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Champs Bowl Liveblog: First Quarter

Posted: Dec 29th 2006 8:44PM ET by Brian Cook (RSS feed)
Filed under: Maryland Football, ACC, Big 10, Bowl Games, Purdue Football

0 COMMENTS

8:04 PM. With the Independence Bowl a delightful shootout between Houston and South Carolina, ESPN helpfully notes that the actual kickoff of the Tangerine Bowl is at 8:12, futher confirming that Rule 3-2-5e is basically bullcrap, since if TV folks were so concerned about the length of games they could, you know, kickoff on time.

In the meantime: woo! Coachgut!

8:20 PM. We join the game just in time to see Greg Orton reel in a hugely long completion. Maguire immediately bitches about offensive pass interference and Griese mocks him for it. Ah, Maguire.

Orton hit again for a long gainer. Maryland is looking like the miraculous disaster zone it is.

Weird: Boomer Esiason is doing the stupid player introductions. A jarring contrast between Curtis Painter's typical athlete mumbling and Esiason's announcer-guy schtick.

Meanwhile, Purdue stalls near the redzone thanks to a Selwyn Lymon drop. It's because he put his eye out! Ensuing makeable field goal is shanked; Nessler compares it to halftime field-goal-for-dollars exhibitions. Ladies and gentlemen, the Tangerine Bowl!

8:28 PM. Oh god, these defenses are everything they were cracked up to... uh... not be. Purdue appears to be playing without linebackers. They do manage to contain the option decently well.

Have I mentioned that Sportscenter 30 at 30 is stupid? I have? Okay.

Two defenders plus three wide receivers == very long WR screen. Purdue ceding yards in chunks large enough to fit in the ponderous belly of Ralph Friedgen.

AWESOME! Anthony Spencer introduces the Purdue defense and flashes a haircut that is basically Kid -- Maryland touchdown -- from Kid 'n' Play if he had taken a hedgetrimmer and sliced all but an inch or two off. So, yeah: Maryland 7-0. Have I mentioned Anthony Spencer's hair?

8:36 PM. This is the "Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium." When did we start thinking "Bowl" was not a sufficient noun here?

Purdue starts out its next drive with two penalties. On first and 23, Painter is sent on a QB draw(!). A second down WR screen sets up a makeable third and nine. Painter wildly overthrows an open TE, and it's punting time. Now Purdue's looking like the disaster team here.

8:46 PM. Hollenbach stands in and rifles a first down, then gets wasted. He looks shaken as he gets up... will it affect his performance? Next play is a three-yard run, and so is the next. Last few minutes have been all about Hollenbach's major, mechanical engineering... final play of the quarter is a slant that converts the third down and gets Maryland in the redzone. After one, it's Maryland 7-0 and driving. Weird. The other Big Ten team, Minnesota, playing right now and Purdue have swapped expected scores.

Champs Bowl Preview: What's A Champs?

Posted: Dec 29th 2006 6:33PM ET by Brian Cook (RSS feed)
Filed under: Maryland Football, ACC, Big 10, Bowl Games, Purdue Football

1 COMMENT

Vitals:
Purdue (8-5, 5-3 Big Ten) vs. Maryland (8-4, 5-3 ACC)
December 29, 8 PM Eastern, ESPN

Spread:
Pick 'Em.

How Purdue Got Here:

Mmmmm creamy nougat. Purdue benefited from a down year in the Big Ten and a fortuitous schedule rotation in the Big Ten, sliding by a wide array of poo teams: 17-15 over MSU, 38-31 in OT over Miami(Ohio) 38-28 over Ball State, narrow-ish wins against Indiana and Illinois. Against good competition (for a given definition of "good"), Purdue got smoked. They lost by two touchdowns to ND and 30 points to Iowa. Against the two tough defenses they faced, Penn State and Wisconsin, Purdue managed a whopping three points.

So the Boilers are not an ominous team. They do have a lot of talent at wide receiver: senior Dorien Bryant and sophomores Greg Orton and Selwyn Lymon are a hell of a trio, and don't forget about TE Dustin Keller. Curtis Painter is erratic with his accuracy and decision making, but decent, and the offensive line is good. The problem is the defense, which is star DE Anthony Spencer and ten retards.

