…but Iowa will never jump Northwestern for the Outback Bowl.

- I hate to beat a flogged, bleeding, and dead horse here, but: NU 9-3, Iowa 8-4. NU 22- Iowa 17, in Iowa City, on Homecoming. Check your history: a team with a BETTER overall record (NU) who also beat head-to-head the team below it (NU 22-Iowa 17), has NEVER been jumped in Big Ten Bowl selection. If Iowa and NU had the same record, there is small precedent for Iowa jumping NU….but Iowa is one game back. And don’t count out the influence of Jim Delaney and the Big Ten in “cajoling” bowls to pick according to overall finish/record — the Big Ten is about settling it on the field, and they want their bowls to select on that basis as well. Advantage: NU.

- NU is ranked in the AP, Coaches, and BCS. Iowa is not. Advantage: NU.

- Iowa was just in the Outback Bowl in 2005; Northwestern has never been. Outback has a large local fan base that goes regardless of the teams, so the bowl will want to offer something new to its fans. Advantage: NU.

- Bowls like the Outback Bowl are heavily sponsored/supported by local tourism boards. Putting NU in the Outback Bowl means that the Tampa/St. Pete tourism board will get daily coverage in Chicago newspapers, radio, and TV (including national stations like WGN) of every local event the Cats participate in, beaming pictures of gorgeous Tampa Bay to the more than 3 millions or so Chicagoland TV viewers. These views will happen regardless of whether the viewers are Cats fans — they’ll be watching the news/sports highlights and get a daily story on the Cats in Tampa. That is a TON of free advertising. Throw in mentions by NU’s well-known media mafia (like Wilbon on PTI, Christine Brennan in USA Today, Musberger on ABC, Stephen Colbert, etc.) and the Des Moines/Cedar Rapids/Iowa City market just cannot compete. HUGE Advantage: NU.

- I’m calling shenanigans on the idea that Iowa will bring SO many more fans than NU. First off, the Outback Bowl, as noted above, has a LOT of local ticket holders who go every year, regardless of the teams. Second, the likely SEC teams (LSU, South Carolina) have big fan bases. These two factors suggest a sell-out will be likely WITHOUT taking into account the Big Ten team involved.

However, NU has ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS sold VERY well at EVERY bowl game it’s been invited to. We filled the Rose Bowl in 1996 (est. 40k, at least), brought over 21,000 down to the Citrus Bowl in 1997, drew at least 12k by ourselves (probably more) to the Alamo Bowl in 2000 (our game against Nebraska drew 10k better than WISCONSIN’s game two years later vs. Colorado, and 4k better than MSU’s game v. Nebraska in 2003), and sent 15k to El Paso (EL PASO!) for the Sun Bowl in 2005, the last time we played in a bowl. NU also has a SIZEABLE national alumni base — we have thousands of alums already in Florida, with lots of money, ready to go to a game nearby.

Yes, Iowa will sell a lot of seats — no question, they have great fans. But the difference will hardly be significant. And given the fact that NU has not been to a bowl since 2005, it has a fan base that is VERY anxious to travel — students who have never seen an NU bowl game (and we regularly got 5-6k out of 7500 undergrads to EVERY home game), alumni who have been waiting to go again, etc. I think this is at worst a slight Iowa advantage, but realistically a DRAW.

- It’s a better story — while Iowa is an excellent institution, NU is seen rightfully as a model of “student-athletes” and did not have any of the well-publicized off-field problems Iowa did (I’m not saying that has anything to do with guys on Iowa’s team right now, but the negative publicity cannot be overlooked). Fitz, the youngest coach in the FBS (Division I-A), is a college Hall of Famer, an alumni of Northwestern, and a PHENOMENAL story. This team and its seniors (and many juniors) have overcome the death of Randy Walker, and Fitz has pulled them together to a point where they finished with 9 wins — one more win, and they match a mark only reached by 2 other NU teams ALL-TIME. Iowa has some nice stories too (Shonn Greene comes to mind first and foremost), but the overall Cinderella factor strongly favors NU in terms of attracting casual TV viewers. Advantage: NU.