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A.J. Francis has already warmed up to prospect of bowl trip to Florida

Ignore for a moment the very real possibility Maryland will play in the Military Bowl at RFK Stadium regardless of its outcome Saturday against N.C. State.

Fans don't want to hear that, since East Capitol Street isn't exactly the most exotic holiday destination. And players definitely don't want to hear that, since they'd like to think an 8-4 record and a turnaround season would make them a more appealing option to bowls further up the ACC's pecking order.

Getting to 8-4 is the tricky part. But there's no question where the inimitable A.J. Francis would like to spend his holiday season.

"I love D.C. I was born in D.C. and grew up in Maryland, but I want to go to Florida for a bowl game," the sophomore nose tackle said. "That's nothing against the Military Bowl at all. It's a great bowl. It has a great purpose, but I want to go to Florida for a bowl game, and the best way to go to Florida for a bowl game is to win this week. If we win, we'll be 8-4 and hopefully we can go to a warm-weather bowl. There's nothing against the Military Bowl at all. It's just that I don't want to play in the snow."

Francis hasn't played in the snow, but he knows all about chilly holiday destinations. Remember, Maryland was shipped two years ago to Boise, Idaho, where it defeated Nevada 42-35 to cap an 8-5 season.

The win was nice. The scenery was solid. The weather was ... well, it was cold. Memorably cold.

"I was at the Humanitarian Bowl, so I understand how big a deal it is to go to a warm-weather bowl," Francis said. 'I don't think [redshirt freshman quarterback] Danny [O'Brien] understands how huge a deal it is. Danny's like 'Yeah, we're bowl eligible.' And I'm saying 'Yeah, but we've gotta keep winning.' We don't want to go to very cold places. We want to go somewhere warm. The Humanitarian Bowl was fun. I had fun out there. But it was freezing cold every night."

It's worth pointing out the 2008 Humanitarian Bowl --- a mid-afternoon Dec. 30 kickoff --- was played in 38-degree conditions. The 2009 EagleBank Bowl in D.C. --- a mid-afternoon Dec. 29 kickoff --- was played in 30-degree conditions.

Let it be said: If Maryland loses Saturday, it would take a series of unforeseen events for it not to wind up in D.C. It makes far too much sense all-around, from both the game's perspective and from a cost-containment standpoint for Maryland.

But a win at least keeps the possibility of a warmer bowl locale alive, and that's not a bad incentive heading into the home finale.

Francis, Vellano tackling a side competition

By all measures, Maryland nose tackle A.J. Francis is having a solid season. He's matched his tackle total from a year ago (31) and is coming off arguably the most efficient day of his career.

But there's always Sunday to keep him grounded.

That's when he and fellow tackle Joe Vellano review the week that was --- and look at their tackle totals.

"We'll look at the official stats and compare who's winning," Francis said. "It's just killing me. I'm beating every other D-lineman. It's not even close. But Joe is killing me. Joe has 10 more tackles than me, 3 1/2 more sacks than me. What, 3 1/2 more tackles for loss? He is killing. He is killing me. I've got to catch up. I've got to."

If Francis wanted to rationale, he could say Vellano built nearly all of his lead (currently 41-31) with a 10-tackle day against Navy in the season opener. Vellano had two of his five sacks that day, too.

But even if Francis doesn't catch Vellano, he still wants to chase down something else --- a 50-tackle season.

"Me and Joe set big goals for ourselves," Francis said. "At the midway point  of the season, he said he wanted to have 60 tackles at the end of the season and I said I wanted to have 50. To do that, we both  have to have five tackles a game from here on out."

And just for the sake of clarification, he meant regular season. Nineteen tackles in four games could be tricky. In five or even six games? Francis figures that is a given.

"Oh, no," Francis said. "But I just thought about that. Bowl game, too? That's like three and a half a game. That'll be easy."

When your Maryland predictions go wrong, Alex Wujciak and A.J. Francis will let you know about it

For all the bluster about not worrying about what the outside world thinks, the truth is these are sweet times for the Maryland football team.

They know, after all, exactly what preseason expectations were.

"Publications before the season said we would win five games," nose tackle A.J.  Francis said after last week's rout of Wake Forest gave the Terrapins six wins.

Then he smiled directly at a familiar face and pointedly added, "Isn't that right?"

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But at least there's a good story behind it.

While waiting in at the gate at BWI for a flight to ACC media day, linebacker Alex Wujciak asked me how I thought the Terrapins would do.

This was completely a no-win scenario. Say "8-4" and it's clear you're blowing smoke. Say "2-10" and it's insulting. But those thoughts didn't pass through my mind. Instead, I gave Wujciak the same answer I gave everyone else in July and August, because it was what I actually thought.

Five-and-seven.

