Maryland and Penn State: Bad Blood

When people think of Maryland and Penn State meeting on the field, they have a vision that is a little………. uneven. The Terps have dropped 7 of the 9 games played since joining the big ten in 2014. However, to say that the game is overlooked or just another game would be incorrect. There is plenty of hate and bad blood to go around. But, to get the full story we must go back to 2008.

In 2008, the University of Maryland hired a former coach named James Franklin to be their Offensive coordinator and Assistant head coach. Franklin worked under then-head coach Ralph Friedgen. Friedgen was arguably one of the best coaches in school history and Franklin was a great recruiter with high energy. Maryland realized the hidden gem that they possessed, and they named James Franklin as the successor to coach Friedgen, once he was retired. They knew that Friedgen was loved, and that Franklin would be a great replacement. The plan was to go from one conference champion coach to another.

The first domino in a dreadful line of dominoes that Terps fans know all too well is the hiring of Kevin Anderson in the early part of the 2010 season. Anderson watched as the Terps raced out to a 7-3 record with the ACC title well within its reach. Friedgen had everyone in Maryland believing in the program, and on November 20th of 2010, ABC was to broadcast the de-facto ACC Atlantic division title game between Maryland and Florida State. The winner would be in the championship against Virginia Tech. The game was a tough fight, and after a late pick six, Florida State pulled away, winning 30-16. The game was one back and forth and stayed within one possession for over 59 minutes. Maryland would continue its great season by finishing 9-4 with a blowout bowl win over ECU. What happened next is perhaps the biggest mistake in the past 40 years of Maryland football.

Anderson saw the Terps reach 9-4 with the ACC rookie of the year at quarterback and the fanbase ready for Friedgen to continue his winning ways. He decided that he would have none of it, and he fired coach Ralph Friedgen in December of 2010. Less than one month after being one win from the ACC championship game, the head coach was gone. That was bad, but remember the deal that Franklin was supposed to be the next head coach? Anderson went back on the previous arrangement. Franklin would have to interview against other candidates to get the job, and he left for Vanderbilt. Just like that, one of the winningest coaches in Maryland was let go, and the next chance for a great coach left after being overlooked.

So, who did Maryland hire? Randy. Edsall. One of the worst ever decisions in Maryland sports history. Edsall failed in so many ways, and players hated him. He drove off the quarterback who led Maryland the year before and brought a 2-10 record his first year. Now you’re probably wondering, where does Penn State come into all of this? Well, in 2014, PSU hired James Franklin, which was coincidentally the same year that his former employer, Maryland, was playing in the Big Ten. Prior to the game in 2014, Franklin was speaking in Baltimore, Maryland and claimed the area as in-state recruiting and said that they should shut down the local program (Maryland). Maryland responded by refusing to shake hands with Penn State before the 2014 game and ended up winning. The next year would be a 1-point Penn State victory and since then, it has essentially been all Penn State. Maryland’s only other win was in 2020, when Maryland started the game with 21 straight points. Other than that, Penn State has routinely walked into Maryland, beat the Terps by multiple possessions, stole their recruits and left. This has been mostly due to two reasons: James Franklin's hatred of Maryland and better players, a lot of which are from Maryland.

On the topic of recruiting, let me list a few players, and you guess what they all have in common: Shane Simmons, Tariq Castro-Fields, Devon Ellies, Curtis Jacobs, Chop Robinson, Landon Tengwall, Dani Dennis-Sutton and Chimdy Onoh. Did you guess that they were highly rated recruits from Maryland that went to Penn State? Penn State uses Maryland players to beat Maryland, coached by a man with plenty of bad history towards Maryland. The final straw is that many of the people from Maryland root for Penn State.

Penn State looks down on Maryland as the smaller school that they routinely embarrass. The players from Penn State probably notice the franklin hatred towards UMD when they prepare for the games, which are usually reminders of the home school that is not quite good enough. Maryland fans feel betrayed as their fellow statesmen choose to root for an out of state team, which is fueled by in-state talent. Maryland looks every year to beat Penn State and prove that they can hold their own. Penn State looks forward to their yearly matchup to show their dominance and strengthen their recruiting coup in Maryland. Both programs have reason for optimism: Penn State is 4 wins away from a chance to be in the Big Ten title game, while Maryland has enough in-state talent to never leave the top 10, if they would all just stay home. On Saturday we will get the latest rendition of the bad blood between the border schools. Call this game what you want, in my opinion, this one deserves to be called a rivalry.