How Maryland Got Here:

A midseason surge-like substance of ugly wins over opponents bewildered and humiliated that Maryland was in the game with them provided them enough wins to squeeze into a decent bowl. But no one can really tell you how. The Terps are a statistical horror: 77th in passing, 82nd in rushing, 96th in total offense, 49th in pass defense, 102nd in rush defense, 96th in total defense, and 102nd in turnover margin. And this is an 8-4 team! Your guess is as good as mine.

What You Absolutely Have To Know About Purdue:

Coach Joe Tiller and Wilford Brimley are products of a hideous WWII cloning experiment.

What You Absolutely Have To Know About Maryland:

They protect this house: 5-1.

Score Prediction:
This bowl game promises to be a fun one with receivers darting untouched into endzones from beginning to end. Purdue would probably be 5-7 against Maryland's schedule, but Maryland should be 5-7 anyway. As mentioned, they're a statistical horror. So it'll be close, but one team has a functional offense and a couple of guys who can skate through befuddled secondaries, and that's Purdue. Sure, the Boilers haven't been able to crack even moderately difficult defenses... but do you see one in this game? Boilers 35-31.

What You Absolutely Have To Know About This Bowl Game:

These are the worst eight-win BCS teams in the country.

Miscellaneous:

-Selwyn Lymon put his eye out playing with a pellet gun earlier this year.

-This game might have the worst naming history of all bowls. It used to be the Blockbuster Bowl until the mocking irony of the thing became to overwhelming, then it morphed into the Carquest Bowl, the MicronPC Bowl, and the MicronPC.com Bowl before taking an unexpectedly classy detour for three years as the Tangerine Bowl before settling on its current corporate monstrosity.

ACC Bowl Selection Review

Posted: Dec 3rd 2006 11:20PM ET by Adam Rank (RSS feed)
Filed under: Boston College Football, Clemson Football, Florida State Football, Georgia Tech Football, Maryland Football, Miami Football, NC State Football, UNC Football, Virginia Football, Virginia Tech Football, ACC, Bowl Games, Wake Forest Football

2 COMMENTS

After about the half way point of the season, I have attempted to track probable ACC football team bowl destinations. No one really could have predicted the improbable Wake Forest ACC football championship this season. Eight ACC football teams have dreams of one more game and shot at glory. How these schools have gotten to this point has made for good theater in an otherwise down year for the conference overall.

Let's see how the ACC bowl teams got to this point and a first glance prediction of the bowl games.

Orange Bowl - Wake Forest is the ACC Champion, how about that? It has been a season for the ages for the Demon Deacons, with only losses to Virginia Tech and Clemson at home. Expect a closer game than may be expected against Louisville. You do not want to face Wake Forest, after they have had a few weeks to prepare. I never thought I would write that. Go Deacons!
Peach-Fil-A Bowl - Virginia Tech against Georgia should be an entertaining game, but Virginia Tech should win based on having more experienced talent. The Hokies got here after a strong year, arguably the second best in the ACC, with only losses to Georgia Tech and Boston College.
Gator Bowl - Georgia Tech returns to Jacksonville after an anemic offensive performance against Wake Forest. In fact, Tech's last month or so has seen the disappearance of their offense. Expect West Virginia to win against a demoralized Yellow Jacket team.
Champs Sports Bowl - Maryland returns to a bowl for the first time since 2003. Eight of the Terps 12 games have been decided by five points or less. Expect the same type of margin against Purdue, though the winner is anyone's guess.
Music City Bowl - Clemson comes in needing a capstone to a disappointing 1-3 end to a season that started out 7-1. Having more experience and talent than Kentucky, expect a healthy Tiger team to beat the Wildcats.
Meineke Car Care Bowl - Boston College vs Navy in Charlotte, ok. BC has been strong at times, but awful limp against schools like Miami and NC State. Call this game a toss up at this moment.
Emerald Bowl - Florida State, in San Francisco in the House that Barry Bonds built, where they will share the same sideline with a defensively tough UCLA team high off of beating arch rival USC. Expect UCLA to win at this moment, giving FSU their first losing season in nearly 30 years.
MPC Computers Bowl - Hurricanes playing on the frozen tundra of the blue field of Boise, ID is about as unlikely as Wake Forest playing in the Orange Bowl. Miami obviously has more talent than Nevada. But will the Hurricanes use this game to build towards next year, or will it be one to just forget? Time will tell, but Miami has to want to close the book on this season as quickly as possible.

