ISU Bowl Projections

[isufbcurt]

Sadly, I've been to Liberal a handful of time due to my prior work. Yuck lol

If we make a trip of it, we might make it a sight seeing trip over a few days.

New Mexico is cool, we have stopped at various Native American shops along I40 before.

Heber, AZ is amazing. It's NE of Phx in the mountains and woods. Lots of really big, nice, fancy log cabins. I have to drive through there fast, because if we stop at a shop I'd have a car load of log furniture to haul back to Iowa.

 

[Beyerball]

I would love for TCU to win and have ISU go to the Camping world bowl but if OU wins its not end of world either as i think it is good for stability in the conference if OU makes the playoffs.

For this conf to miss playoffs 3 years in a row would not be good IMO.

 

[syklone]

Great post even though I don't agree and hope you are wrong. If bowl selections were based purely on picking teams from the available list based on final conference standings Cactus would be a good (although bad) possibility. The Camping World Bowl wants ISU. Not only Pollard, but some of the better analysts that have discussed with committee officials hint enough that the Camping World Bowl is serious about ISU enough I'd wager the Clones leapfrog out of the 4th place tie quagmire into the Camping World Bowl as they should...

 

[cyclones500]

I think you are wrong.

 

[cyclones500]

Brett McMurphy of ESPN just came out with his projections...

Has ISU vs. Oregon in Cactus as well.

I've seen a lot of Cactus as of late as well. OP isn't wrong.

https://www.thescore.com/ncaaf/news/1429484

I wouldn't mind ISU-UO in a bowl.

A quick look at his list, it's OK, but Iowa vs. Stanford is a stretch.

 

[jburke]

I’m sure pollard is right by pretty much saying TCU wins Saturday we are in Orlando, lose and it’s Memphis. Liberty bowl wants us bad and I’m sure Orlando would love to take us if 2 Big 12 teams are in NY6 bowl to free up a space.

100% agree with this, plus I believe there were breadcrumbs last night on twitter leading to Memphis, also believe Iowa is set to Nashville.... I know a lot is dependent on what happens Saturday but the likely outcome is what is getting stated across social media.

 

[Cycsk]

100% agree with this, plus I believe there were breadcrumbs last night on twitter leading to Memphis, also believe Iowa is set to Nashville.... I know a lot is dependent on what happens Saturday but the likely outcome is what is getting stated across social media.

Yech. The thought of a bunch Hokeye fans in the same state for a bowl is not appealing.

 

[JP4CY]

2 day trip. We take I35 to Wichita. Then US Highway 54 through SW Kansas, the panhandle of Okie and NW Texas. Meet up with I40 at Tucumcari, NM.

This is 100% the way I do it when driving to Phoenix for spring training baseball. The Super 8 in Tucumcari had a front desk guy at the time that went to or had a family member go to ISU.

 

[Don4ISU]

As far as records go. ISU finished 4th. Bowls don’t care about tiebreakers. Camping World guy essentially said it’s between Texas and ISU(assuming TCU does a NY6), but that a 6-6 Texas team is a harder sell with no signature wins. What ISU has is:
Signature wins vs TCU and Oklahoma
Great story with Lanning
Fan base that will travel and never having chance to go to Florida
West Virginia will not get Texas(if camping took Texas) ahead of ISU due to QB being hurt as well as the ISU positives above...I do agree it’s Liberty if TCU left out of NY6

 

[jburke]

Yech. The thought of a bunch Hokeye fans in the same state for a bowl is not appealing.

I agree with this too, but I think there is a lot of appeal for both bowls knowing that as well.

 

[VeloClone]

2 day trip. We take I35 to Wichita. Then US Highway 54 through SW Kansas, the panhandle of Okie and NW Texas. Meet up with I40 at Tucumcari, NM. We either stay there or keep driving and stay in Albuquerque.

The 2nd year ISU won the Big 12 title in BB, we stopped in Liberal, KS and watched ISU squeak out the win against OU (where Spangler missed the layup).

We went to Phoenix over spring break and took your route on the return trip. On the way down we went from Des Moines through Nebraska (ugh, hate that part of the drive but at least we got to see the sandhill cranes) to overnight in Denver and then I-70 through the mountains through Utah and then down through Arches and Grand Canyon to Flagstaff. If the weather is behaving itself it is a heck of a drive. If it is snowing a lot on the mountain passes it might not be so much fun. On our trip we got snowed on in 7 of our 11 states. Surprisingly, the ones where we didn't get any snow were the northernmost on the trip: Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri.

