2010-2011
College Football Season
Military Bowl
Post-Game

Game Recap

by CFP Staff
December 29, 2010

Ralph Friedgen was a winner in his last game as head coach of Maryland as the Terps rolled over East Carolina 51-20 in the Military Bowl at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, December 29. Da'rel Scott ran for 201 yards and 2 touchdowns on just 13 carries for the Terps. East Carolina committed four turnovers.

Previously known as the EagleBank Bowl, the Military Bowl was played at RFK Stadium in our nation's capital.

Friedgen, the ACC's Coach of the Year, had the final year of his contract bought out after spending 10 years at College Park. He leaves with an overall record of 75-50 that includes a 42-36 mark in ACC games and a 5-2 record in bowl games. He brought the school an outright ACC title in his first season in 2001. The Terps finished the 2010 season at 9-4.

At East Carolina, first-year head coach Ruffin McNeill guided the Pirates to a 6-7 record. The former Texas Tech assistant was the interim head coach in last year's Texas Tech victory over Michigan State in the Alamo Bowl, but was then cast aside when Tommy Tuberville was named as the new head coach of the Red Raiders.

Maryland was forecasted by the computer (Congrove Computer Rankings, a.k.a. CCR Top 120) to go 2-10 overall and 0-8 in the ACC. But the Terps jumped out to a 6-2 start before splitting their final four games. A home loss to Florida State on the next-to-last weekend of the regular season kicked Maryland out of the competition for the ACC Atlantic division title, but it still managed to regroup to beat N.C. State the following week and prevent the Wolfpack from clinching an ACC Championship game berth.

The future seems bright for whomever takes the reins of the Maryland program which features an offense led by freshman QB Danny O'Brien. He took the job as fulltime starter for the FIU game in week 4 and finished the season with a 56.8% completion percentage and 135.21 passer rating while winning 6 of the 9 games he started. For those accomplishments, O'Brien was named ACC Freshman Of the Year.

Still, Maryland finished the season ranked just 9th in the ACC in total offense. And though the defense improved from next-to-last a year ago, it was still only the conference's 8th-ranked unit in 2010.

The computer's preseason forecast nailed East Carolina's regular season record of 6-6 overall record, but the Pirates could have easily turned in a better mark. They won 5 of their first 7 games before spiraling into a 1-5 finish that included an embarrassing 76-35 loss at home to Navy in which the Midshipmen scored 48 second-half points.

Obviously, defense was a big problem for East Carolina coming into the Military Bowl. The Pirates were ranked 120th out of 120 teams in total "d", 108th against the pass and 115th against the run. They were also 118th in scoring defense, allowing 43.9 points per game. Three of East Carolina's games reached combined point totals of 100 or more and four others topped 80. Maryland was the 6th team to post 49 or more points against East Carolina, and the 10th to score at least 42.

East Carolina is 5-7 all-time in bowl games, and just 1-5 in its last six.

Maryland improved its overall bowl record to 11-11-2, including a 5-1 record in its last six appearances.

This was the first-ever meeting the two teams.