Five reasons to watch the Quick Lane Bowl

Okay, listen, we get it. Most likely, you think bowl season starts on New Year's Eve. Maybe slightly earlier depending on when your team is playing. But regardless of whether or not you're aware of them, the bowls have already started, and there's plenty of college football action to get you through to the main event around New Year's.

Let’s be real, college football fans. When it comes to drawing people to bowl games, branding is king.

The Quick Lane Bowl sounds more like a NASCAR venue than a postseason college football game. Some people will hear about the bowl and either meet it with a confused shrug or show up angry that dozens of cars aren’t traveling around a track at 200 miles per hour.

However, the "Under Armour Bowl" has a certain ring to it. The clothing brand has been making strides in taking over college football apparel and even has exclusive rights in 14 universities, coincidentally including Boston College and Maryland.

Here are five reasons to watch the Quick Lane Bowl for reasons are related and unrelated to apparel.

Quick Lane Bowl
Boston College (6-6, Atlantic Coast Conference) vs. Maryland (6-6, Big Ten)
Location: Ford Field, Detroit
Time: Monday, Dec. 26, 2:30 p.m. ET/11:30 a.m. PT
Channel: ESPN

• Maryland head coach D.J. Durkin and Boston College head coach Steve Addazio reunite as opponents. It’s been a while since 2010 when Durkin and Addazio were a part of Urban Meyer's last year at Florida. Now they will face each other as foes in the Quick Lane Bowl. Addazio was the offensive coordinator for the Gators in 2010 while Durkin commanded the outside linebackers and special teams. Interestingly enough, it is Durkin's team with the more explosive offense on paper, while Addazio’s BC team is stout defensively. It will be fascinating to see whether their time together will affect the outcome of this game.
• Will Boston College do anything special for its jersey? Boston College is good at a lot of things. Football jerseys aren’t one of them. Despite having a great color scheme with maroon and gold, the Eagles have come out with some of the plainest jerseys in the game. It’s like having all the ingredients to make good fried rice and just making white rice. BC did come out with some slick Wounded Warrior red, white and blue uniforms in 2012, but that was a one-off that probably won’t make a return. However, this year, it made some subtle changes that at least make it look like the team is evolving past the simple jerseys. It might not look like much, but the added pattern on the sleeve and the horizontal stripes on the shorts add some much needed detail to otherwise blunt solid color numbers on a solid color background. Much like the football, the jerseys still need a little more time to develop.
• On the other hand, what craziness is Maryland going to come out with? When Maryland alumnus and Under Armour founder Kevin Plank decided he was going to provide uniforms to his alma mater, he went all out. Oregon had a monopoly on seemingly weekly uniforms with Phil Knight pouring money back into the university. Plank was elbowing out a place at the table with some of the funkiest jerseys the NCAA has ever seen. He got creative with the Maryland state flag and has continued to incorporate its designs to fresh ways. That didn’t stop this year. The Red Ops uniforms were pretty cool against Ohio State, but the regular road whites were pretty sick, too. Both sleeves had different parts of the Maryland flag, and the color scheme is busy but fits within the jersey beautifully. Unfortunately for the Terrapins, their jerseys were about the most consistently successful part of their season.
• Which team's mediocrity will show more? It seems that looking good is a curse. You are doomed to perform well against bad teams and get spanked by good ones. Both Maryland and Boston College were destroyed by AP top 25 teams, losing six games collectively. Both teams were also unable to claw their way out of mediocrity in their respective conferences. Maryland can’t stop anyone, and Boston College can’t score on anyone. This is going to be one of the most brutal games to watch for the on-field product, but at least jersey sales aren’t going to suffer.
• Harold Landry. The teams might be mediocre, but Harold Landry is not. The Boston College defensive end is a menace in the pass rush, sacking the quarterback 15 times this year — good for a tie at the top of the ACC. He has been a big reason the Eagles have only allowed 203.7 passing yards per game this year. Maryland’s pass protection is OK, but it has allowed two sacks per game this year. Expect Landry to be a disruptive force if Maryland is put into passing situations.