Maryland football and Rutgers are reportedly talking about making a rivalry trophy

Maryland football and Rutgers have had “preliminary discussions” about creating a rivalry trophy for the annual game between the teams, Rutgers athletic director Pat Hobbs and head coach Chris Ash told NJ Advance Media.

There’s nothing close to concrete yet here.

"Chris and I have talked about it, and we've had initial conversations with Maryland," Hobbs said. "We want to do everything we can to promote all of our games across the Big Ten.

"But Maryland is obviously a unique opportunity given its location, and so if we can do so if we can do some fun things around that and build a rivalry, I think it's important -- and we'll continue to have those conversations."

This is some unexpected news, as most notions of a “rivalry” with Maryland in the Big Ten pointed to Penn State after 2014’s handshake incident, but there really hasn’t been too much to talk about since then.

DJ Durkin didn’t have much to say on the matter Tuesday at Big Ten media days, according to The Baltimore Sun’s Daniel Gallen.

Rutgers was the only Big Ten team Maryland beat in 2015, as the Terps stormed back to claim a 46-41 victory in what was maybe their most exciting game of the season. This was almost the direct opposite of the Scarlet Knights’ victory in College Park the season prior. The two teams will reportedly play their 2017 matchup in Yankee Stadium.

For all the cynicism (some rightly deserved) for making a rivalry trophy for the two teams at the bottom of the Big Ten East, it might be nice for the two programs to have something to play for at the end of the season each year.

Update: Maryland linebacker Jermaine Carter Jr. listed Penn State as his favorite rivalry game in this rapid-fire Q&A, clearly killing any and all possible hopes of a Maryland-Rutgers rivalry now and forever.