Terps Get Champs Sports Bowl ... How Exciting

Posted: Dec 3rd 2006 8:10PM ET by Kyle Decker (RSS feed)
Filed under: Maryland Football, ACC

2 COMMENTS

Bowl bids are announced and Maryland will be facing Purdue at the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando on December 29th at 8PM. Although I'm glad that the Terps are going to a bowl, after the loss in the last two games, I started losing interest in what bowl we could go to. The prospect of a BCS bowl or the Gator bowl is exciting, but the Terps are now in a bowl that is muddled in with every other mediocre bowl, all sponsored by every company in existence.

This will be a nice encore after a pretty good season. Much like the Terps, the Boilermakers didn't lose many games that they shouldn't. All but one loss to Penn State were losses to ranked teams. It should make for a good game against two teams that were good, but not great.

I'll have to do a little research on Purdue since I don't know much about the Big 10 team. I'll do that and report back.

Terps fans were all hoping for a shot at the ACC title and a BCS Bowl bid, but those plans fell through. After that, a lesser bowl is not that exciting. However, Maryland hasn't been to a bowl game in a couple years so just getting to a bowl is a step up. It's not what we were hoping for in the height of the season, but it's an extra game in December. And that's something we haven't had in Maryland in awhile.

There's Always Next Year -- Maryland After Thoughts

Posted: Nov 28th 2006 10:54PM ET by Kyle Decker (RSS feed)
Filed under: Maryland Football, ACC

7 COMMENTS

Tough loss on Saturday night. However, with the defense Maryland played against Wake, they didn't deserve to win. They just couldn't get a hold of those misdirection plays. And for crying out loud, if the opposing quarterback is throwing blocks, nail him! Put the fear of God in him! Their poor defense showed up after taking a month off, and that's where the game was lost.

But enough about that game. There's no real need to keep stressing game play when the next game is months away. However, I'm not going to starting talking about a bowl game now, especially because we don't know who the Terps will be playing. I think it's more prudent to see what could happen next year. Obviously, this is all my speculation. Let's take a look.

Offensively, the first thing I think we'll see is the Fridge signing an offensive coordinator. It's just too much work to do two jobs at once. When those jobs are head coach of a national football program and offensive coordinator, it's even rougher. College kids should think about that when holding down a job at a TCBY and an internship during the summers. Supposedly, Friedgen loves to work with young QBs, but honestly, his strong suit was always the running game. Scott McBrien was a good QB, but it took him forever to show that on the field. Sam Hollenbach never really reached his potential. If the new offensive coordinator could help mold these QBs, it would add a nice aspect to the offense.

Terps Play For ACC Title Shot Tonight, Heyward-Bey Might Too

Posted: Nov 25th 2006 4:15PM ET by Kyle Decker (RSS feed)
Filed under: Maryland Football, ACC

1 COMMENT

Tonight's game is possibly the last game of the Terps season -- if they don't win. Last reports were that it's still uncertain if Terp's big offensive playmaker, receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, will play.

I say he plays. He suffered a concussion last week during the last place of the first half against BC, but Coach Friedgen didn't really elaborate. He did say that he hopes he plays and the doctors think he'll be ready. That's all you need. It's all on the doctors. If he gets the green light, he's going to play. Maybe if this were an early game in the season, the Terps would air on the side of caution, but this isn't. It's the last regular season game. If they win this game, they go to the ACC title game. If they lose, the go -- or in this case stay -- home. He'll play.

And let's hope he does. During Friedgen's postgame conference, which you can always watch on FridgeTV.com, he talked about Sam Hollenbach's interception returned for a TD. Fridge didn't fault Hollenbach for the pick but instead, faulted Heyward-Bey's replacement Danny Oquendo. Apparantly it was a poor route and not a poor throw. The coach said that he would hope Sam would make that throw each time.

If that interception is on the receiver, then we need Heyward-Bey back. He and Hollenbach have a good rapport. The other receivers dropped balls in the end zone last week, which I doubt Heyward-Bey would have. He's too important to the passing game to be missing tonight.

