Hawkeyes are in the 11th- or 16th- or 21st-best bowl

Matt Brown, who writes good stuff for Sports On Earth, ranks the Iowa-Florida Outback Bowl 21st in terms of attractive viewing among all 40 bowls.

'First one to six safeties wins,' Brown says, picking the Gators, 12-11.

Click on this link to read the whole list, but I will say I agree totally with No. 40. Boston College-Maryland in the Quick Lane Bowl, two 6-6 teams that don't have a win over any FBS team with a winning record.

Tom Fornelli of CBSsports.com gives the Outback a higher rating at 11th.

'This game should be ugly, but sometimes ugly is good,' Fornelli said. That's quite a sales pitch.

Dr. Saturday of Yahoo Sports splits the difference, calling the Outback the 16th-best.

Now for a few random bowl thoughts of my own:

My new favorite bowl name is the Dollar General Bowl. It's in Mobile, Ala., and it used to be known as the Mobile Alabama Bowl, then the GMAC Bowl, then the GoDaddy.com Bowl, then the GoDaddy Bowl.

Isn't 'Dollar General' the perfect name for a third-tier bowl? The Dec. 23 matchup is Ohio vs. Troy, in a battle of four-letter words.

By the way, I went into a Dollar General Saturday. That was a trip unto itself. One customer was talking to herself, and quite loudly. She found herself to be highly entertaining. I didn't necessarily agree. ...

My favorite bowl pairing is Utah against Indiana in the Foster Farms Bowl. Of all the fan bases to bring to the San Francisco Bay Area, how about Utah's and Indiana's? People from blood-red states surrounded by San Francisco's liberalism and pluralism.

Nebraska played there last year. ...

When Western Michigan, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan are all in bowls, yes, there may be too many bowls. ...

I never include the two national semifinals in my top five bowl pairings because they're overhyped and not great. Remember that Alabama-Michigan State thriller last year?

So here are my five:

1. Cotton Bowl: Western Michigan vs. Wisconsin

. I won't see it since it will be played at the same time as the Outback Bowl. But Western Michigan is trying to do the near-impossible for a lower-level FBS team in this college football era, which is go unbeaten over a full season.

That's because the mid-majors have to play road games against big boys for paychecks. The Broncos did just that, and won at Northwestern and Illinois.

WMU will be motivated as all get-out to win. Will Wisconsin?

2. Rose Bowl: Penn State vs. USC

. I think USC has the second-best team in the nation right now, behind Alabama.

But Penn State is the best team I've seen in person.

3. Holiday Bowl: Minnesota vs. Washington State

. Minnesota runs. Washington State throws.

4. Pinstripe Bowl: Northwestern vs. Pittsburgh

. The Pitt Panthers beat Penn State and Clemson. Northwestern beat Iowa and nearly knocked off Ohio State.

Both teams have superb running backs in Justin Jackson of Northwestern and James Conner of Pitt. Wildcats receiver Austin Carr is tied with Penn State running back Saquon Barkley for the most-impressive individual performance I saw in person this season.

5. Hawaii Bowl: Hawaii vs. Middle Tennessee State

: This bowl is part of my annual Christmas Eve tradition of sitting a dark room in middle America, where it's freezing outside, and watching more-fortunate souls enjoying themselves outdoors in Hawaii.

It fuels bitterness and resentment, and thus is a nice lead-in to Christmas Day festivities. ...

The hospitality at (name any of the 40 bowls) is second to none. That's what 80 athletic directors and 80 head coaches will say between next week and Jan. 2. Then they'll go somewhere else for the bonuses they get for their teams being in those bowls.