As a longtime Maryland football fan — going back to the glory days when the team’s punter was considered one of the team’s “most potent defensive weapons” — I can tell you that Terps fans have long hated the team’s weak scheduling. In the last two years, when the Terps added Rutgers and Cal to the schedule, it seemed like a rare breath of legitimacy for the team.
And then head coach Ralph Friedgen has to go and say something like this:
Terps coach Ralph Friedgen said today that ACC coaches had discussed the possibility during spring meetings of adding a ninth conference game to the schedule and dropping one of the four non-conference games.
But the coach said the proposal was unpopular. ACC coaches like the flexibility of scheduling winnable non-conference opponents so they get enough wins to be bowl-eligible.
“Coaches were not for that because it would knock a lot of us out of bowl games,” Friedgen said.
Among recent Maryland cupcakes on the schedule: Delaware, William & Mary and Middle Tennessee State, who the Terps actually lost to this year. And around the ACC in 2008: Jacksonville State, Charleston Southern, James Madison, the Citadel, Rhode Island and Duke.
Tough to get any national respect with opponents like that. But when the goal is the blue turf of Boise’s Humanitarian Bowl1., all that matters is the W and not the score or opponent (say, Georgia Tech over Gardner Webb, 10-7).
1. Post-season footnote: Funny how it ended up playing out exactly like that.