Penn State opens Big Ten schedule at Maryland: Five things to watch

The Penn State football team will travel to Maryland and begin Big Ten Conference play at 8 p.m. Friday.

Here are some things to keep an eye on:

Penn State’s first road game of the season presents several challenges: Big Ten opener, a noisy sellout crowd, prime-time national television and an overflow crowd of Maryland students whose later classes Friday have been cancelled, giving them extra time to, uh, prepare.

The Nittany Lions’ youth will be on display. Many players will be competing on the road in a meaningful situation for the first time, including redshirt sophomore quarterback Sean Clifford, who makes his first start away from Beaver Stadium.

Clifford has played on the road twice — last year at Pitt and at Illinois — but entered the games well after the outcome had been decided. He said he’ll carry with him the same mentality he’s had for any game, home or away.

“Coach [James] Franklin does a really good job of preparing us the same every week,” he said Wednesday. “So we’re not going to change our approach, away or home. Obviously, we’re going to have the music a little bit louder when it’s an away game. I know that the speakers were turned up an extra notch this week. But, overall, it’s just approaching the same and having the same mentality.”

Regarding crowd noise, Franklin said he was “typically going to make things worse in practice than they will be in games so that we’re never going into a situation where we’re shocked by how loud it is.”

It seems as if you can’t talk about a Penn State game without expressing doubt about the team’s putrid third-down efficiency. This week, it’s fourth from the bottom — 127th to be exact — in FBS at 23.3%. The Terps, meanwhile, have allowed less than 24% conversions by opponents, sixth nationally.

The more alarming numbers, however, are on defense. While holding opponents to a 29.6% third-down conversion rate, the Nittany Lions have given up a number of third-and-longs. Pitt made a first down five times on third-down plays of 10 or more yards, and got another on a pass-interference penalty.

“We work like crazy to get people into third-and-long situations, and then we let them off the hook,” Franklin said. “That’s been something, obviously, over the bye period we’ve spent a lot of time discussing and studying and looking at. It’s definitely an area that we can get better.”

Penn State was 3-3 in times sacked and sacks against Pitt, but Clifford took more hits than Panthers quarterback Kenny Pickett. The lack of a pass rush was one of Franklin’s biggest postgame complaints. With the bye week, look for the Lions to run more blitz schemes Friday night, and for Shaka Toney and Yetur Gross-Matos to bring more pressure off the edge.

The Terrapins have 13 sacks this season but managed only one in their loss to Temple. Senior linebacker Keandre Jones has 3 ½ sacks and will be one to watch for Penn State.

Franklin said he will use a four-man rotation at running back for the fourth consecutive game. Journey Brown picked up the group’s second 100-yard game of the season, with an 85-yard run boosting him to 109 yards in 10 carries against Pitt. The Nittany Lions tried a two-back package with Brown and Ricky Slade on one drive in that game, and that look might arise again Friday night.

Penn State is one of the nation’s leaders in fewest penalties at 3.0 per game. Maryland has been penalized an average of 6.3 times. But the Terrapins’ plus-4 turnover margin and six turnovers claimed are better than the Lions, who have forced just three turnovers and are plus-1. The game should be close, and errors will be costly.

Friday, 8 p.m., Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium, College Park, Md.

TV/Radio: FoxSports1; WPHT-AM (1210), WNPV-AM (1440).

Records: Penn State, 3-0, 0-0 Big Ten Conference; Maryland, 2-1, 0-0.

Coaches: Penn State, James Franklin (sixth season, 48-21); Maryland, Michael Locksley (second season, 2-6).

Series: Penn State leads, 39-2-1. The Nittany Lions defeated the Terrapins, 38-3, last year at Beaver Stadium.