Penn State Nittany Lions vs Maryland Terrapins Prediction, Odds and Picks

Vote on who will cover the spread!

Point Spread Pick

The Penn State Nittany Lions take on the Maryland Terrapins with both teams trending in the wrong direction in recent weeks. Maryland has lost three straight including back-to-back losses as double-digit favorites, but the Terrapins can still sling it. Despite a tough stretch for QB Taulia Tagovailoa, Maryland still ranks 32nd in passing success rate. Penn State might have the nation’s top passing defense and No. 2 overall total defense, but outside of Ohio State, the competition has been thin. Only two QBs Penn State has faced – Greene (WVU) and McCord (tOSU) – have a positive EPA on the year. Furthermore, the ground game is there too as Maryland is top 10 in the country in rushing explosiveness.

Penn State has been really, really sloppy for their standards in the last two weeks. While Drew Allar might have had a ton of hype entering the season, the Nittany Lions rank dead last in the country in passing explosiveness and 116th in yards per completion (10.68). In every Penn State win outside of Indiana last week, the Nittany Lions held a significant lead and could cruise on offense through the run game and short, dinky passes to move the chains. We saw last week what happens when they need big plays from Allar through the air… and it wasn’t great. Maryland has been better than they get credit for defensively, ranking 38th in total defense.

With a top 10 team coming to town, a simple key for Maryland to keep things close is to hold on to the football, limit turnovers, and take advantage of red zone possessions on both offense and defense. Luckily for the Terps, they rank top 40 in finishing drives on offense and 15th in finishing drives allowed. With all things considered, I’m taking Maryland to cover at home.

Maryland +10 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable down to Maryland +8.5 (-110).

Sportsbook

Set Wager

Payout

Select NJ Odds

$19.09

Ryan is a die-hard sports fan with a passion for crunching numbers and finding winning picks. He works on the Pickswise social media team and recently began handicapping MLB games. He has years of experience delivering winning picks in both college football and the UFC and is looking to expand his areas of expertise. For Ryan Bunnell media enquiries, please email [email protected].