Maryland's loss to Middle Tennessee State (24-14) last weekend could be the end of an era at College Park. The expansion of the ACC to become more of a football conference has yet to occur. Maryland must battle back the rest of the season in a conference that appears to be in another down year. Maryland may find its way to another bowl game this season, but the chances of returning to a BCS bowl game are but a distant memory.
As Maryland had consecutive ten plus seasons for the first time in school history, Friedgen looked to make huge leaps in recruiting by luring athletes from such states as Florida, Georgia, and California. He had hoped to improve depth and speed to the roster after his first couple of seasons. After taking Vanderlinden's recruits to the Orange Bowl in his first year it showed how great a coach Friedgen was going to be. Unfortunately Maryland aimed too high too quickly.
Who is Maryland's rival in football? There really isn't one. It takes two partners to be involved in a rivalry and one in which either team can and does win games. Rather than focusing on expanding Maryland's recruiting territories the Terrapins have lost some as West Virginia, UVA, and VaTech has expanded. The Terps used to play Penn St.
It's playing and beating good teams that move a program ahead. Middle Tenn. St. played and beat MD and it's program will move forward. Instead of judging a season by a Florida State win which took several seasons, the season should have been measured by wins vs. top opponents.
Md will miss playing WVA for the first time in years. How has a program like WVA resurfaced to prominence so quickly while MD has regressed? It's simply about recruiting and not just excellent coaching. Losses to Middle Tennessee St. hurt the program. Although Friedgen has done wonders to rejuvenate an ailing program since the loss of Bobby Ross years ago, unless the season changes course quickly the Friedgen era may be coming to an end. Playing Cal this weekend will be a good test to see what direction Friedgen and the Terps take.
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Your argument makes sense except for the rivalry part, unless you are talking specifically about football. For instance in basketball, Duke has never acknowledged that MD is a rival, even though MD has beat them in good and bad years. Even the media got into the rivalry as them labeling a game "MD-Duke III" in the Md Final Four/Championship seasons.