Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl – Maryland (7-5) vs. Nevada (7-5) (Bronco Stadium Boise, Idaho December 30, 2008 4:30pm ESPN)

Tie Ins: ACC #8 vs. WAC

Dan: Nevada -1.5

Nevada is an underrated team. Their spread offense will cause the inconsistent Maryland defense problems. Maryland has not seen an offense like this yet this year and that will cause them difficulties all day.

Nevada 31 Maryland 21

Matt: Nevada -1.5

Maybe I’m just a worrier, but I think every Irish fan should be petrified of Colin Kaepernick. The guy threw the ball for 2500 yards and ran for over 1000. I think Nevada beats an unmotivated Maryland team and the stage is set for the showdown in South Bend!

Nevada 34 Maryland 22

Mike: Maryland +1.5

My pick assumes that Maryland will show up ready to play in a meaningless game on the blue turf. In addition, Nevada’s familiarity with the blue turf could become an advantage if the Wolfpack players can avoid the usual onset of vertigo that befalls most visiting players. Still, I just can’t pick a WAC team as a favorite over an ACC team. I can, however, and will, pick Nevada over Notre Dame on opening day next year.

Maryland 31 Nevada 24

Doug: Nevada -1.5

There is a 0.0% chance that Maryland is going to be “up” for this game. NO CHANCE. A random Tuesday afternoon game on the blue turf in Boise, Idaho?? No way. When the Terps laid out their preseason goals for this year, what are the odds that they put down “get to Bosie for the Humanitarian Bowl” as one of their preseason goals?? I looked up the weather for this game (thanks weather.com), and it is going to be a high of 37 degrees tomorrow with a low of 28. It is going to be cold, and there will probably be five people in Boise from Maryland for this game. It will be Ralph Friedgen’s wife and maybe a couple other player families. That’s it. Maryland might as well keep the plane running on the runway for this one.

Meanwhile, the WAC usually gets fired up for this game, and I would expect Nevada to be psyched up to have a chance to beat an ACC team and set up the preseason talk for them as a “BCS buster.” I haven’t watched Nevada play yet, but I’m interested in this game just to see what the fuss is about and how they would match up against Notre Dame.

If I was the ACC, I’d strongly consider revisiting their bowl tie-ins. What the heck is the ACC doing in this game?? None of their fanbases want anything to do with it, and there is no geographic tie-in at all. Give this game to the Mountain West or something.

Nevada 23 Maryland 14