Checking In With Penn State’s November Opponents

MARYLAND – Nov. 6, Maryland Stadium

Feels weird typing ‘Poor Mike Locksley’ when you consider he’s still employed and handsomely compensated despite his 8-43 career record as a head coach, but, man, it’s really hard to not feel a little bit sorry for this guy. 

After pasting Penn State 35-19 and posting that admittedly clever ‘You Were…We Are’ graphic on social media, Maryland’s burgeoning sand castle got washed away when a wave of COVID infections spread throughout the program. More than half of the Terrapins’ remaining schedule vanished – along with any and all 2020 momentum — because of positive tests/mandatory quarantine rules, as Locksley’s crew participated in a Big Ten-worst five total games.  

Then, Locksley’s entire coaching staff (or close to it) peace’d out for what seem like demotions elsewhere. 

Defensive coordinator Jon Hoke left to take the DBs coaching job with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. 

Offensive coordinator Scottie Montgomery felt becoming the RBs coach for the Indianapolis Colts was the best career move for him. 

Maryland also has a new offensive line coach, special teams coordinator, inside linebackers coach, outside linebackers coach, quarterbacks coach, wide receivers coach, and safeties coach …soooo we’re basically unplugging then plugging-back-in the modem for the Locksley Era at Maryland. 

Dan Enos, who worked with Locksley at Alabama in 2018 as QB coach and provided hands-on instruction to Tualia Tagovailoa’s older, richer brother, was named the Terps new OC in January and inherits a feast-or-famine offense that averaged 40 points per win and 13.7 points per loss. According to The Baltimore Sun, Enos will incorporate a lot of the same terminology/phrasing/verbage he and Locksley used at Alabama to expedite Tagovailoa’s transition in the new scheme. 

MICHIGAN – Nov. 13 Beaver Stadium

Pay no attention to the mess behind the Khaki curtain.

Typically, media reports from college spring football are so sugarcoated even fans of desolate programs feel a short-lived buzz/jolt of hope and brim with optimism until reality hangs 50 points on ’em Week 1…which makes all the doom-and-gloom reports authored from those in Ann Arbor so startling. 

Back in early January, Jim Harbaugh signed a seemingly one-sided, five-year contract extension that sliced his annual base salary in half (from $8 million to $4 million) and afforded the university a relatively cheap escape hatch financially if they want to can him following the 2021 season – not exactly a huge vote of confidence. 

If you read the tea leaves, pay attention to the rumblings and talk to anyone who had/has an affiliation with #Michigan football, it's baffling that Jim Harbaugh received a contract extension.

— Brandon Brown (@BSB_Wolverine) March 24, 2021

Then, Michigan appeared to settle when it replaced accomplished defensive coordinator Don Brown with 33-year-old Baltimore Ravens linebackers coach Mike Macdonald, a guy who has never been a DC at any level. 

So what will Macdonald’s Michigan defense look like? What are his principles/tendencies/philosophies? Hell, if Harbaugh knows:

“That’s hard to say right now, how different it’s going to look,” the Wolverines coach told the Michigan media. “Definitely different language, different front structures, different coverages, different blitz patterns. Hope it looks really good…No sense talking about specifics of what it’s going to be. It’s in the making.”

Even though OC Josh Gattis returns to see if his third season is a charm, there’s an equal amount of uncertainty/instability on Michigan’s offense as there is on its defense. Wide receiver Giles Jackson – arguably the Big Ten’s best kick returner and a productive receiver — is the latest Wolverines contributor to enter the Transfer Portal, but he might not be the last. 

Michigan did land former Texas Tech QB Alan Bowman from the portal but since he won’t arrive until the summer second-year freshman Cade McNamara and true freshman 5-star J.J. McCarthy are battling for starter reps during spring ball. Because McNamara missed out on 2020 spring practice and didn’t finish the only game he started last season (Penn State) there’s not this huge chasm in experience separating the two young QBs. McCarthy is definitely in the mix.

RUTGERS – Nov. 20, Beaver Stadium

After managing to be one of two Big Ten football programs to complete a full 9-game schedule in 2020, Rutgers paused all in-person football activities on the eve of its first spring practice. Originally, Rutgers intended to conclude spring ball on May 1 with its annual Scarlett-White game, but that might be rescheduled or cancelled entirely.  In fact, whether Greg Schiano’s woodchoppers can even conduct 15 practices – and when the deadline to do so would be – is completely up in the air right now. 

Therefore, the biggest buzz surrounding Rutgers football recently has been the program’s success on the recruiting trail. At the time of this typing, Rutgers has the No. 9 overall 2022 recruiting class nationally according to 247Sports, headlined by verbals from three 4-star recruits: linebacker Anthony Johnson, wide receiver Amarion Brown, and running back Samuel Brown. To put this early haul into context, Rutgers hasn’t had three 4-star recruits in a single recruiting class since 2017.   

MICHIGAN STATE – Nov. 27, Spartan Stadium (Predatory Mortgage Lender Sponsorship Pending)

Just like every Big Ten team, Michigan State isn’t sure whom to start at quarterback and probably won’t decide soon for fear of losing its eventual backup to the Transfer Portal. Top candidates include Payton Thorne – the first-half god/second-half mortal vs. Penn State last December – and Temple grad transfer Anthony Russo, who is almost legally old enough to rent a car. Mel Tucker could do both guys a big favor by fixing Michigan State’s running attack. The Spartans have finished 13th out of 14 Big Ten teams in total rushing three years in a row, bottoming out in 2020 with a sub-100-yard per game average. 

Defensively, Michigan State brings back a ton of starters but must replace undersized Scrappy Doo linebacker Antjuan Simmons, a guy who urinates toughness considering he racked up 231 career tackles after fracturing his spine as a freshman.