Not a lot of bowl politicking from Iowa

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - The Hawkeyes still smelled like football in the moments after the Big Ten championship game. They played a 60-minute game for a title trophy and they weren't in the mood to remind the world that they're 12-1 and Rose Bowl-worthy.

'It doesn't matter where we go,” cornerback Desmond King said. 'Any opportunity we get, we're just going to go out there and play our hearts out.”

The College Football Playoff final final four will be announced 11:30 this morning. Those teams will be No. 5 Michigan State - which claimed a spot with its 16-13 victory over No. 4 Iowa at Lucas Oil Stadium on Saturday night - No. 1 Clemson, No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 Oklahoma.

That's your CFP final four. Iowa is in line for a New Year's Six bowl - Rose, Sugar, Peach and Fiesta. The only one of those Iowa won't be in is the Sugar, which has conference tie-ins with the Big 12 and SEC. The one you want is the Rose Bowl. The Hawkeyes haven't played in the Pasadena, Calif., bowl since 1991, a 25-year absence.

For that to happen, the Hawkeyes will have to stay ahead of Ohio State (11-1) in the CFP rankings. The Buckeyes sat at No. 6 going into the weekend. Does the 12-person committee push the Hawkeyes down a notch after a 3-point loss in a conference championship game, with Ohio State being Ohio State?

The final CFP rankings will be announced at 2 p.m. on ESPN. The other strong possibility for the Hawkeyes is the Fiesta Bowl (Glendale, Ariz.) and a possible matchup with Notre Dame.

But you want the Rose Bowl. They want the Rose Bowl.

'Yeah, sure,” center Austin Blythe said when asked if Iowa belonged in the Rose Bowl. 'I think we belong with anybody.”

Rose Bowl management committee chair Scott Jenkins told The Gazette on Monday that the bowl is working under the 'strong presumption” that it will pick the school that's ranked highest in the final CFP poll if the Big Ten lands a final four team.

'The strong presumption is we'll take the next highest ranked team, which can work for you or against you, depending on where you're ranked,” Jenkins said. 'If you're ranked ahead of Ohio State, assuming Iowa loses, you're going to like that.”

Jenkins also said, 'The strong presumption is that we will select the next highest CFP ranked team in that conference. Only in extraordinary situations will we deviate from that presumption.”

He offered an 'extraordinary situation” of Minnesota, which hasn't been to a Rose Bowl since 1962, jumping Wisconsin, which had a run of three straight Rose Bowls from 2011-13, if the Gophers were one spot the Badgers in the final CFP.

This was what Rose Bowl officials, Big Ten and Pac-12 athletics directors agreed to. There's no automatic equation for 'extraordinary situations.”

'There really isn't,” he said. 'It's one of those things you put in a pot and stir around.”

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz was given a chance to plug his team over the Buckeyes.

'That's really the last thing that's been on my mind all week,” Ferentz said. 'I know it's been written about, what have you. I think the answer is nobody knows right now. Our focus was strictly on winning tonight.”

Most of the players said they looked forward to having a chance to end on a high note.

'Whatever game we get, we're going to treat it like it's the national championship,” linebacker Cole Fisher said. 'Wherever they put us, we'll be OK with it.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com