“The King of Queens” has found a home in College Park.

Kevin James, the actor of the aforementioned sitcom aired by CBS from 1998 to 2007, has become the faceof a meme that surged in popularity on social media during the summer. And his Q-rating among Maryland fans has only grown as administrators in the school’s athletic department have been displaying his meme during football games at SECU Stadium.

Outlets such as USA Today’s For The Win and The Comeback have published articles on the Terps’ usage of the image of James, who is wearing a green flannel shirt and smirking/shrugging at the camera. The graphic — broadcast on one of two giant video screens when opposing kickers line up for field goal and extra point attempts — has even caught the attention of several players who are usually more focused on what is occurring on the field rather than off it.

“I’ve noticed it,” redshirt sophomore running back Roman Hemby said. “They put it on the Jumbotron on both ends of the field.”

“It took me by surprise,” senior safety Beau Brade said. “I thought it was funny.”

The catalyst behind the James meme is Josh Clayton, an assistant athletic director who is director of TerpVision and video operations. A former long snapper at Eastern Washington at the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision level, he has worked with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns, the Arena Football League’s Spokane Shock and the Spokane Empire Indoor Football League.

During his time with the Shock, Clayton came up with the idea of trying to unnerve opposing kickers during their pregame warm-ups. He and his team cobbled together a 20-minute video of AFL and NFL kickers missing field goal and extra point attempts that included a snippet from “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” when the main character played by Jim Carrey visited the family home of fictional Miami Dolphins kicker Ray Finkle, who missed a field goal at the end of Super Bowl XVII that cost the Dolphins the championship and ended his career.

“The thought was, ‘There’s no free lunch,’” Clayton said of the video’s premise. “We’re not trying to be mean. But when you’re pacing off your steps and you look up and you see it up there, at least it will throw you off just a little bit and maybe everybody in the stands thinks it’s funny.”

After joining Maryland in 2016, Clayton and his team tried to spook kickers again. When the Big Ten warned the school about using a graphic that included the color yellow that was too similar to the field goal posts, Clayton and his colleagues got creative.

They darkened the yellow slightly to more of a gold color, incorporated the top half of Testudo’s head peering down at the kicker, added an image of Otto the caddie from “Happy Gilmore,” and wrote the sentence, “Per NCAA rule ‘9-2-1-B-5,’ please do not consider this a distraction.” That rule states, “Persons subject to the rules, including bands, video/audio/lighting systems operators, shall not create any noise or distraction that prohibits a team from hearing its signals or obstructs play.”

The video boards are precious — and a precious tool — to Clayton.

“I’ve got three kids, but it’s one of my shared kids,” he said. “When you walk into the stadium, of course it’s going to catch your eye. So using that for game day entertainment and interaction with the fans, it’s 120 feet wide and 50 feet tall. So we can use it to our advantage. It’s a tool in the mini tool belt.”

The Terps aren’t the only ones who have employed the video screens to sidetrack kickers. In 2013, Minnesota had the “Dramatic Gopher,” a red-eyed rodent staring down at the field. In 2020, Oklahoma State displayed yellow vertical lines on the board. And Marshall has begun using an image of a serious-looking Michael Scott from “The Office” with the word “No” at the bottom of the screen.

Earlier in the fall, Clayton and his team were brainstorming ideas when someone mentioned the James meme, which is intended to portray a cheeky confidence or a sense of mischief, according to the website Know Your Meme. A big “King of Queens” fan himself, Clayton was sold.

“It’s not offensive, and we don’t want to offend anybody,” he said. “But hopefully in 10 years, the kicker is telling this story to his kids, ‘So at Maryland, I’m lining up for a 35-yard field goal, and there’s Kevin James’ face!’”

Clayton and his colleagues even have a nickname for their graphics of distraction: “Cundif” after former NFL kicker Billy Cundiff, who is widely known among Ravens fans for pushing wide left a 32-yard field goal with 11 seconds left that would have tied the 2011 AFC championship game against the New England Patriots.

Considering his history as a long snapper, Clayton might be sympathetic to the pressures facing kickers. Not so.

“It’s been fun,” he said. “All within the rules and all within that goal of creating a home-field advantage for our team.”

Terps redshirt sophomore kicker Jack Howes acknowledged that he and his peers are sticklers for routine. He said he can’t recall a memorable distraction at an opposing stadium, but acknowledged that he would have to think twice if he was an opponent visiting SECU Stadium.

“Kickers will definitely look around the stadium figuring out their lines of sight for where they want to aim, and it’s usually the scoreboard, something that’s not Kevin James on the scoreboard,” he said with a smile. “So when you come in and you see that, it’s probably kind of funny, you kind of take a step back and maybe chuckle at it.”

So far, opposing kickers seem unperturbed by the James meme. They have converted 14 of 15 field goal and extra point tries in College Park with the lone miss coming on a 45-yard attempt by Illinois’ Caleb Griffin. But Griffin redeemed himself when he booted a 43-yard try through the uprights with no time remaining to propel the Fighting Illini to a 27-24 win Oct. 14.

But that won’t stop Maryland players from wishing for kicks that stray outside the goal posts or short of the target.

“I just hope the opposing kicker looks at it and misses the kick,” said Hemby, an Edgewood resident and John Carroll graduate. “That’s pretty much my only thing when I see it.”

Added Brade, a Clarksville resident and River Hill graduate: “If I was a kicker, I would probably miss.”

Clayton said he and his team have a few ideas cooked up for Saturday’s game against No. 11 Penn State and then the home finale on Nov. 18 against No. 2 Michigan. But he promised not to touch the sign-stealing controversy surrounding the Wolverines.

“I’m not that crafty,” he quipped.

No. 11 Penn State (7-1, 4-1 Big Ten) at Maryland (5-3, 2-3)

Saturday, 3:30 p.m.

TV: Fox

Radio: 105.7 FM

Outlook: When Saturday’s game kicks off, Maryland will have gone 35 days since enjoying its last win — a 44-17 victory over Indiana on Sept. 30. The team went winless in three games in October, dropping coach Mike Locksley’s record in that month to 6-11 since 2019. November hasn’t been much better as the Terps have gone 3-11 during Locksley’s tenure. The team is still searching for that elusive sixth win to become eligible for a bowl and is in position to defeat a top-10 opponent for the first time since knocking off then-No. 8 Boston College, 42-35, on Nov. 10, 2007. Penn State has dominated the all-time series, amassing a 42-3-1 record against Maryland. The Nittany Lions haven’t lost to an unranked team since Oct. 23, 2021, when they fell to Illinois, 20-18, in nine overtimes.

Key for Maryland: The defense ranks second in the Big Ten in sacks with 26. The leader? Penn State with 32. The Terps just gave up six sacks to Northwestern, which had only one sack in its first four conference games. Locksley called screen plays “antivirus for pressure.” Running back Roman Hemby said he and his teammates know they will have to keep the pressure at bay for quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa. “It’s just going to be putting a body on body this week and living up to the standards we try to set for ourselves,” he said.

Key for Penn State: As impressive as the team has been, sophomore quarterback Drew Allar has been more of a game manager than a catalyst. He ranks sixth in the Big Ten in passing yards per game (206.9) and threw one or zero touchdowns in half of his eight starts. Locksley noted the Nittany Lions rushed for 249 yards and two touchdowns in last year’s 30-0 victory. “I would imagine they’re going to try to establish the run,” he said. “Our goal will be to take away the run on the defensive side of the ball.”

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