List of Maryland Terrapins bowl games
The Maryland Terrapins college football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), representing the University of Maryland, College Park in the Eastern Division of the Big Ten Conference. Since the establishment of the team in 1892, Maryland has appeared in 27 bowl games. Included in these games are three appearances in the Orange Bowl, one in the Sugar Bowl and one Bowl Championship Series (BCS) game appearance in the 2002 Orange Bowl. The latest bowl occurred on December 26, 2016, when Boston College defeated Maryland 36-30 in the Quick Lane Bowl. The defeat in that game brought the Terrapins' overall bowl record to 11–14–2.
History of Maryland Terrapins football
In a surprising choice, former Maryland assistant coach and Citadel head coach Bobby Ross, who was not a big name at the time, was selected as head coach in 1982. In contrast to Claiborne's style, Ross implemented a high-powered offense. He replaced the I-veer triple option with an NFL-style offense that emphasized dropback passes, bootlegs, and play action passes. This change in tactics and strategy enabled starting quarterback Boomer Esiason the opportunity to excel to a degree not seen under Claiborne the season prior. Esiason said, "Ross has an uncanny knack of putting players in a position to not only succeed, but to overachieve . . . If he didn't show up at Maryland, I don't know what would have happened to me. I don't know if I would have turned into the player I was and played in the NFL." In the following years, several Maryland quarterbacks went on to careers in the National Football League (NFL), and the school was nicknamed "Quarterback U" as a result.