Iowa bowl bound?
ESPN.com’s Mark Schlabach came out with his very early bowl projections today, and he had Iowa among eight bowl-bound teams from the Big Ten. Hold your excitement … he has the Hawkeyes playing Ball State in the Motor City Bowl. He’s got Ohio State reaching the BCS title game — again — this time against Georgia and Wisconsin facing USC in the Rose Bowl.
Last season, 10 teams from the Big Ten reached six wins — the traditional “bowl eligible” plateau — but only eight of them went bowling. Iowa (6-6) and Northwestern (6-6) stayed home.
On top of Ohio State, Wisconsin and Iowa, Schlabach predicts Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Purdue will also qualify for bowls. That leaves Indiana, Northwestern and Minnesota home for the holidays.
I think Schlabach’s pretty close, though I could just as easily see Northwestern and Indiana going bowling as I can Iowa and Michigan State. And Illinois and Penn State certainly could contend for a BCS berth since the Big Ten almost always gets two.
The key for Ohio State will be the Sept. 13 game at USC. Win that, and I don’t see the Buckeyes slipping up on their way to a third straight championship game.
Interesting Iowa-related note: Iowa only will play one bowl-bound team in the nonconference schedule, according to Schlabach’s projections. He has Pitt contending for the Big East title and the BCS bowl berth that goes along with it, writing “The Panthers are a serious dark horse to win the Big East and compete for a spot in a BCS bowl game. Pitt fans have waited patiently for coach Dave Wannstedt to turn his talented recruits into winners, and this might be the year.” Ultimately, Schlabach went back on that when making his predictions, putting West Virginia in the Orange Bowl and Pitt in the Meineke Car Care Bowl against North Carolina.
Any preseason hype Pitt receives only can help Iowa this season, because if the Hawkeyes can pull an early season upset on the road, they will catch the eye of a lot of AP voters. And a win at Pitt should have Iowa 4-0 entering Big Ten play, because Maine, Florida International and Iowa State at home should be wins.
Always of interest to Big Ten fans: The SEC led the way with 10 of 12 teams qualifying for bowls, according to Schlabach.
Meanwhile, Scout.com has its “way too early” bowl projections out and has Iowa playing Oklahoma State in the Insight Bowl on New Year’s Eve in Tempe, Ariz. That’s the same game — and the same opponent — the Hawkeyes would have had with a win over Western Michigan in the regular-season finale last year.
