College Football Corner-- bowled under...

The beauty of the college football regular season is each week there are tests and everything (in theory) is on the line for division, conference or national standing. Fast-forward to the Bowl season when there's a whole lot of stuff before a title game delayed by a month.

Maryland ripped East Carolina in the Military Bowl 51-20 thanks to a big-play offense and a more than cooperative Pirate defense (ECU ranked 118th in points allowed--118th!). Nice way to send coach Ralph Friedgen out in style (more on the musical coaching chairs later). Terrapin Triumphs-- Da'Rell Scott went out in style with 200 yards rushing and two touchdowns (61 and 91 yards)... and freshman DJ Adams' four touchdowns are a nice omen for the future. Danny O'Brien didn't shine but played a smart game...and the defense held one of the most explosive offenses (top 20 in scoring) in check all day (5 yards per pass attempt and 1.5 yards per rush). Terrapin Troubles-- 11 penalties isn't ideal... but an otherwise solid afternoon at RFK.

Virginia Tech played Stanford tight for 30 minutes before succumbing to the Cardinal 40-12. Once again the ACC's exposed come January...and once again the Hokies are unable to climb into elite land by falling to a top 5 team (1-28 I think is their record under Beamer). Hokie Highlights-- Danny Coale (7 catches for 92 yards) gave Tyrod Taylor a decent target while the Cardinal contained Jarrett Boykin... and the defense holding Stanford to 13 first half points was no small task. Hokie Humblings-- butchered by the big play. Four of Stanford's touchdowns were of 35 yards or longer-- especially the last three that put the game away. The running game was held to a paltry 1.9 yards a carry. No big special teams play as BEAMER BALL! became beamer ball.

A whole bowl of you know what-- Thanks, BCS for ruining January 1st. This used to be the day that I would focus from noon to midnight on a buffet of games... and although only a few (sometimes even just one) had national title implications-- there was immediate momentum from the Citrus to the Cotton to the Fiesta to the Rose to the Sugar to the Orange. You watched the early games because you knew there would be a payoff at the end of the night. Now unless I have a school involved (SU creeping closer to respectability), I could care less who wins which New Years Day game... because not only is the Championship game NINE DAYS LATER, but there are SIX bowls before you get to the BCS title game. And I'm not even going to focus on the ridiculous names... from "Go-Daddy-dot-com" to "Fight Hunger" to "DONNA MARTIN GRADUATE!" (okay, I stretched a bit on the last one there). I grew up loving college football and January 1st's place along Super Bowl Sunday and the Final Four... and I held out against a playoff through much of the 90's-- but now I could easily do without the overbloated bowl system the way it's set up. Bring on the Brackets...

Trading in a Fridge for an Edsall-- what is this, a football program or a West Virginia lawn (sorry, it was either that or say "instead of a Cadillac hire, Maryland brings in an Edsall"). Maryland made its big splash hire by going into the Big East (yes, the league plundered by the ACC still has 8 gridiron members after taking Conference USA's best). Edsall reportedly had said that Maryland was his dream job. I'm sure the same could have been said about his predecessor. Edsall guided the Huskies to the top of a lower tier BCS league and finished 8-5. In fact his last three years saw 8-5 marks in a substandard conference (Rutgers, anyone?). I'm trying to see how this is a major upgrade from the previous administration. The University had the opportunity to make the right decision (keeping an alum and a lifetime devotee in a job he had performed well in and with dignity) or make a big splash. The school chose to do the wrong thing-- and this is the splash? Best of luck to Coach Edsall... he seems like a class act. But how high will the standard be for him? Are we talking ten win seasons and sellouts at Byrd? Because if not, isn't that what we had with Ralph Friedgen?