Insight Bowl, December 28, 10:00 p.m. ET, ESPN
What it is: A battle of two teams with wildly different seasons sponsored by a website where you can purchase products by Ergotron.
The teams: Missouri and Iowa
How Missouri got here: Quietly, Missouri ended up here by having one of the best seasons in school history. The Tigers won 10 games for only the third time ever and the third time in four seasons, which kind of makes you wonder why Gary Pinkel isn't ever mentioned in connection with bigger jobs. The Tigers' only two losses came in consecutive weeks to Nebraska (by 14) and Texas Tech (by seven), and they did beat Oklahoma and Texas A&M out of the Big 12 South. Missouri also finished the regular season sixth in points allowed, which you did not know until just now.
How Iowa got here: The Hawkeyes went to the BCS last year, and thanks to returning a lot of guys from that team, they were expected to contend for the Big Ten crown. They were a part of a four-team logjam early on, but they fell away as the season went along. They never were blown out, as their seven-point loss to Arizona was the largest deficit they lost by. Iowa did pretty well in only falling to Wisconsin by only one, losing to Ohio State by only three, and by beating Michigan State. They also found a way to lose to Northwestern and Minnesota, and as a bonus, their all-time leading receiver was arrested for living in a drug house.
College football fans care because: There's a possibility for fireworks as Missouri likely wants to be here and Iowa likely wants 2010 to be over as quickly as possible.
SEC fans care because: It's an opportunity to snicker at a Big Ten team losing and the idea that Kirk Ferentz has ever been seriously considered for NFL jobs.
Watch this game if...: You want to see two pretty good defenses go at it and are all about college football's resident hippie-hating patriot, Ricky Stanzi.
The result: Missouri 24, Iowa 17