That prediction never escaped my mind in the last couple months, even after it was clear when Maryland beat Navy in its opener it had a strong chance to surpass it.

But in a bit of a surprise, Wujciak pointed out the prediction gone awry after Maryland's defeat of Boston College, which meant it was clear there was some hilarity to follow the rest of the season.

"Obviously we surpassed your predictions," he observed this week while enjoying some more needling.

And, to be fair, just about everyone's picks undersold this year's Maryland team.

"I don't know. I mean, 5-7, you were probably giving us the benefit of the doubt," Wujciak said. "According to most people, all the magazines had us winning two games, three games. You're probably the 'best.'"

Added Francis: "It's funny because every publication had us fifth or sixth in the division preseason this year. Apparently, sportswriters know more about football than I do. I guess that's what it is."

At this stage, it's safe to say few people projected a winning season (football guru Phil Steele pick Maryland fourth in the Atlantic, so maybe he's among the few who can assert that) for the Terps, and that's the next feat Maryland can accomplish.

But given the low expectations and, in the minds of some players, snubs in the national rankings, Maryland is banking on getting much credit even if it does upend Miami on Saturday.

"Probably not mainly because nobody's going to respect us no matter what," Francis said. "If we go 10-2 and then go to the ACC championship game and win by 40, people still won't have any respect for us. Nobody ever respects Maryland football, nobody ever does and nobody ever will, I guess. I don't care about people respecting our team. At the end of the day, men lie, women lie, but numbers don't."

For now, the numbers say six wins, triple last year's total. Yes, that's more than five --- a fact Wujciak playfully acknowledged he would continue to bring up as the rest of the season progresses.

"Once for every victory," Wujciak said. "You're going to keep getting crap from us."

Food for thought: Cook Out, North Carolina chain

(Highlights of eating on the road in case some intrepid soul would care to follow)

Sometimes, you don't notice something that is all around you.

Apparently, that's the case with me and Cook Out, a North Carolina restaurant chain that is true to its name. A week ago, I'd never heard of it.

But apparently, it's quite popular with the 18-to-22-year-old demographic that happens to reside in College Park.

"I know about Cook Out," said quarterback Jamarr Robinson when asked about food recommendations in his hometown of Charlotte. "It's a fast-food [joint], a little place. It's basically anything you can get at a cook out. Hot dogs, hamburgers, nuggets, milkshakes. They're like the master of milkshakes. You can get any kind of milkshake you can think of."

Linebacker Demetrius Hartsfield was the first to bring it up as a highlight of his trip home last weekend --- and he was downright giddy when the topic came up and urged me to check it out if I had the chance.

OK, that's two North Carolinians on board. But an out-of-state voice was ... well, maybe persuasive is the right word. Let's just say I was understandably curious after nose tackle A.J. Francis described his Cook Out experience after spending last weekend with the family of quarterback Danny O'Brien.

"I went to Cook Out three times in two days," Francis said. "One time I went, Danny said it was the most impressive feat of eating he'd seen. I got two Cook Out trays, two whole trays. So that's a chili cheeseburger, a chili cheese dog, a corn dog, quesadilla, fries and hush puppies, with a large Cheerwine and large strawberry cheesecake milkshake. ...

"I had a food coma immediately after."

No wonder. But at least the man had the good taste to get Cheerwine.

Anyway, Francis went on to ask just how a couple reporters were getting to Clemson. I said my trip brought me into Charlotte before a drive south, at which point Francis furthered his endorsement.

"You've got to. They're so cheap," he said. "I know the first thing I'm going to do when I get my first slew of money, I'm going to get a Cook Out in Baltimore back home. It's gonna sell."

With all these recommendations in hand, I made it a point to look for Cook Out signs after leaving the airport yesterday. It took less than 15 minutes to find one --- this one not even a mile off I-85 in Gastonia, N.C.

Sure enough, it was just as cheap as Francis promised. One tray --- a main item, two sides and a soda was $4.25. I took the plunge with the milkshake for an extra buck. Either way, it wasn't breaking my extremely modest bank.

And it was worth it.

The burger, for coming from some place other than an actual cookout and costing less than three dollars, was superb. The milkshake was incredibly thick; the restaurant provided a straw, but it wasn't terribly useful until more than an hour later. Nonetheless, the shake was an undeniable highlight.

Granted, this wasn't remotely healthy. But it wasn't hard to see why it would be a popular late-night destination for college kids. Hartsfield told me these places can stay open until 4 or 5 in the morning on weekends.

But it was tasty, even at 10:30 a.m. --- and that was after it took a while for the burger to cook (and understandably so; the sucker was thick). Heck, even a little birdie was impressed with a fairly large onion ring crumb that got tossed his way. He ate well yesterday.

