The Navy football team opened camp last week. Maryland’s summer drills began yesterday.
Whether the two teams see each other anytime soon is less concrete.
Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk said the schools have discussed reviving the rivalry with a one-year deal but that no firm plans have been established.
There’s been some modest interest, Gladchuk said. We had earmarked 2010. I’m not sure right now with the scheduling and some other considerations. We’ll see how it goes.
Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow confirmed there have been talks between the two schools for a game in 2010 but declined to comment further.
The state’s only major college programs are separated by less than 30 miles but have played just once in the last four decades. The teams met intermittently throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, but the series went on hiatus in 1965.
The schools agreed to meet in 2005 at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium, a game that drew more than 67,000. Maryland escaped with a 23-20 victory with a touchdown in the closing minutes.
There was a possibility for an encore in last year’s Meineke Car Care Bowl because Navy was scheduled to play a team from the ACC. But Maryland gained a berth in the more prominent and lucrative Champs Sports Bowl instead.
Any future meeting seems just as hazy at the moment.
There’s nothing in the bank, Gladchuk said. I guess the best way to put it is to see if we can work it out. It’s there, it’s looming, it’s a possibility, but … we have some issues, they’ve got some issues and we’re just trying to work through them all.
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