Independence Day

Last night in Detroit, we witnessed what might be the biggest logo on any football field ever.  The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl logo extended to the 41 yard line on each side, pretty much filling the big screen in the upper level of stately PFOS Manor.  Size matters, and this was a big one.  Unfortunately, color also matters, and it's a pretty dull and uninspiring logo, and the size and colors made the players disappear when the teams lined up for plays in the middle of the field.  The game itself was pretty exciting, and we won as the teams combined for 60+ points, eclipsing our +56 hurdle.

This evening in Shreveport, Louisiana, the Air Force Falcons (8-4, #2 nationally rushing offense) take on the Georgia Tech Yellowjackets (6-6, #1 nationally rushing offense) in the Independence Bowl. 

Both teams run the option.  GT runs it from the spread, Air Force runs the triple option.  Georgia Tech is coached by Paul Johnson, whose previous job was running the football program at the Naval Academy, another program that lives and breathes the option.

GT arrives in this game wheezing a bit: they went 1-4 in the last five games of their regular schedule.  They've lost their #1 QB to an injury, their #1 receiver (top receiver on a team that doesn't pass?) to grades, along with their starting safety, also an academic casualty.

Air Force arrives having won 4 of its last 5 and should have everybody healthy.  Academic casualties don't seem to happen at the service academies.

Original Independence Bowl logo, showing
the eagle going for an interception.

BTW, the Independence Bowl received its name as an association of having been played for the first time in 1976, the U.S.A.'s bicentennial year.  I remember the summer, as my friend Jimmy (later to become Jimmy the Cop) showed up at my parents' home for my 4th of July party with a case of beer under each arm, well on his way to drinking 200 beers over the weekend, his way of saluting America's 200th birthday.  I also recall that his girlfriend walked into the brick chimney on her way out that evening, giving her a souveneir of the bicentennial in the middle of her face.  Sobriety did not stand in the way of youthful patriotism, though the chimney did.

Air Force is a 2 1/2 point favorite.  I think they will cover.