Friedgen knew it at the time. He said this, days after the shellacking in 2004: "I think it's very important for our players to understand, especially our young players, what it's going to take to be a competitive football team in this league right now."
A win tonight would indicate that Maryland did, in fact, long afterward, figure out what it took.
Yet Friedgen has learned a lesson of his own along the way. This season, he told of breaking a practice huddle with a shout of "ACC champs!" - and having the players basically tell him to shut his cakehole because that was too far away to talk about.
