This is how you fight the power. After Georgia Tech's baffling 6-7 bowl waiver was granted, I thought for sure CMU would spend the season bowl-less. A 6-6 season would've been a fine finish to their season, matching their combined 2010-11 win total.
But the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl said "bollocks" to the system. According to legend, the GoDaddy.com Bowl got their first pick (Kent State) and the LCPB, with strong MAC relations, understood that if they didn't take the Chips, nobody would. Ergo they selected CMU as well as Western Kentucky, who is playing in its first bowl game ever.
But the pick also makes sense from an attendance perspective. We noted how the MACCG attendance always went over 20,000 during the CMU/Dan LeFevour era and had they brought in someone like Ball State or Ohio, then theoretically there'd be more open seats and fewer MAC teams in bowls.
As a result, this honestly might be the weakest bowl matchup of the 35. Both teams are about average on offense, CMU's defense is rather weak and WKU actually has a negative turnover margin. If momentum is a thing that can exist through a December 26 bowl game, Central Michigan are winners of three straight while the Hilltoppers lost four of their last six.