Late Penn State TD leaves Maryland coach Mike Locksley angry

Maryland football coach Mike Locksley was not happy with the way his team’s season ended.

After Penn State threw a touchdown pass on fourth-and-12 with no time remaining Saturday to punctuate a 44-7 win over the visiting Terrapins, Locksley and Nittany Lions coach James Franklin had a lengthy meeting at midfield following the traditional postgame handshake.

It was unclear what the coaches said, but after the game, Locksley took issue with how Franklin’s team handled the finish.

“Bull—. That’s what it was,” Locksley told reporters in State College, Pa. “I respect the game. I’ve got a lot of respect for James, his program. I think it was bull—.”

After Maryland quarterback MJ Morris threw his third interception of the game, Penn State took over at the Terps’ 13-yard line with 1 minute, 4 seconds to play. After two straight runs, the clock was running and the Nittany Lions could have let the final seconds tick away. But backup quarterback Beau Pribula took a shot into the end zone with four seconds left, which fell incomplete. On the next play, Pribula threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to reserve wide receiver Tyseer Denmark as time expired, extending the final margin of victory to 37 points.

“I get it,” Franklin told reporters when asked why Penn State scored a touchdown at the end of the game. “My job is to put the [third- and fourth-string players] in the game, but when the threes and fours go in the game, they deserve to play football. … We are trying to play as long as we can, make the playoffs and be seeded as high as possible.”

With the win, Penn State clinched a spot in the Big Ten championship game for the first time since 2016. With a victory over No. 1 Oregon in Indianapolis, the Nittany Lions would receive a first-round bye in the new 12-team College Football Playoff.