Game Review: Boston College Eagles vs Maryland Terrapins 11/28/2009.

Final Score: Boston College 19 Maryland 17; Attendance 35,042

Weather: 50’s, Clear; Ticket Price $16 Face, Family Pack $10 plus Coke & Dog

“Now that’s Good Value” by Tree

The Site:

This game was very late in a bad Maryland season. The school / program must have seen some low attendance coming given that it was also Thanksgiving break. Accordingly, the football program launched a family pack promotion to fill the seats. It was $40 for four seats, four dogs and four beverages. Since we were gearing up to visit schools, we thought we would hit the game and at least get a feel for the campus. It was just my two sons and me as we couldn’t convince the wife to join us. With the low attendance, I could not even give the extra ticket away.

The stadium is on campus. It is reasonably large but it certainly doesn’t feel like big-time college football. With no students around, it probably was not a fair representation of what a normal Maryland game feels like. We did not see much of any tailgating, but again I attribute that to the time of the year. I have heard of classic tailgates with crabs and all the works but none were to be found. I do have a soft spot for their mascot, Tortuga. He seemed to play up to the little kids at the game.

There was a great banner on the field that had that line from the Wedding Crashers – “Crab cakes and football, that’s what Maryland does.” We had to laugh at that one. Let’s be honest, when you think of top tier football programs, Maryland doesn’t crack that list. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but don’t think you are going get that kind of experience going a Terps’ game. That being said, the game itself was very entertaining and the fans that were there were definitely into it.

Logistics:

Anytime you have to drive on the Beltway in D.C., the traffic is a real crap shoot. So going to a Maryland game can be a pretty challenging drive, but that’s not the school’s fault. Fortunately for us, the traffic was extremely light and we easily parked in a parking garage on campus for $5 or $10. I cannot say that it would always be that easy to get to a game, so I would plan accordingly. The campus is nice and has that standard big state school feel. Not lots of aesthetic charm there, but well maintained and easy to get around. College Park is a nice area and so disregard any concerns the “Wire” may have given you about heading to Baltimore.

The Game:

Judging by the record of the respective teams, it looked like Boston College (8-4) should have been able to run over the Terps (2-10). However, that wasn’t the case. Maryland stayed with Boston College the entire game and almost managed to pull it out. They botched a 4th and 1 earlier in the game. Then, a score by the Terps late in the fourth quarter brought to them within 2 points. Unfortunately, they could not recover the onside kick and Boston College ran out of town with the “W”. The star of this game was BC’s kicker who went 4 for 5.

Personal Notes:

It was a nice day, but with a 3:30 start, I had warned both the kids to dress warm. Of course, they ignored my advice. By the third quarter, they had stolen the blanket I had brought and were begging for gloves. However, we still all had a good time and $40 for the three of us, how could we not?