Little Caesars Pizza Bowl Dec. 27 4:30 p.m. Detroit ESPN Purdue vs. Western Michigan
Belk Bowl Dec. 27 8 p.m. Charlotte, NC ESPN NC State vs. Louisville
The day after Boxing Day is a day that hardcore bowl enthusiasts have had circled for months. The Bowl formerly known as the GMAC bowl is now named after what experts consider the shittiest pizza you can buy without a prescription. And the toppings are worthy of the sponsor - a six loss Big N team against a 7-5 MAC team. Did I mention this game is being played in Detroit? Cold-weather bowls are right on the Cod's delenda est list next to cold-weather academic conventions in early January. The bright side is a vertiable Alexandria of artisanal meats is just down 94. The Cob suggests nibbling absently on Zingerman's Landjaeger and busting out than you notes while you watch this one.
The darkness brings only darkness with the Bowl Formerly Known as the Meineke Car Care Bowl at 8pm. The Cod and cinetrix were in attendance last year, and can attest that the parts of Charlotte you see in Bowl Land are pretty terrible -- dystopian warrens of chain hotels connected by chain restaurants, populated by some of the vulgarest folk you are likely to see outside of Houston or Atlanta. If you need a bowl fact icebreaker, you can tell folks that Charlie Strong is only the third Louisville coach to take his team to a bowl game in his first two seasons. It's a fact! It's two seven and five teams, and sadly, Tom O'Brien can coach only one of them, in this case the NCST wolfpack. The high point of their season was the low point of the season for the lads from the Cod's day job, and the less said about that better. Somewhere, someone is saying that it's a positive step for their program to be playing in a post-Christmas bowl, and they may even be right. I would consider skipping this one and taking the kids to see Swedes torture teens from the Baltics, but if you must, fix yourself a sandwich with some Molinari Coppa.
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