Central Michigan University Could Compete With the Lions

It may not be fair to compare a college football team to a NFL team, but in the case of the Detroit Lions, it can be done.  Last night, the Central Michigan Chippewas won the 2006 Motor City Bowl 31-14 over Middle Tennessee.  This Motor City Bowl set the record for attendance with 54,113 people at the game.  The main reason for that was because Central Michigan played in the game, which was the first time ever that a local team made the trip to Detroit for the annual bowl contest.  In fact, this wasn't the only time Central Michigan played in Ford Field this season.

Back in late November, Central Michigan played Ohio in the MAC Championship at Ford Field.  CMU won the game easily and ended up clinching a spot in the Motor City Bowl.  Upon their return to Detroit, the Chippewas had little trouble winning again.  Now, the sad part about all this.  Central Michigan, a MAC school that only played twice at Ford Field, had the same number of non-exhibition wins as the Detroit Lions did at the facility.

It really doesn't make much of a difference one way or the other, but it is quite embarrassing when a college has as many wins as a pro team at a specific venue when they don't even share it.  It would be one thing if CMU and the Lions played at the same stadium, but the Chippewas coming to Ford Field twice was merely by chance.  Also, look at the statistics part of it.  Central Michigan averaged 31.0 points per game at Ford Field and the Lions 18.0 during the regular season.  

Maybe Detroit should start scheduling some of these MAC teams seeing as they can't beat any NFL teams not located in Buffalo or Atlanta.