Pittsburgh, Bowling Green ready for duel

Associated Press

DETROIT

Pittsburgh defensive tackle Aaron Donald won a slew of awards this year.

The senior is hoping to close the season with a win tonight against Bowling Green at the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl to help the Panthers finish with a winning record for the first time since he was a freshman.

The Falcons won’t be easy to beat.

Bowling Green (10-3) is favored to top the Panthers (6-6) at Ford Field, where it defeated previously unbeaten and 16th-ranked Northern Illinois in the Mid-American Conference championship game earlier this month.

The impressive victory and the program’s turnaround led to Wake Forest hiring coach Dave Clawson away from the Falcons.

Bowling Green picked former Eastern Illinois coach Dino Babers to replace Clawson but will be led in the bowl game by interim coach Adam Scheier.

Donald won the Lombardi, Outland, Nagurski and Bednarik awards and was the ACC defensive player of the year. The 6-foot, 285-pound defensive tackle had 10 sacks this season and led the nation with 2.2 tackles for loss per game. “He’s a disruptive force,” Scheier said. “We’re just going to have to keep him in check.”

Bowling Green averaged 35.4 points and 472.5 yards with a balanced offense.

Travis Greene ran for a single-season, school-record 1,555 yards.

Matt Johnson threw for 3,195 yards with 23 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Johnson outplayed Heisman Trophy finalist Jordan Lynch in the MAC title game, throwing four of his career-high five touchdown passes in the first half.

He was 21 of 27 for a career-high 393 yards, connected with five teammates for scores and didn’t throw an interception against a team playing for a BCS bowl bid.

The Panthers finished 6-7 in each of the last two years, capping each losing season with a lopsided defeat at the Compass Bowl. Mississippi routed Pitt 38-17 last season and SMU beat the Panthers 28-6 a year earlier.