Phil Steele: Iowa vs. Kansas State in the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas

That doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it?

Well, that's where Phil Steele's 2011 College Football Preview has Iowa on Dec. 31 in Houston's Reliant Stadium.

Steele is my go-to guy when it comes to college football preseason magazines. He tried to stuff one more piece of information into his 328-page magazine, but engineers warned him it would explode if he did.

He picks Iowa to finish third in the Big Ten's Legends Division behind co-winners Michigan State and Nebraska. In the bowl pecking order, though, he has the Hawkeyes going to the nothing-resembling-glamorous Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas, formerly the Texas Bowl, formerly the Houston Bowl.

Steele has Nebraska in the Rose Bowl, Ohio State in the Capital One (assuming the Buckeyes are bowl-eligible), Wisconsin in the Outback, Penn State in the Insight, Michigan State in the Gator, Illinois in the TicketCity, Michigan in the Little Caesars, and Northwestern in the Kraft Fight Hunger.

Who in Michigan would be happy if the Wolverines went to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit? Other than Michigan State fans and the bowl itself, of course.

Don't assume Steele is some Hawkeye-hater. Last year he forecasted an Iowa-USC Rose Bowl. It was a tough season for making picks. I don't remember anyone pegging an Auburn-Oregon BCS title game.

Steele breaks individuals and units into national rankings for his magazine. He calls Riley Reiff the No. 7 DRAFT-ELIGIBLE offensive tackle, Broderick Binns the No. 9 defensive end, Shaun Prater the No. 12 cornerback, Marvin McNutt the No. 17 wide receiver, Micah Hyde the No. 26 cornerback, Tyler Nielsen the No. 39 outside linebacker, James Vandenberg the No. 46 quarterback.

I had noted Marcus Coker wasn't listed among Steele's top 60 running backs, though he was a third-team all-Big Ten RB according to Steele. That was before it was brought to my attention that the lists were for draft-eligible players only.

Such rankings are just a bit premature in August, of course. Last year, Cam Newton was Steele's No. 40 quarterback in the preseason. Ricky Stanzi of Iowa was No. 11. LaMichael James, everybody's All-American, was No. 20 at running back, one spot behind Baron Batch of Texas Tech.

In unit rankings, Iowa didn't make Steele's top 38 in quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, offensive line, defensive line, defensive backs or special teams.

Wow!

Iowa did place 32nd in Steele's ranking of linebacker units, though, so the Hawkeyes have that going for them.

The Hawkeyes had the No. 3 defensive line and the No. 5 defensive backfield in the 2010 preseason according to Steele, and that didn't get them to a New Year's bowl.