In Brian Brunner’s opinion, Ford Field is not just a home for the NFL’s Detroit Lions, but for the CMU football team as well.

On Dec. 26, the Chippewas will take on Florida Atlantic in the 12th annual Motor City Bowl. The game will mark the fifth time in three seasons that the Chippewas have played in Ford Field, which Brunner said has become a little bit of Kelly/Shorts Stadium Southeast.

“I think a couple years back when we played for the MAC championship game there, it had that kind of effect, that ‘wow, we’re playing in Ford Field. Holy cow, this is unbelievable.’ We were almost awestruck,” Brunner said. “Now it’s become a little bit of Kelly/Shorts Stadium Southeast. This is the fifth time in three years that we will be playing there, so I think we’re a little bit more comfortable.”

Brunner said that the Motor City Bowl can become similar to the home-field advantage that Boise State University and Hawaii University have with bowl games on their respective home fields.

“I think here with this being the third year in a row that we’re going down to Detroit in the Motor City Bowl, it’s really become for us kind of a home bowl game,” Brunner said. “It’s our game, this Motor City Bowl. It’s become almost a tradition, much like the bowl itself, that CMU is going to be playing in it. …It’s such a benefit for our program and for our fans to be able to see us every year in that postseason game. I mean, we know the area, they know us and it’s really become a good relationship.”

CMU junior quarterback Dan LeFevour said it is the metro Detroit’s reception to the Chippewas that excites them about heading back for another game.

Last season’s Motor City Bowl against Purdue drew a record 60,624 fans and although LeFevour said the team only focuses on things it can control, he admitted the Chippewas are hoping for a sellout crowd of 65,000.

“The support during that game is huge, but attendance is really not in our control and we’re not going to worry about that much,” LeFevour said. “It definitely brings a different level of energy, being a bowl game. Hopefully having sellout crowd, I think would excite us.”

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E-mail the author: Justin Berndt