Article Written by: Justin Pollock
When: Thursday, December, 26, 6 p.m ET
Where: Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan
Watch: ESPN
Over/Under: 50 points
Spread: Bowling Green (-6.5)
The 2013 Little Caesars bowl puts (6-6, 3-5 ACC) Pittsburgh Panthers taking on the (10-3, 7-1 MAC) Bowling Green Falcons.
History
These two schools had opposite seasons as Pittsburgh went 6-6 and couldn’t seem to get on a streak, as for the Bowling Green Falcons they went on a five game winning streak to finish the season including a win over the No.23 Huskies of Northern Illinois to win the MAC Championship. The Panthers started the season losing to No.1 Florida States Seminoles 41-13 at home, but they did get a win over rivals Norte Dame 28-21.
Bowling Green Flacons lost three games this year (@ Indiana, @ Mississippi State, and Toledo) and had 10 wins including wins over Buffalo and Northern Illinois. The Falcons only loss one game in conference play and went to Ford Field which is the site for this game to take on Jordan Lynch and the Huskies of Northern Illinois which they would win 47-27 behind Sophomore QB Matt Johnson who recorded 393 passing yards and 5 touchdowns.
The all-time record between these two programs goes to Pittsburgh 2-1, but the last time these two schools meet in 2008 Bowling Green won at Pittsburgh 27-17. The Panthers bowl record all time is 12-17 currently they are one a losing streak of two as they fail to beat SMU and Mississippi the last two seasons. As for the Flacons they are not much better in bowl games as they stand with a 4-5 record all time in bowl games losing their last bowl game to San Jose State last season in the Military bowl 29-20.
Impact players
Pittsburgh Panthers DT Aaron Donald and Bowling Green’s QB Matt Johnson are forces to be recognized in this bowl game as they both came down the stretch with incredible numbers and games.
Pittsburgh’s DT Aaron Donald has had a incredible college career at Pitt as in his career he has 28.5 sacks and a total of 176 tackles. He is one the best DL in the nation this season he has won 4 awards that includes Chuck Bednarik Award (best defensive player), Bronko Nagurski Award (Defensive season MVP), Outland Trophy ( Best defensive lineman), and the Vince Lombardi/Rotary Award ( best defensive lineman/linebacker).
Bowling Green’s QB Matt Johnson has been hot towards the end of the season including a crucial win over the Northern Illinois Huskies as Matt Johnson threw 4 touchdowns in a 47-27 win for the MAC Championship. As for the season overall Johnson has thrown for 3,195 passing yards and 23 touchdowns with only 7 picks.
Another player to watch out in this great game is Pitts RB Isaac Bennett who is having a good season overall with 795 rushing yards and 7 touchdowns
Prediction
This game should be one of the better bowl games of the season, are we going to see the same thing as we saw in the CSU Vs. WSU in the New Mexico bowl most likely not but we can see a close game as these two programs are both trying to win in the post-season which neither had been doing great at the last few seasons. The factor in this game is how is the 105th overall offense of Pittsburgh going to score against a team that is only allowing opponents to average two touchdowns a game. That’s why I am giving a touchdown edge to Bowling Green in the Little Ceaser game, because; they are are great on both sides of the ball and they have play makers all over.
Bowling Green: 30-23
video by: Sports Gaming Universe