BOISE, Idaho – The University of Maryland claimed its first Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl championship Dec. 30 by overpowering a nationally-ranked University of Nevada rush defense and surviving a resilient Wolf Pack 42-35 in a record-setting game at Boise, Idaho’s Bronco Stadium.
The game tied the record for total points in a Humanitarian Bowl and was witnessed by a nationwide audience on ESPN.
Maryland’s victory capped a bowl week of activities that began with offenses pelting their own defenses in snowball fights in the second-snowiest December on record in Idaho’s scenic capital city, raised thousands of dollars for charities in the annual Certified Angus Beef Bowl for Beef and reached out to veterans, kids and other patients at Boise’s St. Luke’s Regional Medical Center with visits by team members and mascots.
“I had a great time here, to be honest,” said Maryland quarterback Chris Turner. “A lot of us didn’t know what to expect. Idaho’s not a state anyone I know has been to.”
This is likely the last time a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference will play in the Humanitarian Bowl in this final year of the bowl’s contract with the Atlantic Coast Conference. Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl has opened discussions with the Pac-10 Conference and the Mountain West Conference to establish regional rivalries for Western Athletic Conference teams that host the 12-year-old bowl game.
When the teams arrived in Boise December 26 they began competing not on the blue turf at Boise State but in the bowling lanes at Westy’s Garden Lanes. The teams went bowling for beef on behalf of two Idaho-based non-profits – Life’s Kitchen and Meals on Wheels in the CAB Beef Bowl Dinner event.
The teams then had a welcome dinner at the Stueckle Sky Club overlooking the Boise skyline and the Boise Mountains in an approximately $30-million stadium expansion at Boise State University.
The next day both teams enjoyed local area ski resort Bogus Basin for a day of snow tubing - the bowl game's annual Winter Sports Day.
At the U.S. Bank Humanitarian Awards Dinner, Nevada running back Luke Lippincott and Maryland quarterback Jordan Steffy, both of whom have missed most of their senior years with injuries, were selected by their teammates as winners of the bowl game’s annual Humanitarian Award. Both seniors were starters when the season began.
Steffy was one of 22 players named to the AFCA Good Works Team based on community involvement. He has raised more than $50,000 this year through his Children Deserve a Chance Foundation. Lippincott, who is expected to get a sixth year of eligibility and return next year, has been very active with reading programs in Reno area schools, earning praise from school administrators.
The day before the game the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Breakfast was held at the Boise Centre on the Grove. Athletes met to discuss their faith and what playing in the Humanitarian Bowl represents to them.
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