Virginia Tech’s 44-21 win over Old Dominion on Saturday kept the Hokies unbeaten at 2-0, but it also served as a tune-up for a trip that carries extra weight for James Franklin. This week’s game at Maryland sends Franklin into familiar territory, and not just because he knows the opponent well.
Franklin spent 2014-25 at Penn State, and his teams regularly handled the Terrapins. The Nittany Lions went 9-2 against Maryland during that stretch, with six of those wins coming by 30 points or more.
Maryland’s only victories in that span came in 2014 and 2020. The recent run was especially lopsided: Penn State won the last four meetings 31-14, 30-0, 51-15 and 44-7.
There were also the extremes - a 66-3 blowout in 2017 and a 59-0 shutout in 2019.
That 44-7 win in 2024 brought the Maryland sideline to a boil. As the teams shook hands afterward, Mike Locksley confronted Franklin, angry over Penn State throwing a touchdown pass on the final play. The quarterback on that snap, Beau Pribula, is now the starter at the University of Virginia, while the receiver, Tyseer Denmark, is now a Hokie.
Locksley didn’t hide his frustration.
“It was bulls--, is what it was,” Locksley said about the final play, per Adam Rittenberg of ESPN. “I respect the game.
I’ve got a lot of respect for James, his program. I think it was bulls---.”
Franklin fired back with his own explanation.
“Your 1s [starters] are in the game, you were trying to score, we’re trying to score,” Franklin responded. “On top of that, you’re playing Cover 0.
Play Cover 2. And on top of that, there’s also a change in college football.
We are trying to play as long as we can, make the playoffs, and be seeded as high as possible, and scoring as many points and a point differential matters. All that matters.
If you don’t get that, it’s really not my problem.”
He also pointed out that his “3s and 4s” were on the field, and Maryland’s starters still couldn’t stop them.
That was the last time the programs met, which makes this week’s matchup a little more interesting if only because of what happened the last time emotions spilled over.
Franklin’s connection to Maryland goes deeper than that sideline dustup. He was on the Terrapins’ staff from 2000-05 as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator.
When Ralph Friedgen arrived in 2001, Franklin was one of just two assistants he kept. The other was Locksley, and the two spent three seasons together on the same Maryland staff.
Franklin left for the Green Bay Packers in 2005, then went to Kansas State in 2006. He returned to College Park in 2008 as Friedgen’s offensive coordinator, assistant head coach and head coach-in-waiting. But a change in athletic directors threw that arrangement into doubt, and Franklin ended up taking the Vanderbilt job instead.
On Monday, Franklin spoke favorably about his time at Maryland. Still, the history is impossible to ignore.
Games against the Terps have long carried a little extra meaning for him, and the old head-coach-in-waiting situation clearly lingered. He has been making Maryland pay ever since.
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