Barta on bowls (+ Iowa's final regular season notes/stats)

[NOTE: We now have solid numbers from this season from the UI associate athletics director Rick Klatt.]

Iowa will play in the Outback or the Gator or the Insight. It's just kind of stuck there right now, with much of the Hawkeyes' bowl fate hanging on the SEC title game.

So, this will go down to Sunday night for the official and Sunday afternoon for the unofficial or travel agent announcements.

"In the old days, we would go back and forth and lobby with bowls and there wasn't be these bowl alignments," Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said. "The reality of today is everybody has to stand pat until the BCS makes the official selection. No matter how many conversations you have back and forth, the bowls keep things close to the vest."

So, Barta's mission this week has been to educate bowls on what Iowa is this season, at least beyond the 7-5 record that included three straight losses to end the season.

Now, does "educate" really mean "lobby" here? Either way, you can't argue with Barta's tactics. The Hawkeyes did, after all, hold steady over Penn State for the Orange Bowl bid last season.

"I want to make sure that there's no information that's left assumed," Barta said. "I don't want bowls to assume that some other school might draw a higher TV audience. I make sure they have the facts for our TV audience. I make sure they understand how many fans we bring to games every year. I don't assume they just know that."

Barta said Iowa's TV rating for football this season were better than Penn State's. Penn State, of course, said otherwise, at least historically. ESPN2's Penn State-Michigan State game last week was the highest viewed and rated Big Ten football on the network this season. Overall ratings numbers provided by UI associate athletics director Rick Klatt say Iowa topped PSU in ratings for the 2010 season [see below].

"That's what we've been doing the last couple weeks," Barta said. "We're making sure the bowls have all the information about great Hawkeye fan travel, about our television ratings, which are terrific this year. If you take a look at the television ratings, our per game average of millions of people watching are very close, but slightly ahead of Penn State and Michigan.

"We're making sure they have that information so they're making a decision not based on an assumption."

Barta wouldn't answer if Iowa and Penn State were in a head-to-head battle for the Outback Bowl. The Big Ten could have five 7-5 teams if Illinois wins at Fresno State this Saturday.

"I'm not going to assume that any one of us is above," Barta said. "Now, there are some historical things that are really positive in our favor, either who we've beaten, how many fans we'll travel and our TV ratings, but again, I'm not going to make that assumption.

"I'm going to go on and make sure we have regular contact with the bowls, make sure they have factual information and then see where the dust settles."

Iowa, Penn State, Michigan and Northwestern are all 7-5. Illinois could join that group. Iowa is 2-1 against these four teams with victories over Penn State (24-3) and Michigan (38-28) and a 21-17 loss at Northwestern. Iowa and Illinois didn't play this season.

The Big Ten goes into the nebulous bowl season with three 11-1 teams, Wisconsin, Ohio State and Michigan State. Iowa was 1-2 against those three. Wisconsin owns the highest BCS ranking and thus has the inside track to the Big Ten's Rose Bowl bid. Ohio State likely will get selected for the Sugar Bowl and Michigan State likely will slot to the Capital One, with the Outback making the first choice of the Big Ten's 7-5 group.

After the Outback (Tampa, Fla.), it's the Gator Bowl (Jacksonville, Fla.) and then the Insight (Tempe, Ariz.).

There is some strong logic in assuming the Big Ten would get two teams in the BCS and one of the 11-1 teams to lock into the Capital One, but that's an assumption that no one Big Ten wanted to make at least through Friday.

"We could take our three one-loss teams and assume two would go to the BCS and one to the Cap One and everyone else could slot below," Barta said, "but we haven't been given any kind of comfort or guarantee that it would happen."

Barta estimated that sometime between 7 or 8 p.m. Sunday night Iowa would its bowl fate.

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Here are ratings provided by UI associate athletics director Rick Klatt:

IOWA

· 12 total measurements (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 games)

· 30,0124,547 total household impressions

· 2,521,379 average

PENN STATE

· 10 total measurements (ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 games)

· 22,508,218 total household impressions

· 2,250,821 average

These numbers don't include Big Ten Network or ESPNU numbers.

Pre Bowl Notes 10