Timh is on Nevada. Has to tell you something.
-Nevada runs it well and stops the run well
-maryland pass game is predicated on ability to power run.
-Heyward-Bey is less than 100% and might avoid contact to protect pro career ( see maclin last night )
-maryland fan does not travel well
-nevada familiar with city , stadium , blue turf
-nevada has the better qb
-maryland a terrible road team
-motivation
-nevada familiairty with playing in cold and altitude ( 3000 ft roughly )
Concerns with nevada
-Fat Ralph can coach
-nevada pass defense is sickly bad
-maryland is bigger , faster and stronger
-ACC > WAC
some quick hitters
-Nevada runs it well and stops the run well
-maryland pass game is predicated on ability to power run.
-Heyward-Bey is less than 100% and might avoid contact to protect pro career ( see maclin last night )
-maryland fan does not travel well
-nevada familiar with city , stadium , blue turf
-nevada has the better qb
-maryland a terrible road team
-motivation
-nevada familiairty with playing in cold and altitude ( 3000 ft roughly )
Concerns with nevada
-Fat Ralph can coach
-nevada pass defense is sickly bad
-maryland is bigger , faster and stronger
-ACC > WAC
Cant argue with any of that vegaskyle, and to be honest - that is my biggest concern - MD coming out flat and just rolling over.
GL today.
motivation - Im not totally buying this one. I have seen game after game where people claimed motivation issues that havent come through - wake, ND, Miami - I think you can claim motivation for every team in every situation of these crappy bowls.
I did not read any quotes from Grobe, Weis or Shannon lamenting the fact he was having a hard time motivating his particular team for their bowl game. On the other hand, there are numerous articles with Friedgen expressing concern about his teams apparent lack of focus for this game.
I have a strong lean to Maryland, but I don't want to be sitting on my couch watching an unmotivated Terp squad mail it in against an inspired opponent while my money goes down the drain.
Good luck with whatever you decide; since you're playing just about every bowl game, may I be so bold as to suggest one of your 1 unit plays on the Terps?
All good responses, and to confirm I heard on the radio today from the Wash post beat writer who is in Boise and was a guest on John Thompson's radio program that MD sold only 800 tickets to the game. Maryland is pissed they ended up in this bowl and as I said before they have problems with leadership from within the team itself. This is a bad spot for them imo.Thanks.
In my head, these are my responses:
-Nevada runs it well and stops the run well Their stats against the run are only good because they are so terrible against the pass. Who needs to run when you can pass for anything you want? Also, numbers skewed because they play in the WAC.
-maryland pass game is predicated on ability to power run. In the ACC yes, against Nevada will they really have to run to be able to pass?
-Heyward-Bey is less than 100% and might avoid contact to protect pro career ( see maclin last night ) - Cant disagree here....
-maryland fan does not travel well - TimH said there will be no MD fans there, I believe it.
-nevada familiar with city , stadium , blue turf - yes.... some advantage.
-nevada has the better qb - for sure.
-maryland a terrible road team - yes, but in ACC.
-motivation - Im not totally buying this one. I have seen game after game where people claimed motivation issues that havent come through - wake, ND, Miami - I think you can claim motivation for every team in every situation of these crappy bowls.
-nevada familiairty with playing in cold and altitude ( 3000 ft roughly ) - OK, cant argue...
Concerns with nevada
-Fat Ralph can coach - and if he will open it up and throw downfield, I think this is the key to the game.
-nevada pass defense is sickly bad - Terrible.
-maryland is bigger , faster and stronger - and play in the ACC....
-ACC > WAC - Nevada beat this season: Grambling, Idaho, UNLV, Utah St, Fresno, San jose, and Louisian Tech. MD played about a half dozen bowl teams.
Im most worried about what TimH writes about - the spot for MD - because I think if this was a regular season game I would be much bigger on them - but if they just come out and go through the motions I wont be happy.
GL
:cheers:
Friedgen 10-1 ATS v teams averaging 200+ ypg rushing