Maryland Odds and Ends: Schadenfreude Included

Some last odds and ends from the great day in College Park.

First, all day I have been running into BG fans were are totally pumped by what happened and who recognize why it matters.  Encouraging them to be at the Doyt on Saturday.

It was a big day for Ryan Burbrink, a Maryland boy who made his way to BG after no one in Maryland offered him a scholarship.  In fact, BG didn't offer him a scholarship.  He has turned into an all-conference performer.  And I am sure it was incredibly satisfying to beat the home team in front of your family and friends and notch a TD as well.  Well done Ryan.  Enjoy.

The Big 10 announcers were agonizing to listen to.  The worst part was when they somehow got it into their heads that BG hadn't beaten a P5 team since 2008.  I believe that came from the BG Game Notes, which referenced that being the last ROAD win over a P5 team.  Anyway, it was one of those things...when you have it wrong, you don't just say it once, you repeat it over and over again.  They mentioned it multiple times, put a graphic up...it was great.  Of course, we were all screaming at our TVs..."Indiana.  Last year!!"

One thing was different from last year's Indiana win was Coach Baber's demeanor.  There was no repeat of last year's manic "Train" speech.  In football terms, he acted like he had been there before.

I have a column in my TweetDeck that just shows me tweets with Dino Babers in them.  Falcon fans are going to have to get used to what I saw, which is a ton of fans who covet our Coach.  The Illinois fans have been babbling about it since Beckman was fired, but now pretty much every team that is dissatisfied with their Coach--which is pretty much every team--is talking about Babers.  If he wins the next two, it just gets louder.  He's an attractive candidate and sooner or later if he succeeds he is going to have options.  Sooner could be after this season.  Let's see what happens.  Enjoy the ride.  But expect the chorus to be out there and only quiet down if he start to lose, which we don't want either.

Finally, the best part of the P5 upset experience is to get online and see how the local press responds to the humiliation.  It is always a rich and enjoyable experience, because the entire season had been built on beating BG and then, you know, THEY DON'T AND IT IS THE WORST DAY EVER.

And that makes me happy.  The word is schadenfreude.

Here are some nuggets from the Washington Post.

Maryland cornerback Sean Davis looked exhausted. He sat defeated in the end zone during the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game against Bowling Green, staring ahead and slamming his hand into the turf as a Falcons receiver celebrated yet another touchdown.

“Not the outcome we were looking for,” Maryland Coach Randy Edsall said in a terse postgame news conference that lasted less than five minutes.

“The loss hurts,” Maryland offensive lineman Andrew Zeller said, “but we have to get back out and grade the film...The footage won’t be pretty."

24/7 Sports

Maryland didn't just get upset by Bowling Green today. This wasn't a plucky Mid-American Conference team having a good day or getting a few lucky bounces. This was the Terps, seven-point favorites, were overmatched and out-classed throughout the second half of an embarrassing 48-27 loss.

This was an unknown team scoring 42 points in the second half and unwrapping its back-up quarterback like a victory cigar on Maryland's home field.

Today's loss means whatever chances Maryland had of overachieving its way to a bowl game are crippled. And the ugly way by they lost -- allowing 491 yards and 6 touchdowns in in the passing game alone hurts in recruiting.

I suspect we aren't unknown anymore, so how does that taste?  Best line is the victory cigar, by far.

Oh, sweet victory.