TaxSlayer Bowl kickoff: One week and counting

The math supports what you may have believed about the TaxSlayer Bowl in the first place.

No, not the part about it having a dumb name. Of course it has a dumb name. It's a bowl game. The Zaxby's Heart of Dallas Bowl, Quick Lane Bowl and Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl are today.

Rather, it's that this is the worst bowl matchup that has ever involved Iowa if you go by won-lost numbers.

The combined records of the Hawkeyes (7-5) and Tennessee (6-6) for the Jan. 2 game in Jacksonville, Fla., is 13-11. They're 11-11 vs. FBS teams and 8-11 against teams from Power Five conferences.

Before this, the worst bowl pairing that included Iowa was the 2001 Alamo when the 6-5 Hawkeyes faced 7-4 Texas Tech.

The last time Iowa played in Jacksonville was 1983. It was 9-2 and Florida was 8-2-1 in that year's Gator Bowl. Gator Bowl. Now that was a good old bowl name.

Here are the five worst Iowa bowls from a won-lost standpoint:

2014 (season) TaxSlayer

: Iowa (7-5) vs. Tennessee (6-6). Combined record: 13-11.

2001 Alamo:

Iowa (6-5) vs. Texas Tech (7-4). Combined record: 13-9.

1982 Peach

: Iowa (7-4) vs. Tennessee (6-4-1). Combined record: 13-8-1.

1993 Alamo

: Iowa (6-5) vs. California (8-4). Combined record: 14-9.

2006 Alamo

: Iowa (6-6) vs. Texas (9-3). Combined record: 15-9.

What's the point of this, you may wonder. Well, I'm beginning a week of reporting from northern Florida starting Saturday afternoon. That's a long time, so I want to start slow without a trace of hype, then gradually whip this a Game of the Millennium froth by the afternoon of Jan. 3.

The countdown to kickoff of the TaxSlayer Bowl begins ... now?