2016 Quick Lane Bowl Preview: Maryland (6-6) Vs. Boston College (6-6)


 
The end of the year is rapidly approaching, which means we are getting closer to the best college football bowl games. Since it can be virtually impossible to watch every bowl game this season, you need to find the ones with the most intriguing matchups. It may not feature the best teams in the nation, but the Quick Lane Bowl has everything needed to create an extremely exciting college football game.

The 2016 Quick Lane Bowl will pit the Maryland Terrapins against the Boston College Eagles when it is held at Ford Field on December 26. Both teams may have finished the regular season with only six wins, but the Quick Lane Bowl is a very intriguing games because it is renewing an old rivalry from the Atlantic Coast Conference. Both teams began facing each other every year when the Boston College Eagles joined the ACC in 2005. The rivalry was forced to end after the University of Maryland had all of their sports teams join the Big Ten Conference in 2014. Since bowl games are forced to take teams from different conferences, a a game between rivals is a very rare occurrence.

In addition to the rivalry aspect of the game, it should also be fun to watch because both teams want to finish their season on a high note. A postseason game looked unlikely for both teams earlier in the season, but they were both able to win a tough game in the last week of the regular season to get the six wins required for bowl eligibility.

Determining a favorite in this game is not going to be easy. Maryland and Boston College both got several opportunities to play some of the best teams in the country this season, but they got easily defeated in those games. Boston College owns the most impressive win this season when they were able to go on the road to defeat the North Carolina State Wolfpack 21-14 after scoring a late 4th quarter touchdown.

The Maryland Terrapins have an extremely talented offense that loves to run the ball. Led by sophomore running back Ty Johnson, the Terrapins were able to average 205.5 rushing yards this season. This number was good enough to rank third in the entire Big Ten Conference. While Maryland is great at pounding the rock, it will not be an easy task against the great defense of the Boston College Eagles.

Boston College loves to keep games low scoring because their offense is not very potent….at all. Believe it or not, PatrickTowles at quarterback and his 50% completion percentage this season has actually been an upgrade over years past from behind center. Luckily, the Eagles defense is capable of shutting down some of the best offenses in college football. Their great defense only allowed 311 yards a game this season, which gave the Boston College Eagles the eighth best defense in the country. This game is primed to be low-scoring, and a complete toss-up, considering both teams offensively will likely have trouble getting untracked.

The Quick Lane Bowl will be a battle of contrasting styles, and the outcome of the game will ultimately be determined by the individual strengths of each team. If Maryland can move the ball on the ground, then they will get the win. If Boston College can dominate on defense, force turnovers, and set the offense up with a short field, then they will get a belated Christmas present in Detroit by scoring just enough points to win the Quick Lane Bowl.

Ultimately though, even with Boston College finding a way to get stops, I believe that Maryland will score just enough points to finish this thing off, in a successful first year under D.J. Durkin.

Maryland 16 Boston College 7

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