The Insight Bowl becomes a player, shoots up the Big Ten and Big 12 pecking orders

Holy moly, I missed this the other day, but the Insight Bowl not only shed the NFL Network for ESPN, but it moved up the pecking orders of the Big 12 and Big Ten.

This, from chicagobreakingsports.com:

The Insight takes a leap in the conference selection order. Rather than choosing the No. 6 team from both the Big Ten and Big East, it will get either the Big Ten's third or fourth non-BCS pick (alternating with the Gator Bowl) and the third from the Big 12.

What does that mean? Last year the Insight Bowl featured a matchup of 6-6 Minnesota and 6-6 Iowa State.

Had the new selection order been in place, the Insight Bowl would have featured 9-3 Wisconsin versus 7-5 Oklahoma.

The Insight moved past the Holiday Bowl on the Big 12's priority list. It will rotate with the Gator Bowl in selecting the No. 3 or No. 4 team in the Big Ten.

Participating universities will earn a record $6.65 million payout from the Insight Bowl.

That's right. $6.65 million. Who said the economy was bad?

For Iowa, this means two trips to Arizona within 3 1/2 months is possible. The Hawkeyes play Arizona in Tucson on Sept. 18.

Iowa State beat Minnesota 14-13 in last year's Insight Bowl.