Penn State Football: Nittany Lions Prove A Point, And Score Many More In Blowout Win

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – That’s what good teams do.

You could be excused if you thought Penn State and Maryland were headed toward their most competitive game in years. The Nittany Lions have looked young, prone to slow changes and, in terms of road environments, untested. Maryland took the field on Friday night coming off a loss to Temple, but with no shortage of points or defense in its opening two wins. A brief stint in the Top 25 was seemingly proof enough of quality.

The crowd, they said, would be loud. The emotions of a regional rivalry would take over. This wasn’t going to be like Penn State’s last two trips to College Park. This was going to be a marquee game in primetime with plenty on the line for both.

This, they said, would be different.

But it wasn’t. It was never close. The final score said it all: 59-0.

From the outset Penn State looked the team fans have been hoping to see. A swarming defense made the most of two early interception opportunities. The offense was a finely-tuned machine as KJ Hamler scampered for 58-yards to put Penn State ahead 14-0. By the time Maryland found its footing, it was far too late.

And by the half it was 38-0.

If you were looking for off-week improvements, you saw them. If you wanted to see the Penn State defense that had been hyped up all summer, you saw that too. If you wanted proof that Sean Clifford could step up on the road, his 398-yard and fire-hot 26-for-31 box score left little room for interpretation. If you wanted to know Penn State’s running back depth wasn’t a rumor, all four made their case for more carries. And then some.

If you wanted to see Ricky Rahne call a game that exploited a less talented team’s weaknesses, you did. If you wanted proof that this team could go places, the starters watching from the bench in the third quarter told you all you need to know.

On paper this was a trap game. In reality it was the blowout it has always been.

And there is something to be said for that. Penn State’s relative dominance of the Big Ten’s lower two-thirds has come on nights like these. You give James Franklin and his staff a lesser opponent and the familiarity of playing each year and you’ve gotten nights like this far more often than not.

That’s talent, that’s coaching, that’s solid play calling and adjustments.

It should be said that Maryland does not appear to be very good, and the Nittany Lions are not suddenly national title contenders because of one blowout victory. And sure, you can know that Penn State’s season will come down to the types of big games it has struggled in as of late, but not every team gets to play in the big game, and the Nittany Lions haven’t missed one in years. 

But if you wanted a statement on Friday night, and proof that Franklin hasn’t lost his punch against teams like Maryland even if he’s lost a class of generational players, you got it.

The Nittany Lions proved a point, and scored over 50 of them in the process.