College football rivalries normally come in two flavors. The in-state kinds (like Auburn-Alabama, Miami-Florida State, and USC-UCLA) and the border kinds (like Oklahoma-Texas, Georgia-Florida, and Ohio State-Michigan).
For Penn State, Pittsburgh has been the historic in-state rival while various schools have classified as border rivals. Ohio State—one of the Big Ten’s flagship schools—has become the current border war for PSU. But traditionally, Penn State had rivalries with Syracuse to the north and West Virginia to the southwest, while just below the Mason-Dixon Line, the most lopsided rivalry of all existed—the Nittany Lions versus the Maryland Terrapins. Penn State leads the series 35-1-1.
The Opponent
Before the Paterno era, Maryland football had some notable teams (with their greatest star being All-American and NFL Hall of Famer Stan Jones from the early fifties), but close losses were still the calling card for the series. In 1961, the Terrapins got their only win. Paterno’s early titans stomped all over Maryland, and it wasn’t until coach Jerry Claiborne took over for UMD in 1972 that things got exciting.
A tough disciplinarian, Claiborne quickly catapulted his team into the top 20, riding the broad shoulders of NFL Hall of Famer Randy White from 1972 to 1974. A four-year streak of top 20 finishes began in 1973, and the Terps won three straight ACC titles from ’74-’76. While the program was having success, success against PSU still wasn’t attainable.
Maryland’s 1978 team was ready to end the slide. They entered the November 4th showdown in Happy Valley ranked #5, with eight straight wins behind them. Their best win of the season was a 31-7 pummeling of North Carolina State, who would end the season ranked #18.
The Terrapins seemed poised for an ACC title and, if they could get past Penn State, perhaps even a national title run. Penn State however—surging on a 16-game winning streak—was ranked #2 and had no intentions of giving the visiting Terps a warm welcome.
The Game
Maryland received the ball first, and they got their first taste of Penn State’s best on 3rd and 8—Bruce Clark and Matt Millen crushed Terrapin QB Tim O’Hare for a 1-yard loss. Penn State drove down the short field with nice runs by RBs Booker Moore and Matt Suhey, getting on the board first with a Matt Bahr 33-yard field goal. A Booker Moore lost fumble didn’t hurt PSU; the defense got the ball right back. Mike Guman had a 14-yard reception and a 34-yard run to set up a Chuck Fusina 1-yard TD dive at the start of the second quarter.
Maryland got some mojo going on their next drive and converted a 39-yard field goal to bring the deficit back to 7. After a punishing 3-and-out for the PSU defense, Bob Bassett’s 22-yard one-handed circus grab put them in field goal position. And once they were in range, the ever-automatic Matt Bahr came in to nail the 45-yarder, breaking his older brother Chris’s school record for career kicking points. Although they held Maryland to just 12 rushing yards, Penn State still only had a 13-3 lead at the half.
Another Pete Harris interception in the 3rd quarter would lead the Terps to make a quarterback change, and back-up Mike Tice took Maryland deep into PSU territory, only to be thwarted by a Karl McCoy interception. A few plays later, Fusina threaded a 63-yard beauty to Tom Donovan. PSU 20, Maryland 3.
McCoy snagged another interception late in the third, and soon after, Booker Moore broke a 34-yard scamper to the Maryland 16. Four plays later, Moore scored on a 4-yard run for paydirt.
With time running down, Maryland’s starters had a fourth and goal from the 3 but were denied by Penn State’s backups, earning a standing ovation from the Nittany Nation. Penn State’s defense, dominant all season long, delivered their best performance in the 27-3 victory over #5 Maryland in Beaver Stadium and led the Lions to their 17th straight victory.
The Rest of the Story
The high-profile win captured Penn State and play-caller Chuck Fusina the cover of Sports Illustrated. The next two weeks, PSU eeked past North Carolina State (who finished the season #18) and then #15 Pittsburgh to ascend all the way to number 1 in the polls—the first such ranking in Joe Paterno’s already legendary career. As an independent, PSU could go just about anywhere for their bowl, so the Sugar Bowl invited them down to SEC-land for a match-up with #2 Alabama.
In the following years, the PSU-UMD rivalry remained as disproportionate as always. Claiborne left for his alma mater Kentucky in 1981 but was succeeded by talented coach Bobby Ross. Ross led them to the top 20 three times in his five years in Maryland but never to victory over Penn State. After Ross, Maryland had a decade and a half of futility until Ralph Friedgen revived the Terps in 2001.
The all-time series is frozen at 35-1-1 in favor the Nittany Lions. The one tie in the series came on Maryland’s home field in 1989, 13-13. And the last game the two teams played was in 1993, when even the most prolific single-season passer in Terrapin history (Scott Milanovich with 3499 yards) couldn’t find a way to beat Penn State. He mustered 7 points for Maryland that year; Penn State scored 70.
The 22-part “The Games of Our Lives” series contains excerpts from the book Ring The Bell: The Twenty-two Greatest Penn State Football Victories of Our Lives by Ryan J. Murphy (release date summer 2012 from Father’s Press).
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