Pouya dianat—THE DIAMONDBACK Junior tight end Vernon Davis was more vocal with his teammates Saturday in North Carolina. The Terps can become bowl eligible Saturday.
In a team meeting Thursday, the Terrapin football coaches tempted their players with reminders of all the gifts they have received from going to bowl games. They talked about merchandise, prize packages that have included electronic devices and the rings the Terps won for winning the Peach and Gator bowls.
Junior tight end Vernon Davis was just a freshman when the Terps last played a postseason game, but he was struck with the bowl bug this past week and was trying to spread it to his teammates.
“I want to go to a bowl game,” Davis repeatedly said in the huddle in the late stages of Saturday’s 33-30 overtime win against North Carolina. “Some of the guys out there don’t know how it feels to go to a bowl game, so I take it upon myself to get them ready.”
But even as the outlook has brightened for the Terps (5-4, 3-3 ACC), the bowl picture isn’t much clearer than it was last week.
Seven teams are guaranteed to finish with a winning record, thus qualifying for postseason play. The Terps need one more win, and North Carolina and N.C. State each need two.
With only six automatic tie-ins for ACC teams, some conference squads will have to either be selected for a bowl with an opening or take the spot of a conference that fails to qualify enough teams. That means even if the Terps win Saturday against Boston College, there may still be a need for scoreboard watching.
If the Terps win their next two games and finish 7-4, there’s little doubt they’ll be selected for a bowl. Brett Sowell, a spokesman for the Champs Sports Bowl, said they could be headed for that game in Orlando, Fla., which has the fourth choice of ACC teams.
“We look for a team to end their season on a high note,” Sowell said. “That’s a big thing with us.”
Sowell added the Terps haven’t been to Orlando since 1983, which adds to their appeal to fans in the area.
The Terps will be on the radar of the committee at the Meineke Car Care Bowl at 6-5 or 7-4, said Will Webb, the executive director of the bowl played in Charlotte, N.C. North Carolina and N.C. State have an advantage in their proximity to the game, but the Terps can eliminate the Wolfpack with a win in the final game of the season.
The MPC Computers Bowl gets the sixth choice of ACC teams and would also find the Terps a good fit because they’ve never traveled to Boise, Idaho, for the game formerly known as the Humanitarian Bowl.
MPC Computers Bowl Executive Director Gary Beck said he watched the Terp game at North Carolina on television this weekend and was impressed with the possibility of having them at his game.
“They showed they have a lot of speed and firepower,” Beck said. “That’s certainly something you can market.”
Beck said the MPC Computers Bowl usually gets 95 percent of its fans from local areas, meaning a team that hasn’t been there would have an advantage over teams such as Virginia and Georgia Tech, who have been there the past two years. Clemson – who came to Boise in 2001 – is an exception because they brought one of the largest fan bases to the game, Beck said.
Another possible stop is the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn., which fills one of its slots with a team from one of five conferences, including the ACC.
In the past, bowls would offer bids before the end of the season, but this year representatives say they’re more likely to wait until after the ACC championship game and see if the conference gets two teams into the BCS. That scenario would open another spot in one of the bowls with ACC tie-ins.
In other words, don’t expect a scene next week in Raleigh, N.C., where computers or car parts are flying around like in 2001 when Terp fans celebrated a BCS berth at N.C. State by throwing oranges.
“I think if we win this next one we’ll be in the postseason,” Terp coach Ralph Friedgen said. “We’ve got to just take it one game at a time and see what happens.”
Contact reporter David Selig at dseligdbk@gmail.com.
