Iowa-Nebraska in the Insight Bowl? It can happen, people. (Maybe)

What I've learned about the bowl-selection process over the years is to not believe everything you read or hear until the picks are set in stone.

On the Saturday before last year's Selection Sunday, who was saying Iowa would go to the Orange Bowl? Someone, maybe, but no one I remember. It was all about which Big Ten team the Fiesta Bowl would snap up, Iowa or Penn State.

Then the Fiesta passed on both in favor of a Boise State-TCU matchup, and the Hawkeyes landed in Miami.

This year, the suspense isn't anywhere near as great for Iowa and its fans, of course. Still, there's a scenario I'm craving that could stand you Hawkeye people on your ears if it should come true.

First off, this is written on Saturday morning. For my great 2010 dream to come to fruition, Nebraska has to lose the Big 12 title game to Oklahoma tonight. If it does ...

The Big 12's No. 2 bowl is the Cotton. Texas A&M has already been invited, so that's off the table to the Cornhuskers. Next is the Alamo.

This is where it gets interesting. But first ...

Iowa would have to be spurned by the Outback and Gator bowls to "fall" to the Insight.

Popular thinking -- always dangerous to put much trust in that, I concede - has Penn State going to the Outback. I think that will happen, but only if Alabama doesn't slide to the Outback. Which can only happen if South Carolina beats Auburn in today's SEC title game, and might not happen even then. Because there wouldn't be a Penn State-Alabama rematch in Tampa, not when 'Bama flattened Joe Paterno's men in September, 24-3.

Of course, Illinois flattened Penn State in State College. The same Illinois that lost at Fresno State last night.

So let's say Penn State goes to the Outback. It's between Iowa and Michigan for the Gator Bowl. Michigan, bowl-less the last two years, might be an enticing pick for the Gator even with its two-game losing streak and 7-5 record.

Would the Wolverines be off-putting to the Gator if Coach Rich Rodriguez were to get fired before the bowl? I say no. Controversy is good for sports biz.

If Penn State and Michigan both go to Florida, Iowa goes to its first Arizona bowl. Sure, it's the least-desirable of the three Arizona bowls this year, but why quibble?

And if you can play a good Big 12 team ...

OK, why wouldn't the Alamo Bowl take Nebraska and/or vice versa. Well, the Alamo's two most-likely Pac-10 representatives are 7-5 Arizona and Washington. If Washington beats Washington State today, the Huskies might have the upper hand. They'd be 6-6, but they'd have a 3-game winning streak, and would be going to their first bowl in eight years.

Nebraska has already played Washington this season, in Seattle. Nebraska won, 56-21. No rematch is required or desired.

The Cornhuskers played Arizona in last year's Holiday Bowl and crushed the Wildcats, 33-0. How do you sell a rematch of that?

Would the Alamo rather have Oklahoma State or Missouri, both 10-2, than marquee name Nebraska (9-3).  Sure. Oklahoma State, anyhow.

The Cowboys haven't played at the San Antonio game since 2004, and that game (agaisnt Ohio State) drew 65,265 fans, the fourth-most in Alamo Bowl history. Missouri has a poor reputation for bringing fans.

Alrighty then. Oklahoma in the Fiesta, A&M in the Cotton, Okie State in the Alamo. You're up next, Insight Bowl. Missouri or Nebraska? If you're interested in packing Sun Devil Stadium for a third-tier bowl, though, you bring in the Cornhuskers. If you feel some need to appease the Big 12, take a Missouri team with a better record than Nebraska, and shove the Huskers further down the Big 12's ladder, ask yourself how all those empty seats and untapped tourist dollars would feel.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Iowa-Nebraska in the Insight Bowl. There's no need to wait until next Nov. 26 in Lincoln to see the two collide. The night of Dec. 28, 2010, would be one the city of Tempe would never forget. A total invastion of Midwesterners for a game many locals didn't even know had existed.

Iowa-Nebraska. Oh, the humanity! The intensity, the punishment, the all-out brutality. And that would just be the fans on Mill Avenue in Tempe in the all-day drink-a-thon leading up to the 8 p.m. (Arizona time) kickoff.

Or maybe the Hawkeyes will play in Tampa or Jacksonville instead. Whatever.