No. 12 Penn State faces regional rival Maryland

No. 12 Penn State (3-0) at Maryland (2-1), Friday at 8 p.m. EDT (FS1).

Line: Penn State by 6.

Series record: Penn State leads 39-2-1.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

The Nittany Lions and Terrapins were the top two scoring offenses in the country two weeks into the season before cooling off in their last games. Coming off bye weeks, the regional rivals will try to return to form and take a positive first step in the rugged Big Ten East.

KEY MATCHUP

Penn State’s passing offense vs. Maryland’s secondary. The Nittany Lions have rotated four running backs and haven’t found much of a rhythm on the ground. Meanwhile, the Terrapins have effectively stopped the run and could force QB Sean Clifford, who’s making his first start on the road, to beat them.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Penn State: WR KJ Hamler. Penn State’s wideouts caught just eight of Clifford’s 30 attempts against Pitt’s aggressive secondary. The speedster Hamler would’ve added more had Clifford been a bit more accurate with more time to measure up a deep ball.

Maryland: RB Anthony McFarland Jr. The Terps’ lead back was stuffed on back-to-back goal-line runs that sealed Maryland’s loss to Temple two weeks ago. He’s going to keep getting heavy workloads, but the returning 1,000-yard rusher needs more from his line.

FACTS & FIGURES

Penn State is 2-4 in games after bye weeks since 2014. . The teams split the first two Big Ten games, each one-point wins, after Maryland joined the conference in 2014. . Penn State has won the last three by a combined score of 142-20. . Maryland is 4-1 in Big Ten openers. . Penn State is averaging 10.3 tackles for loss per game. . Maryland QB Josh Jackson is 51 for 100 for 724 yards so far, and is the first Terps QB to throw for eight TDs in his first two games since 1977. . McFarland has 46 carries for 225 yards and five touchdowns. . The Terps have held opponents to 73.7 rushing yards per game.