Penn State Football: Maryland's Randy Edsall Wants to Play Penn State, Why?

It may have worked for Pittsburgh head coach Todd Graham, but Maryland's Randy Edsall may have a more difficult time getting his wish granted.

Graham, while on Penn State's campus to discuss high school football and safety during a media event alongside Penn State's Joe Paterno and Temple's Steve Addazio, said to reporters that he would like to see Pittsburgh and Penn State play in football once again. As fortune would have it, Penn State had a scheduling opening, and they filled it in with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017. Now, Maryland's new head coach is hoping to get in on the game.

"I think it would be good for the region and for both programs," Edsall said to the York Dispatch Monday during an appearance in York, Pennsylvania for a charity golf tournament. "Kevin Anderson, my athletic director, he and I have talked and that's something we want to do, but we're not going to play two for one (two games at Penn State for every one at Maryland). If they want to play us in a one for one and have an extended series, we would love to do that."

Penn State and Maryland have played many times throughout their respective histories, but the Terps have managed just one win in 37 meetings dating between 1917 and 1993. The Terrapins have scored more than 20 points in just five of those meetings.The last two times the two schools played, Penn State won by a margin of 119-20, and Penn State scored at least 47 points in each of the three most recent meetings.

So why the urgency in trying to get this series renewed?

The answer lies in recruiting.

Edsall is taking over at Maryland after a somewhat successful stint at Connecticut, where he helped the Huskies transition from the FCS to the BCS. If he is to be successful, he needs to find ways to ensure Maryland will win recruiting battles in his own state, which has been raided by Penn State for years, and start breaking in to Pennsylvania.

"The biggest thing we want to do is keep the young men (potential recruits) home. I consider this area (York County) part of our home area, but I'm also talking about Maryland, D.C. and northern Virginia," Edsall said to the York Dispatch.

The best way to grab recruits out of Pennsylvania near the Mason-Dixon Line is to play some of the top programs north of the border. The Terps will be playing West Virginia in Baltimore in 2013 and they will face ACC opponent Virginia Tech there in 2014. If Maryland wants to entice the Nittany Lions to play another series, they may need to try and set-up a game in Baltimore. Edsall does not want to agree to an imbalanced schedule with Penn State, but if they can play a game in Baltimore the odds of getting the two old opponents back together could increase.

However, it's still a long shot.

Kevin McGuire is the national college football writer for Examiner.com. Follow his college football discussion on Twitter    @KevinOnCFB.