Terps Fired Up for Emerald Bowl
posted 6:38 pm Tue December 11, 2007 - College Park, Md.
"I've never had a chance to go to the West Coast before," senior defensive tackle Dre Moore said. "This is the one I wanted."
The Terrapins could have chosen to play in the Humanitarian Bowl on the blue field at Boise State University. But few of the players were excited about playing in the chilly Idaho in late December.
They could have picked the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, N.C. That would have been an easier trip for the team and family members, but the excitement level of playing in North Carolina was about as high as a half-inch cleat.
"We've been to Carolina three times this year alone," linebacker Erin Henderson said.
San Francisco, on the other hand, represented something unique. So did a matchup with Oregon State, which plays in the Pac-10.
This will be the first meeting between Maryland and Oregon State. The Terrapins haven't faced a Pac-10 team since a 21-20 loss to Washington in the 1982 Aloha Bowl, and only once in 115 years has Maryland played a game in California: In 1954, a 12-7 loss to UCLA.
Even Friedgen sees the logic of finishing out the year in San Francisco.
"It's a little more exotic to go to San Francisco, a place they've never been before," he said.
And, against a team they have never faced.
"I'm loving it," Henderson said. "I've never been to the West Coast beyond Phoenix. To have the opportunity to go out there and play a football game against a team you really don't know much about, it's something different. You get so used to playing the Virginias and N.C. States. This is exciting."
Quarterback Chris Turner has another reason for being thrilled about the trip: He grew up on the West Coast.
"Now my family can come," he said. "It's like a five or six-hour drive, but it's definitely more manageable than flying across the country."
The big question for Maryland is: Will Terrapins fans want to make a trip across the country between Christmas and New Year's? It sure beats Idaho in terms of sites to see, but it's far more complicated than packing up the car for a drive down Interstate 95 to North Carolina.
"Obviously it's a tougher trip for our fans in this area, but we also have a very big fan base out in San Francisco and Los Angeles," Friedgen said. "I'm hoping those people will come out and support us, and I think we'll have a lot of fans that want to go to San Francisco."
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