Wait a minute…I thought we were done with insignificant bowl games?  Apparently not, as Central Michigan and Troy State head to Mobile, Alabama to play in the GMAC Bowl.  I have no clue why they scheduled this game now instead of earlier in the bowl season.  Maybe they were thinking that without any other bowl games on TV that people might actually watch it, but they could have done the same thing in December when people were all excited for college football betting season..er…bowl season to begin.  This rant in no way should be seen as a slight on either team as they’re both pretty good.  Central Michigan won the Mid American Conference for their third title in 4 years and finished 11-2.  Troy State–which is now technically Troy University but I’ll forever call them Troy State–won the Sun Belt Conference and finished 9-3.  Both teams feature excellent quarterbacks who may wind up playing on Sundays in CMU’s Dan LeFevour and Troy’s Levi Brown.  In actuality, its a matchup that could produce a very entertaining football game.  Just so you know how hard I work for you, there was a dude cheerleader in this picture and I had to crop him out.  So don’t think I’m not willing to go the extra mile for you people.

GMAC BOWL:  TROY VS. CENTRAL MICHIGAN

On paper these teams are pretty evenly matched, but there are a number of what we sports handicappers call ‘emotional/subjective factors’ that point the way of the underdog Troy Trojans.  First of all, Central Michigan is in that dreaded ‘we don’t have a coach’ situation that we saw several times this bowl season.  In their case, the Chippewas lost their coach in the Notre Dame shuffle.  After Brian Kelly bolted Cincinnati for Notre Dame, CMU’s Butch Jones was offered and accepted the gig in Cincy.  Hard to blame the guy for making this move from a career standpoint, but it does leave the team in something of a state of flux for this contest.  Associate coach Steve Stripling has been named head coach on an interim basis and that’s not an easy situation to be in.  With no guarantee that he’ll be considered for the top job and no assurance that he’ll still be around under a new regime, he’s in a position where he’s got to start working the phones putting the proverbial irons in the fire for next season while trying to provide some continuity and stability to his football team.

The venue also makes it tough for Central Michigan.  It’s the first time they’ve left the state of Michigan for a bowl game since the 1994 Las Vegas Bowl.  While the players will no doubt enjoy a mid winter trip to The Redneck Riviera the Alabama Gulf Coast, the distance and scheduling of the game after the holidays makes it a tough trip for their supporters.  Troy, on the other hand, should have a great turnout.  It’s just a three hour drive down the Interstate from their campus and lest we forget, the entire state will already be shut down for the Crimson Tide’s appearance in Thursday’s BCS Championship game.

CMU may have a marginal edge in talent, but the situational advantage puts us on the de facto home underdog.

PLAY TROY +2′ OVER CENTRAL MICHIGAN