Wednesday Reading Room - Of the 34 bowls, where does the Orange rank in watchability?

Thirty-four bowls are a lot of bowls. Of 34, you would figure many would be regarded good matchups, many would be considered OK, and many would be consider doggies. You would figure correctly.

So where do people see the Iowa-Georgia Tech Orange Bowl? Mark Schlabach, one of ESPN.com's college football writers, says it's the eighth-best bowl. That's not bad. He writes:

Georgia Tech has the triple-option spread offense. At times, Iowa doesn't seem to have any offense. The ACC champions are playing in their first Orange Bowl since 1966, when they lost to Florida and Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier. Iowa, the Big Ten runner-up, should have back injured quarterback Ricky Stanzi.

Schlabach says Alabama-Texas is the best bowl pairing, of course. He has Boise State-TCU No. 2. Iowa State-Minnesota in the Insight Bowl? Twenty-ninth.

Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel thinks even higher of the Orange Bowl, pegging it the fifth-best game behind the other four BCS games but ahead of all others. He writes:

You remember the Hawkeyes. They love low scores and dramatic finishes. With a month to prepare, can Pat Angerer, Tyler Sash and Co. stifle Josh Nesbitt and the triple-option?

Mandel has the Insight at No. 31, noting You know it's New Year's Eve in Tempe when the Gophers are playing. And you know you're in for a long game when both teams rank 98th or lower in scoring offense.

Both writers had the Ohio-Marshall clash in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl as this year's worst bowl pairing.

Add Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman to the list of those who aren't pleased Boise State and TCU were both put in the Fiesta Bowl. An excerpt:

This is like the old dodge by the NCAA basketball committee, which often pairs mid-majors in the first round of March Madness. Eliminates upstarts, don't you know.Meanwhile, the Orange Bowl pits Georgia Tech and Iowa, which is not even a great matchup for an ESPN Saturday night.

How much better if this bowl lineup consisted of Iowa-Boise State in the Fiesta, Georgia Tech-TCU in the Orange and Florida-Cincinnati in the Sugar?

Agreed, Berry, agreed.

Though 11-2, Georgia Tech is just 58th in the FBS in scoring defense with 24.85

points allowed per game, and is 68th in rushing defense, allowing 150 rushing yards each time out. For Yellow Jackets statistics, click here.

However, the ACC's Defensive Player of the Year is from Tech. That is defensive end Derrick Morgan.

Morgan is sixth in the nation in sacks per game. With 12.5, he has a half-sack more than Nebraska Heisman Trophy-finalist Ndamuwong Suh.

Morgan is one of seven finalists nationwide for the Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Award. He's a 6-foot-4, 272-pound junior from Coatesville, Pa.

The Orange Bowl's television and radio announcer teams have been set. Working

the telecast for Fox are Dick Stockton and Charles Davis. The ESPN Radio crew is Sean McDonough, Matt Millen, and sideline reporter Holly Rowe.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post didn't sound too taken with Millen's mic work in his Monday column.

Matt Millen, during Thursday's Jets-Bills NFL Network telecast, declared that, "The Jets are running the crap out of the ball, here tonight." Reader Guy Kipp wonders: "You think Vin Scully ever said 'Sandy Koufax is throwing the crap out of the baseball, tonight' "?

How many people does it take for a school to adequately represent itself at an Orange Bowl? In Iowa's case, over 600, as B.A. Morelli of the Iowa City Press-Citizen details here. Separate passages:

1. "There's a purpose for everyone to be there," (UI associate athletics director Jane) Meyer said. "What is the work that needs to be done at the bowl site? That's how we decide who goes. Everyone in the team party has a job."

2. Family of staff members are eligible to participate in the trip, Meyer said.

Their jobs are . . . ? Hey, I''m not begrudging some underpaid sports information director. Or a trainer, video staffer or coach who can't spend as much time at home as the rest of us. If they get to bring the wife and kids on these trips, good for them. But I'm guessing most of those family members have no "jobs" other than putting on Hawkeye garb and doing tourist stuff. Another excerpt I found interesting:

In 2003 (the Hawkeyes' previous Orange Bowl trip, which began in late 2002), hotels cost $179 per night. The bowl decides the hotel arrangements, Meyer said, but she declined to provide details about the hotels for the current trip.

As detailed in the Hlog on Monday, the hotel is the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. It's not for travelers on a budget, unless that budget is roughly the size of the federal government's.

I checked Expedia.com to see what a standard room at the Fontainebleau runs on the dates the Hawkeyes will be in Miami.

There was no availability listed for Dec. 30 and 31. For Dec. 29 and Jan. 1-2, the price was $529. For the nights of Jan. 3-5, it was $429. Those were standard rooms, not ocean-view rooms or deluxe suites.

The Orange Bowl picked the hotel for the at-large team, not Iowa. So you know Iowa's rate isn't $429 a night. But it's a bit more than $179, I'd wager. The Fontainebleau has 11 restaurants. None are soup kitchens.

And now for something completely different. Minnesota's football team has gotten two de-commitments from recruits, as Blog Ten details.

The Gophers had picked up a commitment from four-star running back Josh Huff of

Aldine, Texas, who is ranked as the eighth best all-purpose running back in the 2010 class.  Now Huff has backed out of his commitment to Minnesota and will be attending the closer to home TCU instead.

As if losing Huff, one of the Gophers prized recruits in their 2010 class, wasn't enough, the school also found out recently that three-star cornerback Antoine Lewis of Maywood, Illinois had de-committed from Minnesota to join Danny Hope's 2010 class at Purdue.

Tim Brewster is taking to the Gophers to their second-straight bowl in his third season as the U-M's coach, but he isn't exactly riding momentum at this moment in time.