Live blogging from Miami

Over the next five or six days, check back frequently for updates to the blog from my trip to Miami covering the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Orange Bowl.

Look for pictures, news, tidbits on the teams and the bowl and more.

The Hawkeye marching band prior to the Arizona win this fall.

Hawkeyes fans, get ready to be disappointed

Can you feel it in the brisk Iowa air this week? It's a sense of dread, a sense that something is going to go terribly wrong this weekend. A sense that, despite all common sense and logic, somebody is going to do something incredibly stupid.

I know I feel it. I've felt it for weeks, and the feeling just keeps getting stronger. The Penn State Nittany Lions are in full "beg-and-whine" mode, the P.R. machine spinning it's over-sized wheels at a ridiculous rate.

And what that boils down to is simple – Iowa is going to get left out of the BCS come Sunday.

Even if Iowa is doing it's part – and it doesn't appear to be pushing very hard for a bid – previous history of the Hawkeyes' P.R. attempts this season don't exactly inspire confidence. The e-mail sent to the national media after Iowa improved to 9-0 was a sorely misguided attempt to sway national opinion on the Hawkeyes, and that kind of "let me tell you why you are wrong" attitude isn't going to work on bowl reps. 

This shouldn't even be an option if the Fiesta, Orange or Sugar Bowl wants a Big Ten team for an at-large spot. Penn State shouldn't even be in the conversation, yet it looks like they've taken it over and now have a leg up on the Hawkeyes.

The fact is, Iowa beat Penn State on JoePa's home turf. Iowa went into Beaver Stadium and for the second straight year knocked off an "elite" Penn State team, yet seemingly everybody outside of Iowa has forgotten that fact.

A head-to-head victory isn't the only determining factor. If Iowa was 8-4 and Penn State was 10-2, Penn State would logically get the bid despite losing to Iowa. But the teams played to a tie in both overall and conference play.

That is a perfect example of when head-to-head should matter most. Everything ended up equal (although Iowa's strength of schedule was tougher), and Iowa beat Penn State.

It seems so easy, but it's just not the way college football works. After all, Penn State is ahead of Iowa in all the human polls.

This is about greed. Whatever bowl has to choose between Iowa and Penn State will see a legendary coach in perhaps his last shot at a BCS game, a team that delivers fantastic TV ratings and a team that is more nationally prominent and relevant.

And no, I'm not talking about Iowa.

Sure, Iowa travels well. The bowls love that. As Iowa's Phil Haddy said this week, they could probably sell out the Fiesta Bowl without sending any fans that currently reside in Iowa, because there are so many transplanted Iowans living in Arizona.

But they play, and win, ugly. Very ugly. Yes, it's exciting for fans, but it's not exactly a big selling point in the eyes of these major bowls. Penn State has blown away teams that Iowa barely could scrape by. They are more explosive and, depending on your viewpoint, more fun to watch.

There's still a chance the Fiesta or Orange Bowl does the right thing and picks Iowa, but it's looking less likely even after potential at-larger's Oklahoma State and Pittsburgh lost last weekend.

I know I don't want to be there Sunday, hearing that I need to pack my bags and head to Orlando come January.

Florida's nice and all, but I'd rather be in Miami. Or Tempe.