Maryland football closed the 2024 season dominated against fourth-ranked Penn State in State College, falling 44-7.
Maryland opened the scoring on the team’s first offensive play after senior defensive lineman Tommy Akingbesote forced a fumble on the first play from scrimmage, but that momentum slipped away quickly. Penn State scored 44 unanswered points in a game they controlled after the Terps’ points, but the game’s ending still caught the attention of plenty despite the blowout.
Maryland’s last offensive drive ended after QB MJ Morris tossed his third interception as Penn State’s return set the offense up with at the MD 13 with 64 seconds left. And Penn State used all 64 seconds. With four seconds remaining on 4th-and-12, backup QB Beau Pribula found WR Tyseer Denmark for the game's final touchdown as time expired. In a game that Maryland was dominated from start to finish, Maryland head coach Mike Locksley had a lengthy postgame conversation with Penn State head coach James Franklin as the two met at midfield.
“I was asked about his family, Christmas cards, address. All those things,” Maryland head coach Mike Locksley said postgame when asked about the exchange. “Bullshit is what it was. I respect the game I’ve got a lot of respect for James [Franklin], his program. I think it was bullshit.”
While Penn State head coach James Franklin was heard saying “if that’s what you think that’s fine” in response to Locksley on the field, he offered a more in-depth answer postgame.
"I get it, right? At the end of the game, we throw a touchdown. I get it. But a couple [of] things I will say. My job is to put the threes and fours in the game, but when the threes and fours get to go in the game, they get to play football. Those guys deserve to play football. Your ones are in the game. You were trying to score. We're trying to score. On top of that, you're playing cover zero. If you don't want [to allow a score], play cover two. So I'm good with it. And on top of that, there's also a change in college football. We are trying to play as long as we can, make the playoffs and be seeded as high as possible. And scoring as many points and a point differential matters. All that matters. And if you don't get that, it's really not my problem. So [win]. 1-0. I'm good with it. Anybody that's not, that's their problem."
The matchup between the two teams hasn’t always been competitive on the field. While Maryland had a chance to move to 3-3 against Penn State in Happy Valley since joining the Big Ten, Penn State has dominated Maryland over the last four years after outscoring the Terps, 157-36. The postgame exchange between Mike Locksley and James Franklin comes ten years after the infamous ‘no handshake’ between Maryland captains P.J. Gallo, Sean Davis and Stefon Diggs and Penn State captains C.J. Olanyian, Jesse Della Valle and Christian Hackenberg.
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