neutral site victories over Syracuse (23-17, MetLife Stadium) and UCF (26-24, Croke Park Classic), respectively.
• This is Penn State’s third neutral site Big Ten game.
• The last time Penn State played a Big Ten opponent at neutral site was in 2010 against Indiana. PSU defeated the Hoosiers, 41-24, in FedEx Field in Landover, Md.
• The Nittany Lions also met Indiana at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis in 2000.
NITTANY LIONS IN NFL VENUES
• Penn State is visiting M&T Bank Stadium, home of the Super Bowl XLVII Champion Baltimore Ravens, to mark the eighth current NFL stadium the Blue and White have played in. Penn State opened the season in Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles, against Temple.
• The Nittany Lions have also played in current homes of the Miami Dolphins (Sun Life Stadium), New Orleans Saints (Mercedes-Benz Superdome), New York Giants/New York Jets (MetLife Stadium), San Diego Chargers (Qualcomm Stadium), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Raymond James Stadium) and Washington Redskins (FedEx Field).
• The first documented Penn State game in a professional stadium was in 1921 when the Nittany Lions defeated Georgia Tech, 28-7, in front of 30,000 fans at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan in New York City.
• Excluding bowl games, the Lions have played 38 regular season games in 13 different stadiums with permanent NFL tenants.
• Four regular season games were played in NFL venues in 1983, as the Lions played in Giants Stadium twice (Nebraska and Rutgers), Veterans Stadium (Temple) and Sullivan (Foxboro) Stadium (Boston College).
COACHING STAFF CONNECTIONS
• Penn State head coach James Franklin spent eight seasons on staff at Maryland. He was the Terrapins’ assistant head coach/offensive coordinator (2008-10) and recruiting coordinator/wide receivers coach (2000-04).
• Penn State offensive coordinator John Donovan spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach at Maryland. He was the assistant recruiting coordinator (2001-04), running backs coach (2005, 2008-10) and quarterbacks coach (2006-07).
• Franklin and Donovan both worked with Maryland interim head coach Mike Locksley during his first stint in College Park.
• Penn State special teams coordinator/running backs coach Charles Huff was an assistant offensive line coach at Maryland in 2009.
• Penn State director of performance enhancement Dwight Galt is a graduate of Maryland and spent 22 years with the Maryland strength and conditioning staff.
• Assistant director of performance enhancement Dwight Galt IV and offensive graduate assistant Tommy Galt played for the Terrapins from 2005-09.
• Penn State defensive coordinator Bob Shoop and Maryland inside linebackers coach Keith Dudzinski both coached on the defensive side of the ball at UMass in 2006.
• Penn State Chief of Staff Jemal Griffin was the Director of Football Operations at Maryland from 2008-10.
• Penn State Director of Football Administration Kevin Threlkel served as a football operations intern for two seasons at Maryland.
STRIKING FIRST
• Penn State has scored first in all seven games this season, and eight straight games dating back to last season’s Pinstripe Bowl against Boston College.
• The Nittany Lions have scored in the first quarter of all but two games, failing to do so against Buffalo and Rutgers. However, Penn State was able to earn double-digit victories despite the slower starts, and the Rutgers game remains the largest margin of victory (25 points) this season.
YOUTH REIGNS SUPREME
• Penn State has had 22 freshmen play this season (17 redshirt, 5 true).
• Penn State ranks tied for 18th in the country with 13 first-time starters this season.
• Penn State has the 14th-fewest seniors on its roster (13) in FBS and third-fewest in the Big Ten.
• Penn State has the fifth-most freshmen on its roster (61) in FBS and the most in the Big Ten.
• Penn State’s average starting class (2.71; scale of 1-4) is the 14th youngest in the country and youngest in the Big Ten. Michigan is the oldest team in the country and in the Big Ten (3.55).
• Penn State is the 34th youngest team in the country by average player class and second youngest team in the Big Ten (2.13).
• 77.8 percent (14-18) of Penn State’s offensive touchdowns have been scored by freshmen or sophomores.
• 55.6 percent (10-18) of Penn State’s offensive touchdowns have been scored by freshmen.
• Penn State has had six different players score their first career touchdowns this season.
• Quarterback Christian Hackenberg and running back Akeel Lynch, both juniors, are the only upperclassmen to score touchdowns this season. They both have a pair of rushing touchdowns.
STOPS BEHIND THE LINE
• In addition to leading the nation in total sacks (27) and ranking second to Oklahoma State (4.17 pg) with 3.86 sacks per game, Penn State also ranks sixth in the nation and tops in the Big Ten with 9.0 tackles for loss per game.
• Penn State has had at least 9.0 TFLs in four games this season.
• The Penn State defense accumulated 10.0 tackles for loss against Ohio State, the most the Buckeyes had surrendered all season.
• Penn State leads the nation in both tackle for loss yardage (314) and sack yardage (223). Penn State is the only team in the country with more than 300 tackles for loss yards, and is also the only team with more than 200 sack yards.
• Penn State’s 15 tackles for loss against Temple were the second-most in the country during the opening week, trailing only Colorado State, which racked up 16 against FCS-level Savannah State. Eleven different Nittany Lions were credited with at least an assist, led by Carl Nassib, Brandon Bell and Anthony Zettel with 2.5 TFL each, while Trevor Williams had 2.0.
• Nassib leads the country with 2.2 TFL per game.
NASSIB BREAKING THROUGH
• Senior defensive end Carl Nassib has rewarded the Nittany Lions for putting him in the starting lineup, as the former walk-on is enjoying a breakout season by breaking through opposing offensive lines.
• Nassib leads the nation in sacks with 11.5 (1.71 pg), five forced fumbles (0.83 pg) and his 15.5 tackles for loss (2.2 pg).
• He has recorded a sack in each game this season, and four multi-sack games.
• Nassib’s 11.5 sacks this season are the most by a Nittany Lion since Aaron Maybin had 12 sacks in the 2008 season.
• Nassib is the first Penn State player to force two fumbles in two games in a season since Maurice Evans did it in 2007. Evans had two forced fumbles against Indiana and two forced fumbles against Texas A&M in the Alamo Bowl.
• Nassib’s five forced fumbles this season are the most by a Penn State player since Evans had five in the 2007 season.
• While making his first career start (high school or college), Nassib made a career-high 10 tackles in the season opener at Temple. His previous high was four stops on October 5, 2013 at Indiana. Nassib also recorded what was then his second career solo sack, good for a 12-yard loss in the second quarter, and his 2.5 tackles for loss were a career-best.
• Nassib made even bigger plays the following week against Buffalo, recording three sacks, including back-to-back sack-fumbles to stifle a UB comeback. He also hauled in an interception deep in UB territory after senior defensive tackle Anthony Zettel tipped a pass from the quarterback.
• He recorded his fifth sack of the season against Rutgers.
• Nassib tallied two sacks against San Diego State, forcing a fumble on one that led to defensive tackle Austin Johnson’s 71-yard touchdown run after scooping up the ball.
• He continued his sack streak with one against Army.
• Nassib had a triple-double of sorts against Indiana with 2.0 sacks, 2.0 TFL and two forced fumbles.
• At No. 1 Ohio State, he led the Penn State defense with 1.5 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss, also tying for second on the team with eight tackles. The Lions totaled 10.0 tackles-for-loss in the game to mark its fourth game with at least 9.0 TFLs. It was also the most surrendered by Ohio State this season.
