IF YOU'RE GOING TO ORDER PIZZA ONLINE...

The two bowls games offer symmetry, or asymmetry, depending upon your perspective. Or depending upon my lack of acumen (lackumen?) in explication. First, the PapaJohns.com Bowl, from Birmingham, offers a pair of teams, N.C. State and Rutgers, who each ended the season on at least a four-game win streak. I loved the way Rutgers finished its season--quarterback Mike Teel went nuts, tossing 20 touchdown passes in the Scarlet Knights' final five games against just five INTs. RU finished the season on a six-game win streak.

Later tonight you have the Valero Alamo Bowl, which really needs to be sponsored by Alamo Rent-a-Car, so that we could rename it the Alamo Alamo Bowl. This game pits two teams, Missouri and Northwestern, who opened the season 5-0 and then cooled off once conference play began. Some are also calling it the J-school bowl, as these two institutions are highly regarded for their journalist--and sport journalism--alums. 

That said, the alma maters of some of America's most highly regarded sports writers (pardon the oxymoron) or popular sports writers or reviled ones:

Steve Rushin (the creme de la creme, gainfully employed or not)..Marquette

Rick Reilly................................................................................Colorado

Jim Murray (deceased)..............................................................Trinity (Conn.)

Red Smith (deceased)...............................................................Notre Dame

Gary Smith...............................................................................La Salle

Bill Simmons............................................................................Holy Cross

Tom Verducci...........................................................................Penn State

Will Leitch................................................................................Illinois

Buzz Bissinger...........................................................................Penn

Jeff Pearlman..............................................................................Delaware

Skip Bayless (who can bench more than this entire panel combined, just ask him)....Vanderbilt

Mitch Albom...............................................................................Brandeis (though he learned everything he needed to know from Morrie)

(I purposely omitted Mike Lupica from this list simply because if he knew of the list and the omission, it would irk him).

Which is not to say that Northwestern (Michael Wilbon, Teddy Greenstein, Stewart Mandel, J.A. Adande, Christine Brennan, Brent Musberger, Rich Eisen, etc.) and Mizzou ("the world's first school of journalism", which recently celebrated its centennial) don't have proper claim on being among the two best. I'm just sayin'...

Anyway, Mizzou is a huge favorite (12.5 points) over the Wildcats tonight, which is exactly why I like Northwestern. Last year Missouri lost the Big 12 Championship Game and settled for the Cotton Bowl. The Tigers had most everyone back and were surely aiming toward a BCS bowl. Instead, they lost early to Oklahoma State and then got steam-rolled by both Texas and Oklahoma. They also lost to Kansas in the annual Border War.

And so now Mizzou once again finds itself in a non-BCS bowl in Texas, but one less prestigious than last season's. It's a letdown. Northwestern, meanwhile, is fired up to be here and has a substantial goal worthy of their aspirations: becoming the first Wildcat squad to win a bowl game since 1949.

On paper--and even on your computer screen--Northwestern should be overwhelmed. Even one of their own alums, my colleage Stewart Mandel, predicted a 41-20 Mizzou victory (though I feel as if he was just hoping to provide some negative motivation for his Cats). But, factoring in the ships-passing-in-the-night 'tudes of the two teams, I like Northwestern. If not to win, then certainly to cover.