2016 Quick Lane Bowl, Maryland vs. Boston College: Date, time, location, and everything to know

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It’s time for the third year of the Quick Lane Bowl, a college football postseason contest that got going for the first time in 2014. Its lead backer is the Detroit Lions of the NFL, and the game is played in the Lions’ Ford Field. (Its predecessor is the Little Caesar’s Bowl. Little Caesar’s pizza is not good.)

The first two years have featured games of varying quality. Rutgers beat a ranked North Carolina team 40-21 in a surprising 2014 result, and Minnesota beat Central Michigan 21-14 last year. There’s no long history to draw upon here, as there is for a handful of bowl games that have been around for decades by this point.

Attendance hasn’t been huge over the first few years, but last year’s bowl included two Midwestern teams and managed to put an announced 34,217 fans in the seats. That was a sizable jump from the debut year, when just less than 24,000 showed up. Organizers will surely look for another bounce in the game’s third version.

Date and time: Dec. 26, 2:30 p.m. ET

TV channel: ESPN

Location: Detroit

Stadium: Ford Field

Last year’s score: Minnesota 21, Central Michigan 14

Last year’s attendance: 34,217

Teams with the most all-time appearances: Minnesota, Central Michigan, Rutgers, North Carolina, each with 1

Teams with the most all-time wins: Minnesota and Rutgers, 1

Maryland (6-6, 3-6 Big Ten)

Maryland’s had an interesting year. The Terps started 4-0 under first-year head coach D.J. Durkin, and they were 5-2 after beating a woeful Michigan State in College Park on Oct. 22. They lost their next four games to fall to 5-6, which wasn’t surprising, but it was a bit demoralizing that Maryland got blown out so badly in three of the four games – particularly a combined 121-6 margin in back-to-back Ls against Big Ten East heavyweights Michigan and Ohio State. The Terps demonstrated they’re still not competitive with the big boys.

But it’s not all bad. Maryland jumped from 3-9 to 6-6, and Durkin’s recruited what looks like one of the Terps’ best recruiting classes ever (pending always-possible late changes). The Terps are still miles from beating the best, yeah, but they’re not the same dumpster fire they were in the final moments of Randy Edsall’s tenure. They’ve made measurable progress and that’s something.

Boston College (6-6, 2-6 in ACC)

Boston College got off to a rough start in 2016, particularly inside ACC play. The Eagles started the conference season 0-4 on the season, with losses to Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Clemson, and Syracuse. BC got its first ACC win of the season on Oct. 29 with a 21-14 win over NC State. But the struggles continued for the Eagles with back-to-back blowout losses to Louisville and Florida State, before winning the final two games of the year against UConn and Wake Forest.

Boston College quarterback Patrick Towles, who transferred to BC from Kentucky as a graduate transfer in December 2015, had one of his most unproductive seasons as the Eagles’ starter. He threw for just 1,579 yards, along with 10 touchdowns and six interceptions.

6-6 may not necessarily sound like a bad year, but the Eagles have been riding a wave of mediocrity recently under head coach Steve Addazio, who has a 23-27 record at BC. Addazio reportedly will be back in 2017, but if BC has another average year, the program may look to make a coaching change.