Will Anyone Go?

If a bowl game is played, but no one's there to watch it, does it really count?

Seriously, though. With the announcement that Pitt will be headed to Charlotte to play the Tarheels for the Meineke Car Care Bowl, does anyone really care? As bad as it sounds, it could get worse.

You see, playing against North Carolina will basically be a road game. Not to mention that with wins at Virginia Tech and against Miami, they're not bad, either. This is a game Pitt can win, but getting to ten wins will be no guarantee. Throw in the fact that Pitt is surely disappointed after dropping their final two games, and you wonder if they'll be ready to play.

According to Paul Zeise of the PG, apparently Pitt could have been beaten out by Rutgers for this bowl because they weren't sure the 12,000 allotment of tickets could be sold. It also sounded like Pitt might have been more interested in going to Birmingham to play South Carolina. Let's see:

Meineke Car Care Bowl - Cold weather, solid away game, vs. a non-interesting team, and the day after Christmas.

Versus

PapaJohns.com Bowl - Warm weather, neutral field, vs. a Steve Spurrier-led SEC team, the day after New Years.

Hmmm....I'll take option B.

Either way Pitt will have a hard time convincing people to drop plans to spend Christmas with family to head to a cold-weather town with not much happening. Sure it's within driving distance for many, unlike Birmingham. But Pitt probably won't get a strong showing for this one.

If you don't mind traveling over Christmas, here's more info.