More Outback Bowl officiating woes ahead for Hawkeyes?

It will forever stick in the craw of Iowa football fans, the phantom offside call of the Jan. 2, 2006 Outback Bowl.

Iowa's Kyle Schlicher made a 45-yard field goal with 1:24 left to cut Florida's lead to 31-24 with just over a minute left. An onside kick followed, and Hawkeye tight end Scott Chandler recovered it.

But the officiating crew, from Conference USA, said Iowa senior linebacker Chad Greenway was offside. The Gators recovered Iowa's second onside kick, and ran out the rest of the game clock.

Days later, the conference's head of officiating said the crew had erred.

A Big 12 crew worked Iowa's most-recent Outback Bowl appearance, three years ago against LSU. That seemed to go OK. But LSU had future NFL players on offense in wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., and running back Jeremy Hill, and Big 12 officials were used to seeing offense-dominated football.

Well, the Big 12 will have the officials at this season's Outback Bowl, and they may not recognize what they're seeing. The offenses of Florida and Iowa won't methodically storm down the field. The defenses won't be sieves.

Iowa and Florida rank above every Big 12 team in total defense. They rank below every Big 12 team in total offense. Take a look at how they rank nationally:

TOTAL DEFENSE

6. Florida 296.6 yards allowed per game

24. Iowa 352.8

51. Kansas State 382.2

74. TCU 425.8

78. West Virginia 431.2

82. Baylor 434.4

89. Oklahoma 439.8

95. Texas 448.3

101. Iowa State 452.9

107. Kansas 456.2

108. Oklahoma State 457.0

128. Texas Tech 554.3

TOTAL OFFENSE

1. Texas Tech 584.5 yards per game

3. Oklahoma 557.3

5. Baylor 523.3

12. West Virginia 506.9

17. Oklahoma State 492.1

19. Texas 491.3

23. TCU 475.0

61. Iowa State 421.6

84. Kansas State 386.8

109. Kansas 359.5

115. Florida 345.1

120. Iowa 333.3

By the way, the bowls Conference USA crews are scheduled to work this year are the Las Vegas, Camellia, Dollar General and St. Petersburg. Those aren't your high-end events.

Here's the list of officiating assignments for the bowls.