Maryland players coming to grips with reality of H-Bowl

Not that they have anything against the Humanitarian Bowl or anything, it's just that the University of Maryland football team would rather be playing anywhere else but Boise.

As DL Dean Muhtadi put it, "We got the shaft with the eighth-place bowl."

That would be the Roady's shaft, thankyouverymuch.

The ACC is like the WAC in that it does not predestine its teams to certain bowls based on their finish in the conference. As such, teams like Clemson, whom the Terrapins beat during the year, get to spend the holidays at the Gator Bowl. Clemson was chosen as the ACC's third team; Maryland was the eighth choice.

The players are trying to make the best of the situation, but it is just so hard with the nightmares. Oh, the nightmares!

Muhtadi said many seniors, including himself, had nightmares, in which they would replay sequences in the Florida State or Boston College games. Muhtadi even dreamed he was playing in the Orange Bowl, only to wake up to a much different reality.

Ralph Friedgen gathered the team together to find out if anyone did not want to go the bowl game in Boise. No one raised their hand ... on the outside. As such, the bowl game will go on, but first, Maryland C Edwin Williams needs to get something off his chest.

"When you're a kid, you say, 'I want to go here, I want to go there,' " Maryland center Edwin Williams said. "No one says he wants to go to Boise . . . You have to sleep in the bed you made and deal with the consequences."

There. That's better.

Come tomorrow afternoon, the Terrapins will most likely probably be ready to play. After all, they're college football players who live to play football, no matter where the game is or how infrequently they have dreamed about the opportunity. And if you can't respect that, then Dean Mutadi has no use for you.

"I would hope no one would watch the game just because it's on a blue field," Muhtadi said. "We're excited about playing, and I could care less what the national appeal is or how many people are in the stands. I don't care if no one is there."

Hey, don't ruin the surprise!

Read more: Maryland's football team tries to warm up to playing bowl game in Boise [Washington Post]