The Pizza Bowl match-up

It's Michigan and Michigan State, of course. And all things considered, why not?

UM was ridiculously over ranked #8 in the preseason polls, and MSU was somewhere around #15. Since the season started, both of them have stunk it up -- bad. With the lone exception of MSU somehow winning a game against Wisconsin, every time these two teams take on half way decent competition -- they get beat. They've not only fallen out of the top 25, they've fallen off the radar screen completely outside of southeastern Michigan.

UM just today handily beat Minnesota. So what? I suspect a team of blue hairs could be recruited from retirement communities in Florida that could put the Gophers back in their holes.
Nebraska just pinned another home loss on MSU. The Cornhuskers had shucked the Maize just last week.

Earlier, Notre Dame had also beaten both Michigan teams. It's seem the "N" words are death on them. Lucky thing they both didn't have Northern Illinois on their schedules who, BTW, are pretty good, or it might have become even uglier than it already has.

Some will say not all is lost for UM and MSU. Something can still be salvaged. Indeed, it can, in a loser's world. They'll probably both wind up going to meaningless bowl games somewhere. But they don't deserve it, because mediocrity should not be rewarded. It only encourages more mediocrity, and that's not good enough.

Typically, a bowl bound Michigan team will arrive in Florida, Arizona, California, or wherever, a couple weeks before the game is going to be played. They will tell you it's about getting "acclimated" to their surroundings. Yours truly will tell you that's BS, because it's just another road game, which they don't seem to have any problem with during the regular season week to week -- even if they're travelling across a few time zones. What's it's really about is a colossal waste of money.

Look at it this way. Considering the entire entourage -- players, coaches, trainers, cheerleaders, the band, and God knows who else, we might be talking 300-400 people here. Do the math. Add up round-trip fare for that many people. Throw in all the hotel rooms (and trust me -- they don't stay in cheap joints). Feed them. When it comes to the team itself -- pick up the room service tabs they may ring up. Pay for their entertainment while they're out "seeing the sights". Add it all up, and we're talking a serious chunk of change here. And for what? Because a team might have a 7-6 record that somehow qualified them for a bowl?  This is ridiculous.

There's a better way. When it comes to UM and MSU, again two very mediocre teams, forget about sending them off to the Tidy Bowl, or Sno-Bowl, or Outhouse Bowl, or whatever in a faraway place which comes with a huge price tag.

Send them both to the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl in Detroit for a rematch. Instead of high-priced air fare, we're talking buses. No need for fancy motel rooms. They can both jump on Greyhounds the morning of the game, be there in plenty of time to play at night, shower up after the game, get back on the buses and go back to Ann Arbor and East Lansing to their dorms. No muss, no fuss, and no big tab either. And who in their right mind would want to get to Detroit a couple weeks early to walk around and see the sights anyway?

There would be other benefits, as well. Their faithful fans would likely pack the house at Ford Field because of the in-state rivalry, and they'd save a fortune on air fare and motels rooms themselves. They could drive there in an hour or two, and be back home in time to go to church, or at least watch the NFL on Sunday.

Besides that, the first game between UM and MSU, narrowly won by Michigan, was probably amongst the most boring games all season long across the spectrum of NCAA football. A rematch would HAVE to be more interesting than THAT one.

Don't lavish money on mediocrity, make it cheaper and easier for their fans, and feature two teams that deserve each other, while the rest of the country couldn't care less about whatever happens. Little Caesar's baron Mike Ilitch might even throw in free pizza -- with half the pepperoni dyed blue, and the other half dyed green.

What could possibly go wrong with that?