Matchup: Western Michigan vs Purdue. Ugh. I don't want to speak of this. This game is annually among the worst games as far as quality of matchup and this year is no exception because of one simple reason: location (more on that later).
Matchup Pedigree: Blech. Western Michigan is a MAC team not named Toledo, Miami or Northern Illinois. Pretty much everyone else below those three is entirely interchangable and entirely average as far as tradition goes (with a few terribles thrown in for good measure). Purdue is annually a bad Big Ten team. Even the high points, Rose Bowl trip and College Gameday appearances of the Joe Tiller era have not changed that.
Locale: Miserable. The reason why this game gets awful matchups is this: Who the heck wants to spend time in Detroit? This applies to anytime, but it gets worse given the current time of year. Snowy (though not this year) and miserably cold. Playing the game in a dome is a nice respite, but still, who on Earth actually wants to go to this game.
Entertainment Value: A bit. Purdue is bad in most phases of the game while Western Michigan is bad and defense and can throw. Points might flow.
Corporate Nonsense: Considering what happened to the original corporate sponsors, I suppose Little Caesars isn't bad. The original corporate sponsor where the Big 3 automakers naming the bowl the Motor City Bow, a great use. Even with the loss of that name, I can't get up in arms about Little Caesars. There is oh so much worse coming.
Bowl Pedigree: Depressing. This game used to get the MAC Champ. Now, it avoids the MAC champ for ticket selling reasons (MAC Championship game is played in the same place) despite having the first MAC pick and matches them with an awful Big Ten team. In the event the Big Ten has no teams eligible (happens on occasion at the 8-9 pick level), a Sun Belt teams travels to Detroit to take a financial beatdown.
Game Prediction: Purdue stinks. If Western Michigan shows up, it wins with its passing game. It will.
Western Michigan 34, Purdue 24
Should you watch: Really? I have to answer this? Of course not. There is no reason to watch this game unless your goal is to masochistically watch all of them or you are one of the poor souls who is a fan of one of these schools. Even then, in Purdue's case the fans should be going over basketball scouting reports in advance of Wednesday's Big Ten opener against Iowa.
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