The 2010 college football bowl schedule is now official. Here is a list of all of the bowl matchups that matter or may be interesting to local sports fans.
Saturday, December 18
- Humanitarian Bowl: Northern Illinois vs. Fresno State at 5:30 on ESPN in Boise. This game is funny because this was the bowl Maryland last played in. The Terps beat Nevada 42-35 in 2008, ending a season that played out a lot like this year. The Terps were tied with three other teams for third place, but slipped to the Humanitarian Bowl due to lack of fan support.
Thursday, December 23
- Poinsettia Bowl: Navy vs. San Diego State at 8 p.m. on ESPN. Can Navy close out another solid year? The Midshipmen were probably hoping to do better than 9-3 coming into the final game of the year against Army on Saturday, seeing as they lost their three games by a combined 14 points. They were one goal line punch-in against Maryland and one bad opening stretch against Duke from being 11-1. Nevertheless, they'll head to San Diego to play local club San Diego State (8-4), who hasn't been to a bowl game since 1998.
Monday, December 27
- Independence Bowl: Air Force vs. Georgia Tech at 5 p.m. on ESPN2. As bad as Maryland's slip to the Military Bowl was, at least they're staying local instead of being shipped out to Shreveport like Georgia Tech was.
Tuesday, December 28
- Champs Sports Bowl: West Virginia vs. N.C. State at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN. Ah yes, the one that got away. Fan support may be the stated reason why the Champs Sports Bowl executives chose N.C. State over Maryland, despite Maryland's head-to-head win, but the better reason is probably that they wanted to avoid a rematch of the September 18 West Virginia-Maryland matchup. Bowl executives don't like rematches.
Wednesday, December 29
- Military Bowl: Maryland vs. East Carolina at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN. For obvious reasons.
Thursday, December 30
- Music City Bowl: North Carolina vs. Tennessee at 6:40 p.m. on ESPN. The last time Maryland played Tennessee, the Terps stomped them in the 2002 Peach Bowl. I guess Music City Bowl executives also wanted to avoid a rematch.
Friday, December 31
- Meineke Car Care Bowl: South Florida vs. Clemson at noon on ESPN. The Terps may have been shafted, but at least they didn't go to a bowl game named after a car repair company.
- Sun Bowl: Notre Dame vs. Miami at 2 p.m. on CBS. Alright, fine, there's nothing Maryland could have done to sway Sun Bowl executives from this high-profile matchup. Wait, it's not 2000?
- Chick-fil-A Bowl: South Carolina vs. Florida State at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN. I liked this game better when it was called the Peach Bowl.
Monday, January 3
- Orange Bowl: Stanford vs. Virginia Tech at 8:30 p.m. on ESPN. The Hokies may be 11-2, but the NCAA doesn't recognize games against FCS opponents like James Madison. So really, they're 11-1, with the only loss coming to Boise State. That actually looks pretty good.
Sunday, January 9
- Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl: Nevada vs. Boston College at 9 p.m. on ESPN. I liked this game better when it was called the Emerald Bowl.