The verdict: Don't come expecting a ton of ambience. There are picnic tables set up outside, and that's basically the sit-down experience. Which is pretty much the sit-down experience at a cookout, which makes sense.

If you're looking for a different and delicious fast-food option, Cook Out will more than exceed expectations. In football coach parlance, it is what it is. And while it's not going to make anyone's list of fine restaurants, it shouldn't disappoint anyone passing through Tobacco Road looking for a cheap meal.

A.J. Francis offers a typically hilarious take on Tony Logan

With the bye week upon us, it's time to dip into the tape recorder to come up with a leftover item or two to pass the time.

(Really, I should have transcribed this about two minutes after I heard it.)

Anyway, one of Maryland's big stories remains punt returner Tony Logan's strong play. And even before Logan broke an 84-yard punt return against Duke on Saturday, nose tackle A.J. Francis offered his usually amusing insight into Logan's breakout season.

"I remember --- I remember --- the punt return he had last year against Clemson," Francis said. "For some reason, he didn't really get anymore chances after that. He dropped the one punt last year at Duke, but then again that was in a damn hurricane. I can't really blame him because I can't catch a dry football. He's definitely showed this year that if he's not the best, somebody is going to have to show me who is the best punt returner in the country."

At this point, Logan ranks second in the country in punt return average, behind Cliff Harris of Oregon. The two touchdowns Logan scored are the first for a Maryland punt returner since Steve Suter.

Speaking of which, Francis found a way to tie Suter into his analysis of Logan's performance. As usual, it was on point.

"What Tony's doing is really showing how good Steve Suter must have been," Francis said. "Tony Logan so far this year has four or five punt returns over 60 yards and yet his yards per average punt return is still two yards short of Steve Suter's record. I wasn't really a Maryland fan back when Steve Suter was doing that, but he must have been the man. He must have been the man."

Which begs the question --- why not have a Tony Logan tracker, and align it with Suter's top season (2002)?

Why not indeed. So after a little quick research, here it is:

TONY LOGAN PUNT RETURN TRACKER (YARDS THROUGH EACH GAME)

Game	Suter (2002)	Logan (2010)	Difference
1	16	57	+41
2	128	185	+57
3	148	192	+44
4	165	327	+162
5	233	415	+182
6	375	---	---
7	378	---	---
8	482	---	---
9	574	---	---
10	609	---	---
11	639	---	---
12	647	---	---
13	676	---	---
14	771	---	---

Unless Maryland reaches the ACC title game, Logan will have at least one fewer game than Suter did in 2002. But at this point, injury and opponents opting to kick far away from Logan seem to be the only ways Suter's record won't be threatened later this season.

Friedgen: Winning will cure attendance woes

Maryland's sluggish attendance --- just 33,254 on Saturday against Florida International --- was a topic of discussion Tuesday.

This facet of the 42-28 victory was already parsed a couple days ago.

Then again, it wasn't something Ralph Friedgen got asked about.

To his credit, he acknowledged the single biggest factor in lousy attendance: A lack of interest in a team that only one thing can fix.

"The crowd, if we keep winning, they'll be here," Friedgen said. "I can rationalize it all I want --- time of day, temperature, the economy, record. If we win this week, there will be more next week. If we win the following week, there will be more the next week. We've got to win."

On the field, the Terrapins (3-1) took notice of the scads of silver bleachers left, though it's worth noting how the definition of a disappointing has changed considerably in Friedgen's tenure. His predecessor, Ron Vanderlinden, had 23 home games. Only five drew more than Friedgen's worst game.

Of course, that's ancient history to the guys who actually have to play in front of tiny crowds. And a lot of times, they notice their level of support --- for better or for worse.

"The thing that upset me the most about that was they left at halftime when it was 21-14," nose tackle A.J. Francis said. "The surprising thing is we have some of the best fans in the world. We had like 5-10,000 people come to Boise to see us Nevada during the Humanitarian Bowl. More than half our student section left at halftime and there's a seven-point game. I understand Florida International doesn't get the name value of a team they're used to, but Florida International is still a good team."

Good luck convincing fans of that, at least for now.

But on the bright side, someone with a special bit of brand name value will be visiting College Park on Saturday. And Francis thinks that will help solve some of the attendance woes.

"I know they're definitely going to come out better," Francis said. "'Cause nobody around here likes Duke."

Terps' Francis finds a new way onto the field

Maryland nose tackle A.J. Francis had a career-high 11 tackles in Saturday's 42-28 defeat of Florida International.

He was on the field a career-high 49 snaps --- even more than his marathon appearance in garbage time against California in last year's opener --- so that had a little bit to do with it.

Of course, he's padding his plays total a little bit with a recently added responsibility: Logging time on Maryland's field goal and extra point unit.

And, this being Francis, there's an entertaining story connected with this.

