Maryland vs. Marshall, 2013 Military Bowl: Herd reach 10, Terps reach (Big) Ten

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Maryland wins in 2013. Head coach Randy Edsall still catches rather justifiable flack for the 2011 season, in which he inherited the remnants of a 9-4 squad, drove off a ton of players, and went 2-10. That was, and will almost certainly be, the worst coaching performance of Edsall’s career, and it created a major question mark regarding his ability to lead a successful program.

Marshall won the 2013 Military Bowl on Friday afternoon at Navy Memorial Stadium by a score of 31-20 over Maryland. The victory gives the Thundering Herd their first 10-win season since 2002.

Box Score Hero:

This is an odd bowl season, with favorites led by interim coaches and mid-majors favored over BCS-conference foes.

In the Military Bowl, a Marshall team that went 0-1 against BCS foes and fell at Middle Tennessee, Ohio, and Rice is favored over a Maryland team that went 5-5 against BCS foes and beat the one that beat Marshall (Virginia Tech).

The Terrapins started the season 4-0 and ranked on the strength of a blowout win over West Virginia, but any dreams of competing in the ACC died with a 63-0 loss to Florida State. After a close win over 2-10 Virginia, Maryland looked set to make a bowl game at 5-1, but three straight losses put those dreams in jeopardy. The Terps pulled off a dramatic overtime victory over Virginia Tech on the road to clinch eligibility, and two weeks later solidified their position with a blowout win at NC State.

Marshall started the season an uncertain 4-3 (including a triple-overtime loss to Virginia Tech), but won five straight games to stake its claim as the top team in the Conference USA East. The last of those wins came in the regular season finale against East Carolina in a winner-take-all scenario for the division. The following week, the Thundering Herd were upset by Rice, putting them in this game.

The ACC had 11 bowl-eligible teams this season, with Pitt tying for both the worst overall record (6-6, with North Carolina and Syracuse) and conference record (3-5, with Maryland) among them. The Panthers did beat three other bowl teams this season, with an early-year win over Duke and late-season victories over Notre Dame and Syracuse.

Ralph Friedgen’s final game as Maryland’s head coach came in the 2010 Military Bowl -- the game was also the Terrapins’ last bowl game. Athletic director Kevin Anderson made the change from Friedgen to Randy Edsall, saying he wanted the program to go from “good to great,” and three years later, the Terps get to go to the same place.