Fun Facts: Tennessee-Iowa

What's more fun than a TaxSlayer Bowl?

Surely not an Armed Forces Bowl. That sounds a bit militant. And definitely not a Cactus Bowl. Too prickly.

Not that the idea of addressing taxes is exactly a laugh riot. But we'll just have to make do, so on with the Fun Facts.

1. Tennessee's regular-season opponents had a combined record of 94-54 going into the bowls. Iowa's were 74-73. The Volunteers played five teams that were ranked at the time they met. Iowa faced one, Wisconsin.

2. Iowa outgained its opponents by an average of 339 yards to 288. Tennessee outgained its opponents by an average of 331 yards to 287. Similar, huh?

3. The Hawkeyes beat Tennessee in the 1982 Peach Bowl, 28-22. Iowa won its final two regular-season games that year, against Wisconsin and Michigan State, to play its way into its first non-Rose Bowl postseason game. The 28 points they scored against the Vols matched their second-largest output of the season. Chuck Long threw three touchdown passes that day for Iowa.

4. Long threw four interceptions in Iowa's 14-6 loss to Florida in the Gator (now TaxSlayer) Bowl the next year.

5. There were 16 bowl games in 1982. There are 38 this year, plus the national-championship game.

6. Tennessee hasn't had a winning record in the SEC since 2007. It's 5-19 in the SEC over the last three years. If it loses today, this will be its fourth-straight 7-loss season.

7. Iowa has rushed for 135.0 yards per game. Last season it averaged 179.9.

8. Tennessee quarterbacks have been sacked 42 times and the Vols have surrendered 97 tackles for losses. Both numbers lead the SEC. The sacks-allowed ranked 122nd nationally heading into the bowls.

9. On the other hand, the Vols' defense has 35 quarterback sacks, up from 18 last season. Freshman defensive end Derek Barnett has 10 sacks and 20.5 tackles for losses all by himself.

10. This is Iowa's eighth Florida bowl with Kirk Ferentz as coach. The Hawkeyes haven't played a football game in California in 24 years.

11. The Hawkeyes average 28.9 penalty yards, the Vols 32.4. That ranks them second and fourth in the nation, respectively, for fewest penalty yards.

12. Tennessee has gone 259 games without being shut out, the fourth-longest current streak in the nation behind Florida, TCU and Air Force.

13. Iowa hasn't missed a PAT kick attempt in its last 55 games, the longest active streak in FBS. That covers 164 PATs.

14. Tennessee receiver Alton Quamine 'Pig” Howard leads his team in catches with 52. The nickname came from his family. 'When I was little, I was fat and I was fast,” Howard said. 'Pig” is no pig. He's just 5-foot-8, 187 pounds. His cousin is Green Bay Packers rookie safety Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix, who broke up a pass intended for Howard when Tennessee played Alabama last year.

15. This is Tennessee's 50th bowl. The Vols are 25-24. Iowa is 14-12-1 in bowls.

16. Iowa is 6-5 in bowls since 2001. The only other Big Ten teams with winning bowl records since ‘01 are its newest members, Maryland (5-4) and Rutgers (7-3)

17. Iowa has played the Vols three times, but has never played eight of the 14 SEC teams. They are Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. The Hawkeyes have played Florida, LSU and South Carolina of the SEC in bowls only.

18. Tennessee's Neyland Stadium is named for Gen. Robert Reese Neyland, who was the Vols' coach from 1926 through 1952 with the exception of war years. He coached four national-champions. The Vols shut out their opponents in 112 of Neyland's 216 games, and blanked their foes for an NCAA-record 71 straight quarters.

19. Speaking of generals, both Knoxville, Tenn., and Knoxville, Iowa were named for Gen. Henry Knox. Tennessee's Knoxville has 26 times more residents than Iowa's Knoxville. But Iowa's Knoxville is the Sprint Car Capital of the World.

20. Tennessee Coach Butch Jones' full name is Lyle Allen Jones Jr. A half-acre lot in Saugatuck, Mich., was turned into Jones Park in honor of the elder Jones, who was Saugatuck's police chief from 1967 to 1993. The $50,000 project was paid for by the Jones family.

21. The SEC East, where Tennessee lives, is 3-0 in bowls so far. The Big Ten West, where Iowa resides, is 1-3.

The SEC West is 2-5. The Big Ten East is 4-1.

22. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will handle the pregame coin-toss at the TaxSlayer Bowl. That bodes well for Junior, because Kevin Harvick handled the coin-toss at last season's Outback Bowl, which also featured Iowa. Harvick went on to win the 2014 Sprint Cup championship.