COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Maryland (2-1) will host No. 12 Penn State (3-0) Sept. 27 for some Friday night football in College Park between Big Ten foes. And while there’s certainly no love lost between the Terps and Nittany Lions, Maryland head coach Mike Locksley knows his team has a lot of ground to make up before they can call this a rivalry game.

The Terps’ first chance to make progress on their 2-39-1 all-time record against Penn State is this week in their Big Ten opener, and they’re happy to have the opportunity to play their second ranked opponent this season at home.

“We’ve got some work to do for us to be able to call it a rivalry,” Locksley said Wednesday. “You can’t wish and make a game a rivalry. The only way it gets to that point is by competing and having success. So I wouldn’t say that it’s a rivalry yet because we haven’t been consistent enough or won enough for us to even get to that point.

“Obviously, with their location and being a school that comes to the DMV for recruiting, I do feel as though we both compete for the same kind of players and I think there’s something to be said when the team that executes the best, plays the best, and wins the game usually has the bragging rights. So we’re fortunate that we get them here at home — at The Shell, and we’re excited about the opportunity. They’re a ranked program and we’re working toward having the type of program that they have.”

Although the series between these two teams has been lopsided on the field, the fact that they’re both flagship universities of bordering states and Locksley used to coach on the same Maryland staff as Penn State head coach James Franklin under Ralph Friedgen also adds to the allure of this matchup.

However, Locksley downplayed that aspect of this game, as well, and doesn’t see his prior relationship with Franklin affecting anything that happens on the field Friday night.

“We both are guys that grew up in this program here and both having coached under Coach Friedgen, but we do have a cordial relationship,” Locksley said.

Maryland is coming off of a bye week that gave the Terps more time to prepare for the Nittany Lions than they would for a typical opponent.

The Terps have noticed an uptick in urgency in practices since their loss to Temple, and Maryland is hoping that translates into better results on the field than they had in their last time out.

“Competition was the one thing that kind of [increased] during the week, and I think the intensity of practice definitely [increased] as well,” Terps wide receiver Brian Cobbs said.

The extra time to prepare also allowed the Terps’ coaching staff to review more film on Penn State, which revealed some “challenges” Maryland will have to address.

“We want to find a way to neutralize — we call them “game plan wreckers” — the guys that have the ability to wreck your game plan,” Locksley said.

The Terps’ lead man pointed to Penn State wide receiver KJ Hamler as one of those guys.

“They’ve got dynamic skill at the receiver position. No. 1 [KJ Hamler] is a big-time player for them,” Locksley said. “Hamler also serves as a returner, so in the kicking game we have to do a great job in making sure we can contain him.”

Stopping Hamler and other playmaking wideouts such as 6-foot-4, 230-pound Justin Shorter starts with neutralizing the Nittany Lions quarterback, Sean Clifford.

“I think it all starts with the quarterback [Sean] Clifford. He’s a guy that can beat you with his arm and his legs; he’s made plays where I’ve seen him run away from the defense as a ball carrier, but also has thrown the ball really well. He has the ability to pull the ball down and run and has the athleticism to do some of the things that they’ve done on offense when they had Trace McSorley. And he also can make all of the throws, so we’ve got to affect the quarterback, I think, by making sure we mix up our coverages and keep them off balance with when we pressure and when we don’t.”

Locksley also cited Penn State’s stable of running backs and tight ends that can cause mismatch issues for defenses to worry about, but he knows his only concerns about the Nittany Lions aren’t just on the offensive side of the ball.

“When you look at those guys on defense, I think their front four are very concerning to us with the two inside backers,” Locksley said. “Their front seven is very stout, very athletic and they’ve got a lot of experience when you look back on the backend with the secondary as well.”

Coming off of his worst performance of the season so far in the loss against Temple, Terps quarterback Josh Jackson is looking to have a bounce-back week, but expects some stiff competition from the Penn State defense.

“I think they’re going to execute, blitz you, and play sound defense,” Jackson said.

Jackson is just one of a handful of Terps grad-transfers who have come to Maryland after playing in some big-time college football games with other programs. Outside linebacker Shaq Smith had plenty of such games during his time at Clemson and is helping his teammates block out the noise heading into Friday night’s game.

“It’s good to be in those types of environments,” Smith said. “I’ve played in a lot of those games and the biggest thing I can take away from playing in a lot of those games is just trying to focus on the assignment. Because it’s only going to be a big game if we let it be a big game. If we go out there and roll over, it’s not going to be a big game any more. Just mostly this week we’ve been trying to stay locked in and try to block out all of the outside noise and stay locked in to what we need to do to go out here and be successful.”

Kickoff in College Park between Maryland and Penn State is set for 8 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast on the Maryland Sports Radio Network and televised on Fox Sports 1.