Back to Bowling: Motor City Madness

Motor City Bowl
Western Michigan (9-4) vs. Middle Tennessee State (7-5)
7: 30 PM ESPN
LINE: CMU - 8 1/2
MY REC: 2-5

Capitol One Bowl Week begins tonight and I feel this is my chance to make a move, get back to .500 and redeem myself for my pre-holiday debacle.

It all starts tonight with the Motor City Bowl, presumable to be played in Detroit (it would be pretty awkward if it weren't.)

Need to Know: Central Michigan won the MAC Championship game this year and averages nearly 30 PPG, good for 26th in the nation.

Middle Tennessee State has one of the worst names for a school- anything with 'middle' in the title just sounds low-rent. The Blue Raiders were a miserable 105th nationally in yards/game (295) and just 50th in scoring (25PPG.)

Players to Watch:
CMU is led by quarterback Dan LeFevour, a freshman who threw for 2,869 yards & 25 TDs.

MTSU is a run-based offense that relies on senior back Eugene Gross ( 845 yards, 10 TDs) and junior Demarco McNair (563 yards, 6 TDs.)

Trivia: CMU coach Brian Kelly left to be the head coach at Cincinatti before this game. Former offensive coordinator Jeff Quinn takes over for the Chippewas.


MY PICK: The Chippewas have a better offense, are playing in its home state, and will want to win for Quinn and in spite of Kelly.

Plus it's playing MTSU for crying out loud.
Central Mich. 31, MTSU 17