On December 27th the 6th annual Diamond Walnut Emerald Bowl will take place from San Francisco. The game is played at AT&T Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants. The Emerald Bowl is the only NCAA Division I bowl game held at a stadium used exclusively by a professional baseball team. In last year’s match up, the Florida State Seminoles defeated the UCLA Bruins 44-27. This year’s game features the Maryland Terrapins out the ACC, and the Oregon State Beavers out of 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. Let’s take a look at both teams, and how they ended up here.
Scouting the Beavers:
Oregon State finished the regular season with an 8-4 record and a 3rd place finish in the PAC 10 conference. After a two game losing streak early on in the season, the Beavers stormed back, winning 6 out their last 7 games; including a shocker at then number 2 Cal. This is OSU's seventh bowl appearance in the last nine seasons. The Beavers have outscored their opponents, an outstanding 127-16 in the first quarter this season, allowing a first-quarter touchdown only to Oregon in the "Civil War." Quarterback Sean Canfield and running back Yvenson Bernard were both hurt as the regular season ended. It looks like both of them will be good to go for the game.
Scouting the Terrapins:
If you ever needed proof that the tide could shift either way in a split second, Maryland’s 2007 football season would demonstrate it. After two meaningless wins to open the season, the Terps dropped their next two contests including a heartbreaking overtime loss at Wake Forest. UM would responded with two huge victories against then number ten ranked Rutgers, and Georgia Tech. Maryland looked like they were in good shape sitting at 4-2 with 6 more games to go. But then things went south in hurry for Maryland. The Terrapins lost 4 out of their next 5 games, and Terp fans were worried that they would miss out on a bowl game for the third time in the last four seasons. The Maryland players put that fear to rest with a 37-0 thumping of NC State in their final game of the regular season. Head Coach Ralph Friedgen is 3-1 in bowl games in his 7 years at Maryland. The Maryland defense will be key. They have allowed just less than 22 points per game, and Oregon State has scored under 22 points only 3 times this season. Something’s gotta give!
My call: OSU will definitely have the home crowd advantage, and their offensive fire power will be too much for Maryland’s inconsistent defense. The Terps will get good games from both of their senior running backs, but that’s pretty much all they’re going to get.
Final Score: Oregon State 38, Maryland 28.
2 comments:
Another great entry. I follow Maryland some but did not know much about OSU. Thanks for filling me in!
thanks Andrew... I really don't know much about OSU. Fridge could be on the hot seat after a loss.
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