Hlas: Calling Hawkeyes’ bowl matchup great taxes credibility

OK, this may not be what you'd call stirring.

Iowa (7-5) is playing a 6-6 Tennessee team in Jacksonville, Fla., on Jan. 2, the day after all the good bowl games other than the national-championship have ended. Get to work on selling that, TaxSlayer Bowl people.

TaxSlayer.com became the Gator Bowl's sponsor in 2012, and the game had other sponsors before that. But this is the first year 'Gator” won't be in the bowl's name since it began in 1946.

Some traditions don't endure. Like the Gator Bowl being a matchup of really good teams. That was the case way back in 1983 when the Hawkeyes made their only other appearance in the event. They were 9-2 and ranked 10th and played a Florida squad that was 8-2-1 and ranked 11th.

It was a rainy, frigid night game in Jacksonville. That was the way the weather was in the days leading up to the game. Iowa was able to practice just once in Jacksonville.

'This is the least preparation I've ever seen a team have for a game ­- even an all-star game,” Iowa Coach Hayden Fry said before the contest. 'If we play well, it'll change the practice formula for every team in America.”

They didn't play well, and the practice formula has remained in place. Iowa lost, 14-6. The temperature at kickoff was 35, but the windchill was 13. It was 31 years ago, but those who were there still shiver when recounting the experience.

Thankfully, the 2015 TaxSlayer Bowl will start at 3:20 p.m., Eastern time. The average high temperature on Jan. 2 in Jacksonville is 63 degrees and the average low is 48, so don't panic. Yet.

But this year's matchup sure isn't No. 10 against No. 11. Although, it's not far from being No. 10 in the Big Ten against No. 11 in the SEC.

Nor is this 2010. Iowa had a disappointing 7-5 regular-season that year, too, but was given a chance at a little redemption because it got a quality Insight Bowl opponent in 10-2, 18th-ranked Missouri.

The Hawkeyes' defense bent like crazy in allowing 512 yards to the Tigers, but Micah Hyde's 72-yard interception return for a touchdown with 5:12 left gave Iowa a 27-24 victory.

Micah Hyde was really good. He still is.

That season still is recalled as a squandered opportunity for Iowa, like this year's. But you can't take away the fact the Hawkeyes did beat a good team in the postseason that year.

Many had projected Iowa to face Stanford in the Foster Farms Bowl in the San Francisco Bay Area.

That's not an illustrious bowl and Stanford is 7-5, but it's still Stanford. The Cardinal closed their regular-season by walloping UCLA in Pasadena, 31-10. You don't have to explain Stanford, 53-13 over the last five years, to football fans.

Tennessee didn't use to require an introduction, either. 'Rocky Top” and Neyland Stadium's orange-and-white checkerboard end zones used to be in the forefront of the national football consciousness.

The Vols won 10 or more games 11 times between 1987 and 2007, and won the national-title in 1998. This was the team of Peyton Manning and Reggie White.

But Tennessee has had just one winning season since 2008, and that was 7-6 in 2009. The Vols have had four head coaches in the last seven years.

However, it appears they've hit on the right one. Second-year Vols coach Butch Jones seems to have them pointed forward. Their 6-6 mark this season is just a one-game improvement from a year ago, but they played a rugged schedule.

Tennessee battled Georgia (35-32), Florida (10-9), Alabama (34-20) and Missouri (29-21) in losses. It played nine bowl teams and FCS playoff quarterfinalist Chattanooga.

It was also just 3-5 in the SEC's weaker division, and 6-6 South Carolina may be the best team it's beaten. So the Vols are probably an even match for the Hawkeyes.

I have no idea how to make anything more out of this Iowa-Tennessee game than what it is: A football game matching teams that are a combined 11-11 against FCS opponents and haven't beaten a ranked foe.

The game is named for a company that provides tax preparation software. If you want to call it the Write-Off Bowl, that's your business. Me? I left my heart in San Francisco.