(The first in a two part series)
Finally, after years of trying so hard to convince myself, I truly realize Maryland is not a football school. I just got lucky that when I attended school there, the program had a lot of success. Several high-profile bowl games (including the Orange Bowl), an ACC championship, and a couple of 10-win seasons. Since I've graduated there has even been some success. But football success was never sustained over, say, a five-year period at one time. And while Maryland being good in football is great, it is not a big, sexy program. It is a basketball school -- like most ACC schools. This is just the nature of the university.
Ok, so with that said, I have seen Maryland compete in and win big football games. The Terps are in a Big Six conference so they tend to play legitimate programs throughout the season. However, maybe once a year or every other year, Maryland plays a serious national powerhouse. That was the case last Saturday when they faced Notre Dame at FedEx Field -- a local NFL stadium for Maryland fans. Yet it was a Notre Dame home game. How does that even make sense? Well, when you've won as much as Notre Dame has and have as much history as they do, you can have a home game anywhere in the country. Programs like Notre Dame have fans all over the country and they travel well. They have all sorts of fans too, including the ones that have no affiliation with the university whatsoever. But that's the benefit to constantly being good and recognizable. The noterity brings the bandwagoners, and so the fan base grows.
So as one could imagine, the stadium was catered to Notre Dame fans. Maryland fans were outnumbered, outcheered, and outenthused. I would venture to say if Maryland's record was better, the crowd would have been a little more even. Still, I think the Irish would have had the better showing as spectators. Maryland just cannot generate a consistent fan base. Byrd Stadium only holds about 55,000 people. Notre Dame's holds nearly 81,000. Movies have been made about Notre Dame football. None about Maryland. So nothing should be surprising about what happened Saturday. The product wasn't great, and Maryland got stomped.
Notre Dame has more talented players, more efficient coaches, and a rich history of winning. Despite Maryland's national title in the 1950's, no one involved in the Maryland football program is accustomed to winning. At the end it was 45-21 in favor of Notre Dame. Had the Terps won, it would have been a signature win for a Maryland program that would have reminisced about for several years running.
They could not outduel the Irish, however. They could not pull off the ultimate upset. Half of the stadium was empty by halftime (I would guess most were Terps fans). Perhaps that's part of the difference. Maryland can't sell out home games when they are successful. Schools like Notre Dame sell out every game and can charge high prices. Maryland, due to lack of ticket sales (apathy?), is nearly forced to shut down other sports programs to cut costs. Quite frankly, it is just a fast difference in football culture.
So what do we know about non-football school's game experiences? The tailgates are still fun, though I would imagine average on a national scale. The football talent comes and goes much quicker than established programs. Fans enthusiasm amounts to as much as a "meh. whatever." Fans tend to leave early to avoid the traffic. Generally, the fans also don't expect to win big games on a regular basis. When nonpowerhouses do win, it is the event of the decade. It is not typical to get so overexcited at school's like Notre Dame. Yes, football fans will have fun, but it would appear that somewhere else, spectators are having more fun. South Bend is probably one of those places.
I was totally expecting to lose, but still made my own fun. I am interested to see what my next reaction will be. This weekend I will be attending the Oregon-USC game in Eugene. The contrast will probably be astonishing. Until next time, for Part II...
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