Hlas column -- Bowl pairings should fill Iowa with gratitude

Every fan of Iowa and/or Iowa State football should be at least a little grateful today.

Lose two of your last three games and still make it to a BCS bowl as Iowa did, you should never complain again if you get nosed out of anything by the BCS or an individual bowl. Of course, you also put those 10 wins on the board and were just as deserving as any team left out of the BCS mix, so I guess you don't need to spend all your gratitude in one place.

You go 6-6 and get jumped ahead of 8-4 Missouri for the Insight Bowl in Tempe as Iowa State did, you can now flush away the real and perceived injustices of bowl-selections in the past. You got that bowl because of your reputation for being good travelers. So the onus is on you to uphold that rep.

The same reputation applies to Iowa fans, of course. That label is the primary reason the Hawkeyes are going to Miami for the Orange Bowl while Penn State will be in Orlando for the Capital One Bowl.

We live in America and thus we accept capitalism as our financial system. Sunday, capitalism worked pretty well for the state's two FBS teams. So let's look forward.

There's nothing but goodness for the Hawkeyes in getting this Orange Bowl bid. Let us count the ways:

It's the Orange Bowl. That means prime-time, Fox. On Jan. 5, a night in which no one else but Iowa and Georgia Tech are playing football. That's called exposure, people. Oodles and oodles of exposure.

Plus, the Hawkeyes have a chance to get their first win of a major bowl in a half-century. Iowa's programfelt it "broke the rock" several years ago, but winning a BCS game is one of the last pieces of unfinished business.

Now, a crash course on Georgia Tech:

Its coach is Paul Johnson, who has spent this decade much like Kirk Ferentz has. Meaning, he's become regarded as one of the nation's top coaches.

Johnson won two I-AA national-titles at Georgia Southern, took Navy to five bowls in six years, and is 20-6 in two seasons at Georgia Tech.

He was the ACC's Coach of the Year last season when he took a roster dominated by sophomores and freshmen and fashioned a 9-win season.

This year's Yellow Jackets are 11-2 after their stirring 39-34 ACC title-game win over Clemson Saturday night. It's a pity that butted heads in the same time slot with Texas-Nebraska, because Tech and Clemson played a wildly entertaining game.

Tech has led the ACC in total offense and rushing offense the last two years, and scoring offense this year. With 307 rushing yards a game, it is second only to Nevada nationally.

Johnson, who is his own offensive coordinator, runs an option-based spread offense that is a defensive coordinator's migraine.

Yellow Jackets quarterback Josh Nesbitt was second in the ACC in rushing touchdowns in the regular-season with 17. He also is an effective passer, though his team is last in its league in passing attempts.

Last year's ACC Player of the Year was Tech 235-pound running back Jonathan Dwyer. He has rushed for over 100 yards per game and 6.1 yards per carry this season.

Georgia Tech's opponents run the ball, too. The last two -- Georgia and Clemson - combined for 662 rushing yards against the

 Yellow Jackets. Georgia won at Tech on Nov. 28, 30-24.

But this is a conference-champion with 11 victories. Its defining win was probably the one Saturday night. The Jackets beat Virginia Tech in Atlanta, won at Florida State, and own two victories over Clemson.

I can't see how Iowa-Georgia Tech excites America in the slightest. But the Orange Bowl will take the sold tickets, Miami-Fort Lauderdale will take the influx of Iowans, and no one will complain in south Florida.

At least no one who's aware the Orange Bowl exists.

As for 6-6 Iowa State against 6-6 Minnesota in the Insight Bowl? Well, you know which of the two teams will be happier to be there, and hungrier. 

The Gophers thought they would be better than this three months ago. Iowa State -- well, not necessarily its coaches or players -- would have taken six wins and a bowl in Tempe without hesitating three months ago, or on Sunday.

All said, Sunday was a good day for college football teams in Iowa. Now all they have to do is win their games.

Hawkeye fans, here's a poll question for you:

[polldaddy poll=2349984]