Iowa wins surprise bid to Orange Bowl

The Big Ten co-champs will play the Pac Ten co-champs, but it won’t be in Pasadena. The January second Orange Bowl will match third-ranked Iowa and fifth-ranked U-S-C, marking the Hawkeyes first ever trip to the Miami game. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz’s team originally was expected to head to the Rose Bowl after completing an 11-1 season, but he says it’s a great matchup between the Big Ten and Pac Ten co-champions. He says it’s a little different geography than what they expected, but he says it’s exciting to go to the Orange Bowl for the first time ever. Ferentz says while the Big Ten has a natural attraction to the Rose Bowl the B-C-S has changed the equation. He says the goal every year for his team is to play in the Rose Bowl, but the rules have changed and that means certain traditions get broken.Iowa Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby says the Orange Bowl is a tremendous reward for the Hawks. He says they expected to have a good season going in, but it ended up being a magical season. He says this team and staff deserves the high ranking and B-C-S bowl.Bowlsby says when it was all said and done the two unbeaten teams will meet for the national title and the eight B-C-S teams all won at least a share of their conference title. He says the system seems to have worked pretty well this year.Bowlsby says since the Hawks completed their season the chips did not fall toward the Rose Bowl. He says the people they needed to have win lost, and the people that needed to lose won, keeping them from ending up in the Rose Bowl.