Tuesday Reading Room -- Just like Iowa, Georgia Tech has juniors who may be thinking NFL

Iowa has an Orange Bowl date with Georgia Tech on Jan. 5. That's three weeks from today (Tuesday). Three weeks. A long time.

Iowa isn't the only bowl-bound team with juniors wondering whether or not to become seniors or NFL rookies next season. The Hawkeyes have three such players in offensive lineman Bryan Bulaga, cornerback Amari Spievey and defensive lineman Adrian Clayborn.

This Atlanta Journal-Constitution story informs us Georgia Tech has four such players, including Dwyer. Doug Roberson writes:

Georgia Tech coach  Paul Johnson said he hopes those juniors who are considering leaving school early for the NFL will come up with a plan and not be swayed.

B-back Jonathan Dwyer, wide receiver Demaryius Thomas, defensive end Derrick Morgan and safety Morgan Burnett are highly-rated underclassman prospects by various draft pundits.

They all say they haven't made up their minds and hoped to sit down with their families after the Orange Bowl on Jan. 5 and begin the process. Underclassmen have until Jan. 15 to declare for the draft.

And, like Iowa, the Jackets will have some injured players returning for the bowl. Included, Roberson wrote, are receiver Kevin Cone (ankle), linebacker Malcolm Munroe (knee) and offensive tackle Austin Barrick (heel).

Here's something else from Tech Coach Paul Johnson, courtesy of Jeff Schultz of the Journal-Constitution.

When presented with the theory Monday that Georgia Tech got waxed by LSU in the

Chick-fil-A Bowl last year because his players felt too good about themselves after beating Georgia, Jackets coach Paul Johnson reacted as you would expect.

“Maybe this year after the Georgia game they'll be feeling so bad that they'll approach it differently,” he said.

Georgia beat Georgia Tech this season, you see.

When asked if people have made too much of the LSU game, Johnson basically responded: Yes, but no.

“Probably,” he said. “But it's the last game you play so it's fresh in your mind. … What you don't want to do is regress and play your worst game in the last game.”

We've seen the results when that happens.

The last time Georgia Tech was in a bowl game with the Orange's status was 43 years ago, when it met Florida in the . . . Orange Bowl. From this Associated Press story:

Beginning with an 8-7 win over California in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1929, 11 of Georgia Tech's first 12 postseason appearances came in games now considered to be major BCS bowls.

Lately, the Yellow Jackets and their fans bowl have traveled to postseason sites including Boise, Jacksonville, San Jose and Seattle.

However, Georgia Tech is back in the postseason big time.

The Yellow Jackets opened practice on Monday for their first Orange Bowl appearance in more than 40 years.

South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier was Florida's quarterback when the Gators beat Georgia Tech in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1967. That was Georgia Tech's last visit to one of the traditional major bowls.

Paul Johnson's No. 9 Yellow Jackets are hoping to end another streak - four straight bowl losses - when they play Iowa in the Jan. 5 Orange Bowl.

Phil Steele, the college football guru, was smitten by Iowa's football team this fall. Steele has 18 -- count 'em, 18 -- players on his All-Big Ten first, second and third teams. Six were first-teamers, four were second-teamers, eight were third-teamers.

To see the full lists, click here.

Another college football guru -- wouldn't it be fun to be a guru of something? -- is ESPN's Todd McShay. He has Iowa's Bulaga at No. 13 in his latest mock draft. We'll see a few more mock drafts, since the real one is over four months away.

Anyway, McShay has Georgia Tech's Dwyer going No. 29 in the first round.

Here's the statistical rundown on Dwyer.

Basketball, anyone? Rather than deride the Iowa men's basketball team for being just 184th out of the 347 NCAA Division I teams in the Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), let us learn about and question those who temporarily are eclipsing the Hawkeyes.

The RPI projections, by the way, are courtesy of Jerry Palm's collegerpi.com.

First of all, being 184th means Iowa is drawing close to the top half of the RPI. With a win over Drake Saturday in Iowa City, the 3-7 Hawkeyes surely would surely leap into the top 173. That would only be the start.

You clip South Carolina State next Monday, peel off wins in your first eight or nine Big Ten games, and away you go.

But who are these teams residing above Iowa in the RPI? From time to time, we'll look at them, examine their credentials with a scalpel. Today, let's put the bright light on No. 183 Tennessee Tech.

The Golden Eagles of Cookeville are 4-6. They lost to Minnesota, 87-50. They lost to Memphis, 92-59. They lost to Kansas, 112-75. They lost to Oakland by 21 points, lost to Jacksonville State by 11.

This team is one spot ahead of Iowa? Why, it's an outrage! Iowa's strength-of-schedule is 36th in the nation. Tennessee Tech's is 193rd. Its next game is against something called the Bryan Lions.

OK, so we've exposed one pretender. That leaves 182, and we'll get to the fallacies of each and every one of the rest of them being ranked higher than Iowa as time goes by.

That includes you, No. 175 South Dakota.