Bowl Preparations

Preparations continue for the Hawkeyes travels to the Valley of the Sun and the Insight Bowl. Classes officially closed last Friday, but the focus is on Finals this week. Once the last exam is issued this Friday at 7pm, the football team's full attention turns towards Oklahoma, Iowa's bowl opponent.

Here the sun sets on the mountains that lie as a backdrop to the Hawkeye's Scottsdale temporary residence. A year ago Iowa called Chandler, Arizona home, but now as the visiting squad operations move to the north and the Scottsdale area. Practice takes place at Chapparal High School with the team's meeting room, video offices and day to day operations will be set up at nearby Hyatt Regency Gainey Ranch. The visiting team in the Insight Bowl uses these facilities while the home team sets up to the south.

Destination Tucson

The first road trip is upon the Iowa Hawkeyes, and it is one of the longest regular season trips this team has taken for a while. Saturday night at 9:30 the Hawkeyes will take on the Arizona Wildcats.

Packed within are the different shirts and hats that may be needed for availability as well as equipment needed by the Hawkeye training, managerial and video staffs.

Drivers Jeff and Billy closed the doors on the attractive semi just before 1pm and headed down the road for Arizona. They plan on pulling into town sometime Thursday evening. On Friday morning they will drop off the hotel required at the team's hotel then meet the team at the airport to pick up extra items that were needed to be flown down on the same flight as the Hawkeyes.

Game time is 9:30pm (Iowa time) and can be seen on ESPN. This is the only match-up of the day between two teams voted in the top 25, and one of three on the slate facing teams from the Big Ten and Pac 10.

Bowl Season Kicks Off

The first day of the 2008-09 bowl season got underway with four games, two in their inagural state. The winners were Wake Forest, Colorado State, South Florida (see picture) and Arizona.

Navy losing to Wake Forest was my disappointment of the day. The midshipmen were playing as close to home as possible in Washington DC. They got out to a two touchdown lead, but saw the Deamon Decons dominate the rest of the way.

Fresno State lost to the hands of Colorado State. The Bulldogs should have fared better this season, but never recovered from its loss to Wisconsin. FSU needed a win more than any other team on this day. What was once a promising season has turned into quite the disappointment.

South Florida dominated in their game with Memphis. It should've have in the inagural magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl in nearby Clearwater / St . Pete. The Bulls are better than what the Big East gave them in bowl assignments, but they need to attain a BCS birth. In a conference that isn't among the nation's elite USF has had their chances to take that next step, but have faltered.

Finally Arizona made the Pac 10 begin a respectable streak of winning bowl games. This is an impressive win over BYU and is a good start for the conference. Other games it should win include Oregon over Oklahoma State, and USC over Penn State.

Early Look at the Bowls

The bowls have been announced and the Hawkeyes are heading back to Tampa, Florida and the Outback Bowl for the third time since 2003. This has become a fan favorite for many Iowans and those that I have spoken to are excited about a return trip. I'm looking to returning to Hat Tricks, a earlier Night Out on the Town. The match-up is with the "Ole Ball Coach," Steve Spurrier. The former Florida Head Coach should have his hands full in trying to stop Iowa running back Shonn Greene.

A look at other bowl games.

Pioneer Las Vegas Bowl--BYU v Arizona. Is there not a worse fit for team and bowl than Las Vegas and Brigham Young? This will be the fourth straight trip to Vegas for the Cougars. Its a good thing the game is already sold out.

Independence Bowl--Louisiana Tech v Northern Illinois. This game is the only bowl on national tv that night. It was originally to pit a representative from the Big 12 and SEC, but neither had enough eligible teams. This is definitely not the match-up those in Shreveport were looking for, but on the other hand, not many want to spend the holidays in Shreveport.

Hawaii Bowl--Hawaii v Notre Dame. How is that for a reward? A 6-6 Irish team is able to travel to the islands to take on a very tough Hawaii team. It isn't very Christmas-like to place the Irish on the 24th. There will be little Christmas cheer for Notre Dame from this college football fan.

We'll pick on the Big Ten's bowl games as December progresses. My inital prediction is that the conference will not have a winning record. The teams with the best opportunity for victory are Iowa and Michigan State.