Hey Outback, Gator and Insight bowls -- go ahead and make your Big Ten selections

We know Wisconsin is going to the Rose Bowl and Ohio State to a BCS bowl, almost certainly the Sugar. This is fact. The BCS can do its dog-and-pony show Sunday, but two Big Ten teams are going to BCS bowls. Again.

So go ahead, Capital One Bowl, invite 11-1 Michigan State. Not that you have a choice.

Now it's your turn, Outback Bowl. Make your Big Ten pick, then let the Gator Bowl make its, the Insight Bowl make its, etc.

The Cotton Bowl didn't wait around Tuesday, making it known it is inviting Texas A&M. Good for the Cotton. Now all those Aggies can start making their travel plans to go all the way from College Station to Cowboys Stadium in Arlington.

The Outback Bowl could make its pick known today if it wanted. Michigan State is going to the Cap One. So who do you want, Outback? Iowa, Penn State or Michigan? It's probably an Iowa-or-Penn State choice, really.

Mark Schlabach and Adam Rittenberg of ESPN.com have Penn State going to the Outback as Adam's Tuesday post on this matter tells us.

David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News sums up what those ESPN guys think about the Outback's pick, and I agree:

Iowa has played in three of the last seven Outback Bowls. The way their Hawkeyes have performed lately, you have to wonder how many Iowa fans could get charged up about another trip to Tampa for the fourth time in eight years.

But Jones added this line: I could see Iowa plunging down the list, possibly all the way to the Insight Bowl in Phoenix.

I wonder. Would the Gator Bowl take Michigan over Iowa? Who knows what these people are thinking?

The SEC team that would most likely play in the Gator Bowl? Would you believe ... the Gators?

Garry Smits of the Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville says yes in this story. An excerpt:

If Auburn beats South Carolina, the Tigers would go the BCS national championship game and the Sugar Bowl is likely to pick up Arkansas as its replacement for losing Auburn to Glendale, Ariz.

Under the SEC bowl lineup (and most projections), the Capital One Bowl in Orlando would take Alabama to play Michigan State, the Outback Bowl would snap up South Carolina to face Iowa or Penn State and the Chick-fil-A Bowl would take Mississippi State to face the loser of the ACC championship game between Florida State and Virginia Tech.

The would leave Florida to the Gator Bowl, almost by default.

Like Iowa, Florida is 7-5 after being in the AP preseason Top Ten. More from the Times-Union story:

"We'd be extremely happy with either Penn State or Iowa," said Gator Bowl president Rick Catlett, who also pointed out that Michigan (7-5) and Illinois (6-5 with a game remaining Saturday against Fresno State) remain on the bowl's board.

What if the Outback took Penn State and the Gator grabbed Michigan. Iowa would surely then land in the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., to play a Big 12 team. But which one? The candidates right now include Missouri, Oklahoma State, and even Big 12 title-game contestants Oklahoma and Nebraska.

From Tom Shatel's blog on the Omaha World-Herald's site:

Texas A&M accepted a Cotton Bowl bid on Tuesday. That narrows things down a bit for the Nebraska-Oklahoma loser on Saturday night. I'd say it makes it pretty obvious: Insight Bowl. The Alamo Bowl opponent is either going to be Arizona or Washington (with an Arizona loss at home to Arizona State on Thursday night - not likely). Bob Stoops has made it clear that he won't play his brother, UA coach Mike Stoops. And I was told Tuesday by some NU officials that Bo Pelini wasn't crazy about playing good friend Mike Stoops last year in the Holiday Bowl and won't want a rematch. I don't think Husker fans will either. As much as they like San Antonio, I don't see Nebraska fans wanting to go back into Texas for a rematch with Arizona. I think they would much rather go back to Arizona - for the first time since 1999 - and play Michigan or Iowa.

After the BCS and the Cotton, the Alamo Bowl gets the next Big 12 pick, and then the Insight. The Insight Bowl raised its payouts before this season and scooted up the Big Ten and Big 12 pecking orders.

The Cotton Bowl wants a Texas A&M-LSU game. It's a renewal of a rivalry that was halted in 1995. The schools are six hours apart by car.

It would be interesting if the Nebraska-Oklahoma loser either rejected the Alamo or was rejected by the Alamo. If Arizona is clearly the Alamo's Pac-10 team, there's no way Oklahoma goes there for a Mike Stoops-vs.-Bob Stoops game.

First, Arizona has to beat Arizona State Saturday. Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times wrote this:

"If Arizona takes care of business they will be coming our way,'' (Alamo Bowl spokesman Rick) Hill said. "If Arizona lost, Washington would become a serious consideration if they won the Apple Cup (Saturday against Washington State)." ...

Hill said the Alamo Bowl will have a rep at the Arizona-ASU game Thursday in Tucson and if Arizona wins, their work will pretty much be done.

But he said the bowl has "tentative reservations'' to send a representative to the Apple Cup in case there is a need to scout out the Huskies.

If it's Arizona in the Alamo, and Oklahoma loses to Nebraska, do the Sooners skip the Alamo and go to the next bowl on the Big 12's list, the Insight? And if Nebraska loses to OU? Well, you saw Shatel's theory. The Insight.

But would the Alamo take Missouri or Oklahoma State? Missouri has a reputation for not bring many fans, and Oklahoma State played in last year's Alamo.

And would these Big 12 bowls without a Big Ten matchup pass on a 10-3 Nebraska team that is leaving its league?

If it's Nebraska or Oklahoma in the Insight Bowl, if I'm an Iowa fan I want the Gator Bowl to spurn Iowa if the Outback takes Penn State. You can't tell me you'd rather see Iowa-Florida than Iowa-Nebraska or Iowa-Oklahoma. Or even Iowa-Missouri or Iowa-Oklahoma State.

Mizzou and Oklahoma State are 10-2. If I'm the Hawkeyes, I want the best bowl foe I can get to try to salavage some respect. You beat a 7-5 Florida and no one cares. Knock off one of those Big 12 big boys, and you exit a disappointing season with the last snapshot of the season a good one.