This week’s Maryland-Middle Tennessee game is the tail end of a 2-and-1 series.
The Terps got home games in 2006 and 2009, while Middle Tennessee got a home date in 2008.
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That’s nothing new. Maryland has played at Eastern Michigan, Florida International and Northern Illinois this decade, primarily because the finances involved in guaranteeing home games are a lot less dicey when you go on the road once over the course of the contract.
That’s the real-world situation. But it doesn’t make it any fun for Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen, who lost to an excellent Northern Illinois bunch in DeKalb in 2003 and a decidedly so-so Middle Tennessee team in Murfreesboro last year.
“Every game on the road has been a tough one for me,” Friedgen said. “I don’t like that part of the contract. I just play the cards I’m dealt.”
Friedgen wedged a chuckle in as he said “I don’t like that part.” And really, who can blame him for such thinking (or being open about it)? Those games have been a 50/50 chance at a loss for him, and most folks wouldn’t come close to understanding how the Terps could lose those games.
That can’t be any fun at all to deal with.
—- Patrick Stevens
