Thursday, December 23, 2021

A Bowlful of ... Rutgers?

So, remember a month ago, when Maryland beat Rutgers in the last football game of the regular season, and the Terps were rewarded with a coveted spot in the much-coveted New Era Pinstripe Bowl, which will happen Dec. 29?

Well, the Scarlet Knights might get the last laugh on that whole deal.

See, even though they finished the season 5-7, and none of the 567 bowl games wanted them, they might still wind up in a slightly more prestigious bowl than the Pinstripe Bowl. That's because the Bastard Plague wiped out half the roster at Texas A&M, which was slated to play Wake Forest in the Gator Bowl. 

That meant the A&Ms had to pull out of the game on Wednesday. Which meant Wake Forest suddenly had no one to play, unless the Wake Forest band suited up in an all-Demon Deacons tilt.

Enter Rutgers, which apparently is the frontrunner among the 5-7 schools, whose rich heritage of going 5-7 now means they have access to bowl games. Rutgers is the frontrunner because of something called the Academic Progress Rate, which does not mean "we beat Indiana 38-3." Apparently, it has to do with book-learnin', a quaint notion in college football these days.

So, it looks like Rutgers is going to get not just a bowl game, but a New Year's Eve bowl game, simply because their kids go to class better. It almost makes you believe in Santa Claus again, or at least the equally elusive "student-athlete."

How's that for a Christmas miracle?

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