UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – After collecting a 20-7 victory over Rutgers, Penn State (8-3, 5-3) welcomes Maryland (5-6, 3-5) to Beaver Stadium. The game is slated for 3:30 p.m. (ET) on ABC or the Penn State Sports Network (2 p.m. pregame show). Here's what we learned from Tuesday's media availability.
1. Head coach James Franklin discussed some of the opportunities for growth with his team following last week's victory over Rutgers. "We've got to eliminate the critical errors and penalties," Franklin said. "Offensively, we have to finish drives. I think we had two drives on Saturday that went for 12 plays or more, and we weren't able to finish the way we should finish. So those are the things that really kind of jumped out after watching the game and making some corrections."
2. Scouting Maryland. The Terrapins enter Beaver Stadium having lost four of their last five games, two of those by a combined three points. Last week, Maryland suffered a one-point overtime loss to then No. 10 Ohio State. "They do a great job, all the way back to when we played him when he was the offensive coordinator at Pitt," Franklin said. "Motions, shifts, unbalanced, tackle over -- unbalanced motion with the x off the ball. They really try to create conflict that way. Defensively, base front. They are going to play four-down as well as an Okie. They are going to base out of one-high, but you'll see also combinations of quarter-quarter-half, as well as quarters coverage and then they pressure a decent amount, as well."
3. Senior Day. "Senior Day is obviously a special moment that we get to recognize these guys as their last time playing in Beaver Stadium," James Franklin said. "To think about what these guys have been able to accomplish in their time here, I think it's pretty impressive what these guys have been able to do. You look at the data, just the raw numbers and they are impressive, but also how these guys have conducted themselves."
Added Trace McSorley on senior day: "I hope our legacy as a senior class is a lot of guys that came in to Penn State at a time when it wasn't necessarily the brightest. I think we just want to be remembered as a bunch of guys that didn't necessarily come in with all the hype as far as the recruiting and all that, and you know, we didn't have all the high expectations of everything that some people do now."
Senior Nick Scott added to the senior day conversation. "Just based off my experience and all the things I've seen in this program, I'd say one of the biggest things I'd like for the senior class to be remembered as is, a group of guys who are extremely hard-working. Guys who took care of their business on the field as well as off the field and also were a huge part of this growing process. The rebuilding process of putting Penn State back as a top contender or in the conversation each year."
4. Trace McSorley's 30 wins as Penn State's starting quarterback ranks as the most of any PSU quarterback to date. Here's what his head coach had to say about the senior. "I think that's kind of how Trace has been. He's earned everything he's gotten in life. No one's given him anything. I couldn't be more impressed, but I'm not surprised by it. I'm not shocked by it whatsoever. He is built for this, and he's a self-made man in a lot of ways."
