Military Bowl 2010: Maryland Football Got Hosed
The Washington Post has the scoop. Apparently, Maryland and East Carolina in the Military Bowl Dec. 29 is a done deal. The game will happen at slop bucket, er, venerable Robert F. Kennedy Stadium in the nation's capital.
A lot of the players and coaches were on record as expecting a "bigger bowl" in a "warmer climate." They expected a "fair shake" and all that. Babes in the woods, right?
Naivete aside, at 8-4 (5-3 in the ACC) Maryland deserved better. And this is nothing whatsoever against the Military Bowl, which is a great event that I am excited to attend. It's just that it is pretty galling to see 7-5, 4-4 North Carolina selected for the more-presitgious Music City Bowl over the Terps, or N.C. State -- who the Terps just beat a week and a half ago -- getting tapped for the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando.
What else can you do except utter the same old refrain: the system just doesn't work. It is just another sign of the bowl system's dysfunction that attendance projections are weighted higher than wins. I guess if the bowls actually meant something, that practice might change.
But enough preaching. The 6-6 Pirates look to be a beatable opponent, and hey, a bowl win on national TV is a bowl win on national TV. Still, ECU won't be a pushover—they're seventh in the nation in passing yards with 319 per game. That's not a good sign for Maryland's inconsistent secondary.
Here's hoping the Terps can take of business on the 29th. It would go a long way toward proving certain people made the wrong decisions.
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