DOVER, Del. – One day after the Maryland University football ball team’s third consecutive loss, fourth on the season, then-head coach Randy Edsall was relieved of his duties.
Coming off a bye-week, the Terrapins will face their Big Ten opponent, Penn State, with the debut of interim Head Coach Mike Locksley. Here is what you can expect from the match up: What to expect.
Can Locksley get the job done for the Terps with only one week to adjust as head coach?
“These guys are still young men and we’ve really worked on the mindset that sometimes life throws you curveballs and you have to keep pressing forward,” Locksley said. We have the underdog mentality.”
Comparatively, Maryland standing at 2-4 is the underdog to the 5-2 Penn State . The Nittany Lions’s five-game winning streak was snapped last week against Ohio State.
Football in its purest form #BeatPennState https://t.co/w0Wi5J11sJ
— Maryland Football (@TerpsFootball) October 21, 2015
With losses comes pressure. Locksley is trying to adopt a ‘go out and have fun’ mentality to lighten the mood in the locker room and simply get back to football.
“I don’t want them thinking that they have to go out and play to win, to save people’s jobs, or to get a guy a job,” Locksley said. “I want them to go play football in its purist form, and that’s what I’ve talked about each day with these guys.
All three phases of the Maryland’s game has been evaluated over the bye-week and changes have been made to help the Terps will again Penn State.
“I’m sure there’re not that many people that give us a chance to go out and have any success, but our guys are resilient,” Locksley said. “We have a really good core set of players that I think you’ll see on Saturday. They’ll come out and play with the passion that our fans deserve.”
Locksley is hoping that a win over the mighty Penn State will help out with recruiting for next season. Until then, he is taking things one game at a time.