Tennessee Tech's first two football games this year: Iowa and ... Maryville?

The football programs of the University of Iowa and Maryville College of Maryville, Tenn., have at least two things in common.

1. They have both played in the Capital One Bowl in Orlando. Iowa was there on Jan. 1, 2005, when it beat LSU with a fairly memorable finish.

Maryville played in the initial Cap One Bowl, back when it was the Tangerine Bowl.

That didn't go so well for the Fighting Scots, as they lost to Catawba, 31-0, on Jan. 1, 1947.

2. Both play Tennessee Tech this season. Iowa hosts the I-AA (FCS) Golden Eagles on Sept. 3. Tech then comes home to play Maryville the following Thursday night. It will not be on ESPN. Maryville is a Division III program. Tech hasn't played Maryville since 1948. You know, back in the era when the Golden Eagles were going to Tangerine Bowls.

Let's recap: Iowa is playing a team that will turn around and play a Division III team the following week. A Division III team that went 4-6 last year. That's different.

Tennessee Tech, by the way, has just one winning record in the last six seasons, and hasn't won an Ohio Valley Conference championship since 1975 when it shared the title with Western Kentucky.

However, the Golden Eagles have also played in the Capital One (then Tangerine) Bowl. In 1953, East Texas State beat Tennessee Tech there, 33-0. And in 1960, The Citadel beat TTU in the Tangerine, 27-0. The Golden Eagles' other bowl appearance was a 35-0 loss to Louisiana Tech in the 1972 Grantland Rice Bowl.

Tennessee Tech at Iowa, folks. It's three months away. It's gonna be a scene, my babies.