The last time that Maryland head football coach Mike Locksley lined up across the field from first-year Virginia Tech coach James Franklin was when the latter was the head coach at Penn State. That was two short years ago at the end of the regular season, and the Nittany Lions were looking to cement a spot in the new 12-team College Football Playoff.
However, in this day and age of the CFP, it's not just about wins and losses, but also style points. As the clock was winding down, former Nittany Lions QB Beau Pribula threw a garbage-time touchdown pass to current Hokies wide receiver Tyseer Denmark. That didn't sit well with Locksley after the game.
That began a back-and-forth between the two head coaches and for the first time since that matchup, the two will go head-to-head. David Hale of ESPN had a take on the game and at the end of it, well, he took a subtle shot at the Terrapins.
ESPN takes a subtle shot at Maryland ahead of Virginia Tech showdown
Hale took a look at some of the biggest games of the weekend, and he came across the Virginia Tech/Maryland game, and let's just say that he couldn't resist taking a shot at Maryland when discussing the beef between Locksley and Franklin after the last matchup in 2024.
"Maryland head coach Mike Locksley might have a little revenge on his mind, though. The last time the Terps faced off against Franklin, he ran up the score with a TD pass on the final play of a 44-7 blowout. That goes against a long-understood unwritten rule of college football that nobody gets to embarrass Maryland on the field other than Maryland,'' wrote Hale.
Ouch. That hurts. However, he's not wrong. Since joining the Big Ten, Maryland has been a punching bag at the basement of the standings and Locksley is in a make it or break it season. Another losing season, and he might not see 2027. Maryland never should have left the ACC.
Instead, they are winning fewer than six games a season and getting sour grapes with programs that are trying to win National Championships, while the Terps are content with ending their season on Thanksgiving Weekend every year. A win over Virginia Tech would go a long way toward securing Locksley's job after this year, but there is no doubt that there will still be some anger between the two when the ball is kicked off at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
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