Wake Forest is a tough team, so Maryland will need all their weapons to beat them. I expect this to be an exciting game since Maryland has the homefield advantage to even the score. Both teams will be leaving everything on the field since is the last game of their regular season.

I hope that after tonight, I'll have another week to write about before bowl season. Win or go home games are always fun and exciting and often promote high blood pressure. Enjoy the regular season finale, Terp fans. May it not be the last game this year.

Miami 17, BC 14 -- For That I'm Thankful

Posted: Nov 24th 2006 12:05AM ET by Kyle Decker (RSS feed)
Filed under: Maryland Football, ACC

0 COMMENTS

After handing it to Maryland last week, BC couldn't get enough on the Miami defense to win. BC can no longer make it to the ACC title game. The winner of the Maryland Wake Forest game will. Maryland is back in control of their own destiny.

This was a trap game by all means for BC. They scored the big time win against Maryland last week, and they were going against a "poor" Miami team this week. However, Miami has a killer defense, they needed a win for a bowl birth and to help Coker's job security, and they needed that win for Bryan Pata. BC fell for the trap. Terp fans remember their game against Miami. They won with 14 points. That defense doesn't give up much. As you can see by the photo, Maryland is so grateful that Dre Moore is hugging Miami's Javarris James.

Now Maryland needs to gear up for Wake Forest at home, which is officially the biggest game of their year -- a title that I hand out every week. They got a gift from Miami, a gift better than gift certificates, PS3s, or cash. They got the chace for a shot at the ACC Title game. The Terps have something to play for going into this game. It sucks knowing that win or lose, your team won't be making the big game.

Terps, gear up. It's time to put it all on the line. You were given a reprieve; a second chance. Use it and play your ass off in front of the Byrd Stadium faithful. You've got a rematch with Georgia Tech on the line. You've got a chance to restore a program that looked like it was dying last year. Make this game count.

Miami, your Thank You Cards are in the mail.

ACC Championship and Bowl Game Predictions Nov. 23 Update

Posted: Nov 22nd 2006 1:10PM ET by Jason Greer (RSS feed)
Filed under: Boston College Football, Clemson Football, Florida State Football, Georgia Tech Football, Maryland Football, Miami Football, NC State Football, Virginia Football, Virginia Tech Football, ACC, Bowl Games

3 COMMENTS

Well, here we are again, with the ever-changing ACC Bowl and Championship game update. So here is your Thanksgiving edition of the bowl update

ACC Title Game

Coastal - Georgia Tech has made their reservations for Jacksonville. With a win against Georgia, the Yellow Jackets can sew up the best bowl possible in the event of a loss in the ACC title game.

Atlantic - Wake Forest's loss to Virginia Tech last Saturday makes this a little more inter sting, but I still believe that the Demon Deacons have the upper hand against Maryland Saturday to sew up the division. Boston College will need a win vs. Miami to make sure they still have a chance if Wake falls to Maryland.

Bowl Predictions

Orange Bowl - Georgia Tech is just not faltering down the stretch. So at this point, I say the Jackets win the ACC and go to Miami
Peach-Fil-A Bowl - Lots of possibilities here, especially if Georgia Tech loses the ACC title game. The Peach-Fil-A' blog offers plenty of possibilities for ACC teams. Expect either Boston College or Virginia Tech to end up here. Of course, a Wake Forest team could be offset by a well-travel lSEC team like Auburn or Georgia
Gator Bowl - If Clemson beats South Carolina and if Georgia Tech wins the ACC, expect the Tigers to go to Jacksonville on January 1st.
Champs Sports Bowl - seeing how this bowl matches up Big 10 Purdue now, look for the ACC to send either Clemson or Boston College here.
Music City Bowl - Wake Forest could fall this far if they do not make the ACC title game, or if fears about travel size surface
Meinke Car Care Bowl - matching up a team against Navy could be the Maryland Terrapins
Emerald Bowl - Florida State will fall here, even though they are limping badly into the post-season
MPC Computers Bowl - the ACC could come up short on bowl eligible teams this year. If Virginia fails to win against Virginia Tech and if Miami fails to win against Boston College, that is what will happen. Neither team will be favored, though I would give Virginia the nod if either upsets this weekend.