 

[isufbcurt]

We went to Phoenix over spring break and took your route on the return trip. On the way down we went from Des Moines through Nebraska (ugh, hate that part of the drive but at least we got to see the sandhill cranes) to overnight in Denver and then I-70 through the mountains through Utah and then down through Arches and Grand Canyon to Flagstaff. If the weather is behaving itself it is a heck of a drive. If it is snowing a lot on the mountain passes it might not be so much fun. On our trip we got snowed on in 7 of our 11 states. Surprisingly, the ones where we didn't get any snow were the northernmost on the trip: Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri.

We came back through Utah once and stayed in Moab.

 

[TheJackWePack5]

Really hoping its Orlando or Memphis. The 26th date of the Cactus Bowl could be a burden for a lot of ISU fans.

 

[Mr Janny]

Really hoping its Orlando or Memphis. The 26th date of the Cactus Bowl could be a burden for a lot of ISU fans.

yeah, Cactus is the one bowl I won't be going to. The date just doesn't work. Anywhere but there.

 

[srjclone]

We went to Phoenix over spring break and took your route on the return trip. On the way down we went from Des Moines through Nebraska (ugh, hate that part of the drive but at least we got to see the sandhill cranes) to overnight in Denver and then I-70 through the mountains through Utah and then down through Arches and Grand Canyon to Flagstaff. If the weather is behaving itself it is a heck of a drive. If it is snowing a lot on the mountain passes it might not be so much fun. On our trip we got snowed on in 7 of our 11 states. Surprisingly, the ones where we didn't get any snow were the northernmost on the trip: Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Missouri.

I made this same drive going from Chicago to Phoenix a couple summers back for work. And this was my take away. The Denver to Phoenix drive, through the mountains, through Utah, through Arches, down to monument valley, through Flagstaff (70 to 191 to 160) and down is the most beautiful drive I would recommend to anyone, but never would want to do again, lol.

 

[TheJackWePack5]

yeah, Cactus is the one bowl I won't be going to. The date just doesn't work. Anywhere but there.

That's basically the same situation I am in.

I always thought McMurphy was pretty accurate with his bowl projections, but there are several on his list that seem like reaches.

 

[CyInDFW]

New Mexico is cool, we have stopped at various Native American shops along I40 before.

Heber, AZ is amazing. It's NE of Phx in the mountains and woods. Lots of really big, nice, fancy log cabins. I have to drive through there fast, because if we stop at a shop I'd have a car load of log furniture to haul back to Iowa.

My life is complete...I finally found the one person in the world that thinks the I-40 drive through NM is cool

 

[IAStubborn]

Bowl games care mainly about tickets sold, hotel rooms rented, and a good TV match up. The actual standings are relevant, but not nearly as much as you indicate, particularly around tightly bunched teams. Hell, if they wanted, the Alamo Bowl can select ISU.

Plus tie breakers aren't used for standings only for Championship game determination.

 

[VeloClone]

My life is complete...I finally found the one person in the world that thinks the I-40 drive through NM is cool

I can't really say one way or the other. We did Painted Desert and Petrified Forest then entered NM at about sundown and it started to snow like hell as we approached Gallup. It had cleared off as we went through Albuquerque. It sure is a pretty city from I-40 at night. We drove through in the night catching a few hours of sleep at a rest stop east of Albuquerque (it was packed as we got snow, rain, sleet and a little hail) and had an early breakfast at the Route 66 cafe in Tucumcari.

 

[RonBurgundy]

Great post even though I don't agree and hope you are wrong. If bowl selections were based purely on picking teams from the available list based on final conference standings Cactus would be a good (although bad) possibility. The Camping World Bowl wants ISU. Not only Pollard, but some of the better analysts that have discussed with committee officials hint enough that the Camping World Bowl is serious about ISU enough I'd wager the Clones leapfrog out of the 4th place tie quagmire into the Camping World Bowl as they should...

The thing we have to remember is that like pre-season predictions, most of these sites don't know ISU or do much research. Some of these guys are quite lazy and simply matching the order of bowl selection to the order of the standings.

Not saying we won't end up in Cactus, but I trust JP's comments. He is the guy that is in communication with the bowls and if he says Orlando or Memphis, I feel good about that.

We are 2-0 in Phoenix and had a blast both times, but 12/26 just sucks butt for a bowl game that is that far from Iowa.