He’ll watch the NFL pregame shows on TV to see what sort of gimmickry the networks have dreamt up, to see if any of them have Victoria’s Secret models making predictions again this week.
Then he’ll surf around to a few different games, maybe check out what Dallas Clark or Nate Kaeding are doing this week. He might take a little break and go for a walk.
While some of the fans of his football team will be on the edge of their seats all day waiting to see what bowl game Iowa is invited to, Ferentz plans to be stress-free and care-free.
“I’m not overly anxious about this,” he said of what figures to be a day-long wait.
“Whatever happens happens. We can’t lose.”
The Hawkeyes have been rumored to be headed for the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz., ever since they finished the regular season with a 10-2 record.
On Saturday, some media outlets were speculating that the Fiesta Bowl might choose to match Boise State and TCU, two undefeated teams from non-BCS conferences. That would leave Iowa against the ACC champion in the Orange Bowl.
The announcement of the five Bowl Championship Series matchups — including the Fiesta and Orange — will be made at
7 p.m. and all the other bowl selections will trickle down from there quickly. Ferentz has an
8 p.m. news conference to discuss the Hawkeyes’ destination and opponent.
Iowa officials said they don’t expect to know their fate too much before that.
That certainly was the case the last time they were invited to play in a BCS bowl, the 2003 Orange Bowl.
“The only thing I remember, all of us were basically in shock …” Ferentz said. “The Rose Bowl folks had been out here, a large party had been out here to just lay everything out for us, so I think there were a lot of people in shock. As I understand it, the system has been tweaked a little bit since that time.”
Under the current system, the champions of the six BCS conferences are locked into certain bowls unless those teams are in the national championship game. The bowls that lose their designated conference champions to the BCS title game have first pick of the at-large pool and there has been near unanimity among observers that if Texas is in the title game, the Fiesta Bowl would pick Iowa to fill that void.
Ferentz insisted he won’t be disappointed if the Hawkeyes end up in one of the less prestigious January games in Florida, as they have in four of the past six seasons.
“I know this, we’re going to be happy to go wherever we go,” he said. “I am confident our team will play well. I think we’ll go play well wherever we go.”
Past Iowa bowl appearances
1956: Rose
1958: Rose
1981: Rose
1982: Peach
1983: Gator
1984: Freedom
1985: Rose
1986: Holiday
1987: Holiday
1988: Peach
1990: Rose
1991: Holiday
1993: Alamo
1995: Sun
1996: Alamo
1997: Sun
2001: Alamo
2002: Orange
2003: Outback
2004: Capital One
2005: Outback
2006: Alamo
2008: Outback