On the outside looking in:

Duke - will play UNC at home this weekend without appearing on all ESPN networks at the same time, unlike basketball
North Carolina - could end year as the third or fourth best Div IA team in the state with a win against Duke
North Carolina State - will play East Carolina Saturday in Raleigh, will riot gear be appropriate?
Virginia and/or Miami - hard year for both, though Virginia is looking better at this moment

The Randy Moss Return Man Award

Posted: Nov 20th 2006 5:10PM ET by Charles Rich (RSS feed)
Filed under: Boston College Football, California Football, Georgia Football, Indiana Football, Maryland Football, NC State Football, Oklahoma State Football, Pittsburgh Football, Tennessee Football, ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Big East, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, Pac 10, SEC, WAC

4 COMMENTS

Yes. That Randy Moss. Joining the luminaries such as Heisman, O'Brien, Butkus, Lombardi, Bednarik, Lott and other greats who were honored with being named for the far too numerous college football awards, is Randy Moss.

The top returner in Division I-A college football as chosen by sports information directors will receive the Randy Moss Return Man Award.
Moss was the leading kick returner in Division I-AA in 1996 when he averaged 34.6 yards per return for Marshall. He has returned two kicks and 18 punts in his nine-year NFL career with Minnesota and Oakland, scoring on a 64-yard punt return for the Vikings in 1999.

"Back in college, I took pride in that," Moss said. "That's something I've always had the passion and love for is being able to catch a kickoff, catch a punt and be able to run it back, because that can make a difference in the game. It can bust a game wide open."

The award was created by Gulf Coast Events and GameDay Consultants, operators of the 2007 North South All-Star Classic. The finalists for the award will be picked Dec. 13 with the winner announced at the North South game Jan. 13.

Do you even need to bother with the jokes. I don't even know where to begin. Really, the only reaction after, "is this a joke?" is to look for something stating that it is parody.

Eighteen semi-finalists have been named.

Ray Baum, Iowa St; Darrell Blackman, North Carolina State; Ross Dickerson, Hawaii; Chris Garrett, Ohio; Jonathan Hefney, Tennessee; Jessie Henderson, Southern Methodist; Mikey Henderson, Georgia; DeSean Jackson, California; Grant Jones, Oklahoma State; Kevin Marion, Wake Forest; Damon Nickson, Middle Tennessee; Ean Randolph, South Florida; Lowell Robinson, Pittsburgh; Jeff Smith, Boston College; Sammie Stroughter, Oregon State; Marcus Thigpen, Indiana; Jeremy Trimble, Army; and Josh Wilson, Maryland.

I've yet to find a quote from a player indicating that it is an honor just to be nominated and put in the same category as Randy Moss.

Maryland Turnovers Early Kill Any Shot of Winning

Posted: Nov 18th 2006 4:12PM ET by Kyle Decker (RSS feed)
Filed under: Maryland Football, ACC

0 COMMENTS

This game was really over from the first Maryland fumble returned for a TD. The second one on the very next drive just locked it away. That turnover free ball Maryland was playing during their wins failed to make an appearance on a day there were two fumbles returned for TDs, one interception returned for a TD, and another interception in BC's end zone that took away any chance for points for Maryland.

The defense allowed two passing TDs to BC, but I'm not going to really focus on that. It was 14-0 all on the offense before the defense gave up points. When there were drives when the defense gave the offense a chance, the offense just took that chance and threw it away. Teams can't win on the road with four turnovers, especially when three of them result in points -- 21 points. You take away those three scores, and it's a close game. That's it right there. BC played a great game. I'm not taking anything away from them. But if Maryland was more careful with the ball, it would have been a more exciting game for everyone.

The loss of Darrius Heyward-Bey during the very last play of the second quarter hurt as well. I'm not saying that the Terps would have mounted that insurmountable comeback with Darrius in the line-up, but four dropped passes in the end-zone from Isiah Williams, Danny Oquendo, and Nolan Carroll showed us what an asset Heyward-Bey really is. Those passes should have been caught and it could at least have given us a more exciting game towards the end. Hollenbach was making perfect throws in the end zond, save the interception obviously. Those were catches I think Darrius would have made.