Little Caesars Pizza Bowl

The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl is a college football postseason game played at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich., each year. Previously known as the Motor City Bowl and first contested in 1997, the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl features a team from the Mid-American Conference against a bowl-eligible opponent from either the Big Ten or Sun Belt conferences. Purdue is the defending champion, winning the 2011 edition against Western Michigan.

The Little Caesars Pizza Bowl began as the Motor City Bowl in 1997, when Mississippi defeated Marshall 34-31 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit. After suffering a loss in that inaugural game, Marshall returned as the Mid-American Conference representative to claim three straight victories in the Motor City Bowl from 1998 to 2000.

After hosting the game for the first five editions, the Silverdome was replaced by Detroit's Ford Field as home for the Motor City Bowl in 2002. That year, Boston College overwhelmed Toledo 51-25. Toledo was again on the losing end at Ford Field two years later, when the University of Connecticut earned its first bowl win as a Football Bowl Subdivision school.

Central Michigan gave the Mid-American Conference a Motor City Bowl victory in 2006, winning over Middle Tennessee 31-14. The Chippewas went on to appear three straight years at Ford Field but could not claim another win, losing to Purdue and Florida Atlantic in successive seasons.

Little Caesars took over from the three major automakers (Ford, General Motors and Chrysler) as the bowl's title sponsor in 2009 and changed the game's name to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl. In the first edition of the bowl with its new name, Marshall won the game for a fourth time in five attempts by defeating Ohio 21-17. The following season, Florida International made its postseason debut, winning a bowl game in its first appearance.

Purdue returned to Detroit in 2011, winning over Western Michigan in its first bowl appearance since winning what was then called the Motor City Bowl in 2007. Purdue joined Marshall as the only teams to win the game more than once.