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- The 2004 Gator Bowl was a post-season American college football bowl game between the Maryland Terrapins and the West Virginia Mountaineers. The 59th edition of the Gator Bowl, it was played at Alltel Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, on January 1, 2004. The game was the final contest of the 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season for both teams, and ended in a 41–7 victory for Maryland. The Maryland Terrapins (more often, simply 'Terps') earned a bid to the Gator Bowl following a 9–3 record during the 2003 regular season. It was Ralph Friedgen's third season as Maryland head coach and third consecutive bowl game, making him just the second Maryland head coach to do so in his first three seasons—the other being Bobby Ross. At the conclusion of this game, Friedgen also became the first Atlantic Coast Conference coach to ever win at least ten games in his first three seasons. Going into the game, Maryland's 30-win three seasons was the best three-year total in school history. The West Virginia Mountaineers had finished the regular season with a record of 8–4, which already included a defeat at the hands of Maryland. Like Friedgen, it was Rich Rodriguez's third year as head coach of his program. West Virginia entered the game on a seven-game winning streak, as co-champions of the Big East conference. The game took place in front of a crowd of 78,892 fans. The Terps got off to a quick lead, and never relented. Early in the third quarter, Maryland led 31-0 before West Virginia scored its only points. Oddly enough, the game was a bowl rematch of a regular season game which had similarly lop-sided results: Maryland had won that contest too, 34-7. It marked the fourth Terps' win over the Mountaineers in three years, by an average score of 35-13. (en)
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