Twistity Sports Exclusive: BOWL WEEVILS

 
Please, don’t embarrass yourselves and others. This is all alumni of certain institutions of higher learning ask when the football team heads off to a bowl game.

I speak of the University of Maryland in this case. At least my degree is still good (I think, but for what I am not sure). The football team? Ah, not so much.

Maryland was invited to the Foster Farms Bowl, presumably because the Foster Brooks Bowl doesn’t exist. Maryland was matched with Stanford University in this epic meeting in Santa Clara, California’s Levi’s Stadium, where Maryland had its pants removed and its butt kicked. Stanford was favored by 14 points, the largest spread in any bowl game.

Some 2,300 miles from home, playing Stanford 11 miles from its base, hardly seemed ideal. So Maryland just didn’t compete. The final score Tuesday night: Stanford 45, Maryland 21. A late touchdown wasn’t much consolation, though we got to hear the (lack of) fight song one more time. Missed tackles, penalties and a complete physical mismatch made this evening a disaster.

Ugh.

In the third quarter, Maryland gained six yards. Six? That should happen on one play. Its quarterback was sacked six times. Six? The Terrapins lived up to their turtle mascot, averaging 0.3 yards per rush (eight yards on 26 carries). Eight?

After tying the score at 7-7, the Terps allowed five consecutive touchdowns. They gave up a rushing touchdown to Ricky Seale, a Stanford senior who had never before scored for the Cardinal.

Ugh.

There’s always next year. And I can wait.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman .