2016 Pinstripe Bowl, Pitt vs. Northwestern: Date, time, location and everything to know

Also, head over here for the fully updated bowl season calendar as it fills in, from the New Orleans Bowl through the Rose Bowl. We’ll also add picks, scores, and more to that calendar over time.

The new Yankee Stadium, the house that replaced the House that Ruth Built, hosts college football games now. It’s the site of the annual Pinstripe Bowl, which this year has automatic tie-ins for someone from the ACC against someone from the Big Ten. (It’s also the site of a future Rutgers-Maryland game, which, fine.)

The Pinstripe organizers have their pick between mid-table finishers from two power leagues, and the games so far have wound up competitive. Sponsored by New Era, the game got going in 2010, and it’s been played just before New Year’s Eve ever year.

Last year’s Pinstripe Bowl was a barnburner. Duke beat Indiana 44-41 in a defense-optional sort of game, where the teams combined for a cool 1,203 yards of offense. Who knows if we’ll get something approximating that degree of fireworks again, but bowl games with lots of scoring are a generally good thing. Here’s to more of them.

Date and time: Dec. 28, 2 p.m. ET

TV channel: ESPN

Location: New York

Stadium: Yankee Stadium

Last year’s score: Duke 44, Indiana 41

Last year’s attendance: 37,218

Teams with the most all-time appearances: Syracuse, 2

Teams with the most all-time wins: Syracuse, 2

Pitt (8-4, 5-3 in ACC)

Easily the highlight of Pitt’s 2016 season was upsetting the No. 2 team in the country, the Clemson Tigers, 43-42 on a last-second field goal. The win, when paired with some of the other things the Panthers have been able to do this season, is pretty impressive.

During Week 2, second-year head coach Pat Narduzzi’s team managed to beat Penn State, which didn’t look all that impressive -- that is, until Penn State knocked off No. 2 Ohio State earlier in the season. Quarterback Nathan Peterman has thrown for 26 touchdowns and just six interceptions on the season. Running back James Conner is a nice complement to Pitt’s offense, with 14 scores on the season, less than a year after his triumphant victory over cancer.

The wins over Penn State and Clemson are good, but Pitt fans would definitely like to see the Panthers more competitive in the ACC. Given what Narduzzi has been able to do in two seasons, the Panthers should be in the thick of the ACC Coastal race going forward.

Northwestern (6-6, 5-4 in Big Ten)

It was a tale of two seasons for Northwestern. The Wildcats looked utterly lost when they started 0-2 against Western Michigan and Illinois State after last year’s 10-win campaign. But a one-point loss to WMU, which went undefeated, no longer looks bad. And NU managed to finish the year 6-4, mostly by feasting on the Big Ten’s bad teams. They won one non-conference game against Duke and also beat the likes of Michigan State, Purdue, and Illinois.

The Wildcats have a decent defense and not such a good offense. Sophomore QB Clayton Thorson was markedly better this year than when he was a freshman, and he had great chemistry with leading Big Ten receiver Austin Carr, who had 84 catches for 1,196 yards and is basically certain to get over 1,200 in a 13th game. Other than Carr, though, NU didn’t pile up a ton of numbers on the offensive side of the ball.

The defense has a few interesting players. Junior linebacker Anthony Walker Jr. is a stalwart, and defensive back Godwin Igwebuike led the team with 101 total tackles. NU held teams to 3.7 yards per carry and does, generally speaking, a solid job against the run.