Penn State Football: 3 bold predictions vs. Maryland in Week 5

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STATE COLLEGE, PA – SEPTEMBER 14: Maurice Ffrench #2 of the Pittsburgh Panthers makes a catch against Trent Gordon #19 of the Penn State Nittany Lions during the first half at Beaver Stadium on September 14, 2019 in State College, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /

2. Penn State secondary struggles to stop Josh Jackson

Penn State has a number of very clear weaknesses, one of them being their passing defense which gives up an average of 250 yards per game and considering they’ve only played Idaho, Buffalo and Pitt things will most likely only get worse for the Nittany Lions going forward as they get into conference play.

To that point, their first conference game of the season will be a Friday night matchup against the Terps and it won’t take long for Mike Locksley to decide to abandon their run game and go full speed ahead at PSU’s biggest weakness.

Just looking at Penn State on paper you see that their rushing defense is one of the best in the country, currently ranked ninth overall, but their passing defense is all the way on the other end of the spectrum ranked an abysmal 96th. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the best way to beat Penn State is going to be through the air.

Despite Maryland’s loss to Temple, Locksley’s offense has broken several school records for scoring in the first few weeks of the season and if Pitt can throw for 370 yards on this Penn State secondary then we shouldn’t be too surprised if we see Josh Jackson throw for upwards to 400 yards.

The Terps have a lot to prove after that embarrassing loss to Temple and they’ll be playing at home on a Friday night. It’s a perfect setting for Maryland’s passing attack to have its best game of the season.

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