Overlooked, underestimated, and underrated.

Those three words come to mind when I think about Penn State redshirt junior Trace McSorley. Heisman candidate Saquon Barkley may be the headliner for the Nittany Lions and their best player, but McSorley is in my opinion the team’s driving force.

When McSorley plays well, Penn State is most likely on track for a “W” and given the Nittany Lions offensive line struggles once again this season he’s put together his second consecutive impressive season. So far this season, McSorley has thrown for 2,991 yards with 24 touchdowns and eight interceptions. His completion percentage has improved almost eight points from a season ago from 57 percent to 65 percent. Perhaps McSorley’s most impressive statistic — not just this season — but in his career is that he’s thrown a touchdown pass in 26 straight games, which is second among current players to Heisman-favorite Baker Mayfield.

McSorley has been able to get it done on the ground as well this season, rushing for 10 touchdowns. Simply put, McSorley is a gamer and there are many times when his creativity and grit help put Penn State in position to win football games. I just think many times he doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

In his career, with one more year of eligibility remaining, McSorley has thrown for 55 touchdowns and 16 interceptions.

“He’s (Trace McSorley) gaining a lot of confidence. The players have a lot of confidence in him. So do the coaches. It’s not like I can pinpoint and say, ‘this one thing.’ He didn’t really have any glaring weaknesses on the front end. That’s kind of who he is,” said Penn State head coach James Franklin. “He’s a winner. He’s athletic. He’s smart. He’s savvy. He’s tough.

“He throws it probably a lot better than people give him credit for. He’s just kind of gradually gotten better in each one of those areas because he comes to work every single day with a great attitude and prepares.”

Last week, Penn State took care of business against Nebraska in a high-scoring affair 56-44 to finish the season undefeated at home for the second consecutive season. The Nittany Lions were up 42-10 at the half and the Cornhuskers scored 20 points in the fourth quarter against Penn State’s second string defense, which made the score more respectable than it actually was.

This week, Penn State (9-2, 6-2 Big Ten) will travel to Maryland (3:30 ET, BTN) to face off with the Terrapins (4-7, 2-6 Big Ten) in the regular season finale. The first match-up to look at in this one is the struggling Maryland defense trying to defend against the always explosive Nittany Lions offense.

The Terps are giving up over 400 yards of total offense per game and just about 35 points per game. In fact, in six of its last seven games Maryland has given up 31-plus points per game. That does not bode well for Maryland against a Penn State offense that is averaging almost 450 yards of total offense and just under 40 points per game.

Once again this week, the Penn State rushing attack will have the opportunity to have success running to football. The Nittany Lions rushed for 263 yards at 7.5 yards per carry last week against Nebraska. Barkley was also able to get back on track after three consecutive lackluster performances, rushing for 158 yards and three scores at almost 10 yards per carry.

“Whenever we’re able to be balanced, run the ball, get Trace involved in the running game, it helps our protection, it helps our throwing game, and we’re difficult.,” said Franklin. “That’s where I think we scored 56 points or something like that. You’re not really going to do that being one-dimensional, and we weren’t on Saturday. That’s when we’re at our best. We need to take that, build on it for our confidence.”

On the flip side, the Penn State defense will need to do its best to contain the Maryland rushing attack. Terrapins running back Ty Johnson and Lorenzo Harrison are both hard-running and break a lot of tackles and are very capable of controlling the clock with their running style. On the road, if you let a team get their run game going things could start to snowball quickly, so bottling up those two will be vital.

Johnson leads the Terps, as he’s rushed for 805 yards and five scores, while Harrison has rushed for 562 yards and three touchdowns. Maryland averages 165 yards per game on the ground and Penn State gives up just 118.7 rushing yards per game.

Lastly, the Penn State passing game should have a nice date through the air once again this week. The Nittany Lions passing attack is one of the most diverse in all of the country. Barkley out of the backfield, Mackey award finalist Mike Gesicki at tight end, veteran slot receiver DaSean Hamilton, and 6-4 220-pound outside target Juwan Johnson have all been impressive this season. In fact, Penn State is one of only two teams in all of FBS to have four players with 40-plus catches.

The Nittany Lions are averaging 289.3 passing yards per game, while Maryland is giving up almost 230 yards per game through the air.

Las Vegas has Penn State as a 22-point favorite. I think the Nittany Lions get that done this week.

Penn State’s explosive offense coupled with Maryland’s struggles on defense will be the difference in this one. I think both McSorley and Barkley will have big games and the Nittany Lions defense will force two-plus turnovers, while limiting Maryland in the run game.

My pick is Penn State 41, Maryland 17.