Barring last-minute “reprieve” BCS to select Iowa, not Penn State
Forget our past predictions, because it looks like the Penn State football team will be spending the holidays at the Capital One Bowl in Orlando, Florida. Assuming that the final weekend of the 2009 football season goes as expected, Joe Paterno and his team will be heading to the Capital One Bowl to spend the holidays, and not to a top-tier BCS bowl. The Iowa Hawkeyes – which beat Penn State on the field in September – looks to become the Big Ten’s second BCS entry and will most likely head to the Fiesta Bowl to take on Boise State.
As it stands, one has to assume that the winner of the Florida/Alabama SEC championship game will head to the BCS national championship in Pasadena, California to take on Texas, which assumes that the Longhorns defeat Nebraska in the Big 12 title game. Therefore, the Fiesta Bowl – which has a tie-in with the Big 12 – will be able to select both a replacement (since Texas would be unavailable) and an at-large team for its January 4th game. Fiesta Bowl officials, of course, off the record have expressed a desire to select Iowa under this scenario.
If Texas stumbles, however and Nebraska gets the automatic Fiesta Bowl bid, Texas would almost certainly take one of the at-large selections and likely head to the Sugar Bowl to take on the Florida/Alabama loser. In this scenario, the Fiesta Bowl would most likely pit Nebraska against Boise State, leaving the Orange Bowl deciding between Iowa and Penn State to take on the ACC Champion. Under this scenario, the Orange will likely select the Nittany Lions over the Hawkeyes.
Official bowl bids will be announced on Sunday.
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Penn State will be selected over Iowa for any major bowl game….book that. No one wants to see a dull and boring team rife with injuries. They want ratings, people in seats and a lively game. With PSU you'll get that…not Iowa.
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