Wake Forest, Navy Could Meet Again
By Eric Prisbell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Maryland likely will play in the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, on Dec. 30, while Wake Forest has emerged as the leading candidate to face Navy in the inaugural EagleBank Bowl at RFK Stadium on Dec. 20.
The developments capped a busy day of bowl news that began with undefeated Ball State deciding not to play undefeated Boise State in the Humanitarian Bowl. That cleared Maryland's path to Boise, where the Terrapins (7-5) likely would play Nevada.
No formal announcement will be made before Sunday. Maryland officials still are clinging to hope of winding up in the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte on Dec. 27, perhaps against West Virginia.
For that to happen, they said, Boston College would need to beat Virginia Tech in Saturday's ACC title game. An unlikely chain of events then would need to occur: The Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando would need to select Virginia Tech, the Music City Bowl in Nashville would select North Carolina and the Meineke Car Care Bowl would have to select Maryland over Florida State.
One Maryland official deemed the scenario possible but not probable. Barring that domino effect, Maryland likely will head west for the second consecutive year.
In the Humanitarian Bowl, the Terrapins' opponent likely would be Nevada (7-5) because Boise State could play Texas Christian in the Poinsettia Bowl or receive a berth in a BCS game, though the latter seems unlikely.
The EagleBank Bowl, which has the ninth selection among bowl-eligible ACC teams, has had trouble finding an opponent for Navy. Maryland cannot play in the game because of a conflict with final exams. North Carolina State (6-6), which became the ACC's 10th bowl-eligible team by winning its season finale, cannot be selected for that bowl ahead of ACC teams with better records.
That leaves Wake Forest, which lost to Navy, 24-17, on Sept. 27. Originally, an agreement was in place stipulating that Navy would not have to play an opponent that it already had faced in the regular season. Steve Beck, executive director of the EagleBank Bowl, said he was told by Navy Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk that he would waive that clause.
Staff writer Steve Yanda contributed to this report.
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