Okay, in case you haven’t heard, the Terps are likely headed to the Humanitarian Bowl on Dec. 30 to play Nevada. However, nothing is set in the ACC-stone yet. Only Georgia Tech and Clemson have officially accepted bowl invitations, to the Chik-fil-A and Gator bowls, respectively.
It’s been speculated that the Champs Sports Bowl, located in Orlanda, Fla., will snatch up nearby Florida State for what might be coach Bobby Bowden’s final game. After that it’s assumed that the Music City Bowl will invite whichever team loses in the ACC Championship and that the Meineke Car Care Bowl, located in Charlotte, N.C., would then invite North Carolina. It’s highly unlikely the Emerald Bowl would invite the Terps two years in a row, which leaves the Humanitarian and EagleBank bowls. The Washington-based EagleBank bowl would love to have the Terps play Navy at RFK Stadium, but the game is held on Dec. 20, the last day of university finals. And since Ball State has decided to not play in the Humanitarian Bowl, that opens the door for the Terps to play in Boise, Idaho. Good thing too, because according to that scenario, the other doors were closing fast.
But…Eric Prisbell of the Washington Post reported this morning that the Terps are still holding out hope that the Meineke Car Care Bowl could invite them and set up a Maryland-West Virginia rivalry bowl game. For that to happen, North Carolina would need to be taken off the board by the Music City Bowl. That would only happen if the Champs Sports Bowl selected the loser of the conference championship, which would reportedly only happen if the losing team was Virginia Tech. If all that happens, Maryland officials think the Meineke Car Care Bowl could pass over Florida State in favor of a Terps-Mountaineers matchup.
Got that? Not really? It’s okay, I don’t much understand it either. Just know: it looks like the Terps are going to Boise to play on the blue field. But…they could still end up in Charlotte playing the Mountaineers. Hmm, I wonder which one Terp fans would like more…
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Don’t forget that the ACC has 10 eligible bowl teams and nine slots (counting the BCS Orange Bowl). So, the Terps could wind up going to a bowl that the ACC is not associated with, say, the Independence Bowl.
I use them as an example because the SEC, which also has nine slots counting the BCS Sugar Bowl, has only eight bowl-eligible teams.
Rogers, what you say about Maryland going to a non ACC associated bowl basically can’t happen because NC state is 6-6 and all teams with a winning record (in the ACC’s case the other 9 teams) must be selected ahead of a 6-6 team. Therefore all 9 other teams will be slotted into the 9 ACC associated bowls and NC State will be the odd team out.