"We had so many injuries at tight end, they were looking for guys to fill the hole," Francis said. "They were putting offensive linemen there, but they realized if it's a fire call or there's a bad snap or they want to run a fake or anything, they're not eligible. But 96 is an eligible number. As soon as I get a chance to run a fake, I already told [holder] Teddy [Townsley] if he throws it to anybody else I'm never talking to him again. He can only throw it to me and no one else."

This begged a follow up of exactly how someone with as much personality as Francis would handle the opportunity to visit the end zone.

With a grin, Francis denied he had any preconceived (and possibly penalty-worthy) plans.

"Oh no. Nope," Francis said. "I might do something. Da'Rel [Scott] got flagged for something crazy today. If they'll flag him for that, then I don't even want to think about what will happen to me."

Alas, A.J. Francis didn't have the option to invest in words

Let's face it. There aren't going to be too many original storylines centering on Maryland's football program this month.

Probably 99.5 percent of them will fall into these six categories:

1. Ralph Friedgen's job security is sketchy.

2. Maryland is coming off a school record for losses in a season (i.e. the 2-10 storyline)

3. Jamarr Robinson is the new quarterback.

4. Torrey Smith is really good.

5. Alex Wujciak is really crazy.

6. Da'Rel Scott is really healthy. Really.

More will be written  about most of these, particularly the first two.

But, really, there's no need to ask any more players about the 2-10 thing specifically.

Why?

Because nose tackle A.J. Francis, as he so often does, sums up the situation perfectly.

"That’s all we heard, all year," Francis said. "I wish you could invest in words, because if I could invest $20 into the 2-10 stock, I’d be the owner of a Fortune 500 company right now. It gets to the point that you get so tired of hearing about 2-10 that you have no option but to work to make sure it never happens again, and it never will happen again."

And if it somehow does, some financial guru needs to make that fantasy stock market come to life. The ever-shrinking business sections in newspapers would never be the same if Francis were to become a corporate titan.

Terps' A.J. Francis well aware of power of triple option

Lots of questions about Navy today at Maryland's media day.

The best analysis --- by far --- came from the inimitable A.J. Francis.

The gregarious sophomore nose tackle was already in midseason form this afternoon, offering a respectful and candid take on the Terrapins' season-opening opponent.

Francis will get a good look at the intricacies of Navy's offense come Sept. 6. But the Terps did some work on the Midshipmen in spring ball, and there's been more than enough film to devour in the offseason.

"The triple option offense in and of itself, you just lay out the blueprint it is so easy to stop; all you've got to do is do your job," Francis said. "But it's so hard to do your job every single play. Everybody on the field might do their job every play except for maybe five, and for those five plays, they'll break five long runs, probably score three touchdowns, set up maybe another touchdown and a field goal and now you lose 31-28. Just like that, just on five plays. You could shut them down for 80 plays and they have five plays they do well and score 31 points."

Francis, of course, is right. Navy's offense can destroy an opponent with time-eating drives. But often, there's just a handful of chunk plays that cause much of the damage.

As Francis observed, the most difficult thing to deal with is Navy's play-to-play efficiency. A team can often get away with a flub against most opponents.

Not the Mids.

"They never screw up," Francis said. "That comes with serving our country. They have it built into them from the beginning that mistakes are not possible. You're not allowed to make a mistake, ever. We come from a different [point]. We get in trouble if we make mistakes, obviously. Nobody wants mistakes. They have it driven into them that it happens so minimally. It's so hard to go up against something like that because they're a machine. They will run the ball every play and they'll tell you they're going to do it. They might throw it six passes a game and they'll still have 300 yards rushing against almost every opponent they face.

"They have about 20-something plays --- 22, 24 plays --- with minimal variations. But they run it so effectively and it's so hard to stop that that's all they need. They don't need anything else. If they wanted to, they could come out and run a new play every play for the entire year. But they don't need to."

Clearly, the respect is built in, even if it's clear Francis is more than a little wary of chasing Navy around M&T Bank Stadium in the opener.

Then another variable was mentioned --- the no-huddle look Navy used in its Texas Bowl victory over Missouri.

It's no surprise Francis, as a defensive player who might have to deal with that in less than a month, doesn't seem thrilled with the prospect of contending with that wrinkle.

"I hate the no-huddle offense and I hate the triple-option offense," Francis said. "So if they combined the no-huddle and the triple-option offense, that would easily get my vote as the worst offense ever. That would be horrible. I'll be ready for it. I'm always going to be ready for it because it's a game day. But I would not have a fun game. Most of the time I have a fun time playing football, as a lot of people who watch me know. I wouldn't have any fun playing that game. That would be like a 9-to-5. Just go in, get the job done and then leave."

After a long offseason, Francis and Maryland would happily take a 9-to-5-type game --- if, of course, the Terps wound up with a win in the end.