The Insight Bowl

Hawkeyes draw the Sooners for the Insight Bowl

Bowl season is among us and there is a long list of intriguing and exciting games that fans all over the country are excited to see. One of the most anticipated bowl games of the season is the Insight Bowl held in Tempe, Arizona on December 30th. The Iowa Hawkeyes led by head coack Kirk Ferentz will head to Sun Devil Stadium as the underdogs against the previously #1 ranked Oklahoma Sooner who are headed by legendary coach Bob Stoops. These teams will be appearing in the Insight bowl for the second time in their histories with Iowa winning the bowl game last year 27-24 over Missouri.

It has been an up and down season for the Iowa Hawkeyes who finished the regular season at 7-5 but are much more talented then their record shows. They have a first-year starting quarterback in James Vandenberg who had big shoes to fill when long-time starter Ricky Stanzi was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs. Vandenberg has been solid in his debut season, but the offense is more focused on the ground and pound running game. Led by Sophomore running back Marcus Coker who led the Big-10 in rushing yards this season with 1384, the Hawkeyes will try to rely on their ground game to wear out the Sooner defensive line. The Iowa defense is nothing to slouch about either, Coach Ferentz is one of the best recruiters in the midwest and continuously loads up on defensive studs. This season has been a bit of a rebuilding year on the line after the Hawks lost defensive end Adrian Caliborne to the NFL. Red-shirt senior Broderick Binns has been filling in nicely but just needs the experience that Claiborne had before he will make a massive impact on the game. Micah Hyde is an all Big-10 corner who is being eyed by many NFL prospects and it will be up to him to contain the Sooner receivers.

Oklahoma has been hit with the injury bug this season losing big name receiver Ryan Broyles with an ACL tear and last seasons leading tackler Travis Lewis missed the first 8 games with a broken his toe in preseason. The Sooners were ranked #1 in all of the preseason polls but lost their shot at the National Title when they lost to Texas Tech on the 22nd of October. Since then they have lost two more games to Baylor and most recently to rivals Oklahoma State. No matter what, Coach Stoops will have his team ready to take on the Hawks in late December. The offense is lead by quarterback Landry Jones who is a projected first round draft pick. Jones has a plethora of receivers at his dispense and has the ability to spread the ball and score when he needs. Dominque Whaley and Roy Finch take the handoffs and both had over 600 yards on the ground this season. The defense is as solid as they come in the Big-12 and their linebackers are the strength. Despite the toe injury Travis Lewis has been a monster and defensive end David King has been a pleasant surprise for the Sooners.

This game is a tough one to judge. The teams could end up putting up a ton of points or it could be an offensive struggle. Oklahoma's pass defense was picked apart last week by Oklahoma St. and this game could come down to whether or not Iowa's quarterback James Vandenberg will be able to find his open receivers. He has a great weapon in Marvin McNutt. The Iowa defense will need to worry about the two-headed monster in the Sooner's backfield. Whaley and Finch both have game breaking ability and could easily find the holes in the defensive line of the Hawks. No matter what, the game will be exciting and will come down to who can execute and who will be able to the make the plays that matter.

Arizona's Insight Bowl

The Insight Bowl began in 1989 where it was called the Copper Bowl. This bowl is an NCAA sanctioned Division 1-A post season college football game. The game has always been played in Arizona, although at several different locations.

The Bowl was called the Copper Bowl until 1996 when naming rights were bought by the Insight Enterprises Group. Insight continues their sponsorship today. The Insight Bowl was first played at Arizona Stadium in Tempe from 1996 to 1999. In 2000, the site was changed to Chase Field in Phoenix.

In 2005, the site changed to the remodeled Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, where it continues today. Sun Devil Stadium holds 70,000 people and is on the campus of Arizona State University and has a grass field.

Selection of opponents for the Insight Bowl has followed several paths. As NCAA football has changed and refined its post season bowl series, these changes have been felt by the Insight Bowl. Opponents were once selected based on the highest ranking and most popular college teams available, with an emphasis of selecting a team from the West. During the last two years, the teams have been selected from specific conferences.

The Insight Bowl currently draws its competitors from the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences. The bowl is no longer using the Western Athletic Conference or independent schools. This may change next year.

Minnesota University has played in the bowl game three times. This is the most any team has played at the Insight Bowl. Minnesota also leads all college teams with the most losses at the Insight Bowl, with three. They were a component of the very exciting 2006 game, where Texas Tech came back from a huge deficit of 37-8 and defeated Minnesota in overtime, 44-41. This was the most exciting game played at the Insight Bowl by far.

Other colleges that have played at the Insight Bowl include Arizona and California (now from the Pac 12), Texas Tech, Iowa State, Indiana and Kansas State, all schools with two visits and two wins. Last year's game featured Kansas State and Minnesota, with Kansas State wining 14-13. Most valuable player awards were given to Alexander Robinson and Christopher Lyle of Iowa State.

The Insight Bowl has a unique trophy, which I will do my best to describe. The trophy is about 3 feet tall and in the shape of a tree on a base. The main tree trunk splits in half with a completely round silver ball in the middle. Coming of the top of one side of the trunk is a large fruit like object. This fruit is shaped at one end like a football. The other end is elongated beyond the end of the football, and decorated with brown squares and shapes that relate to Insight and Arizona. This trophy certainly stands out in your school trophy case. Within the sportsbook you be able to place bets on bowl game MVPs along with other awards and individual player performances as part of our college football odds for the holiday bowl season.

The Insight Bowl Game Preview, the Insight Bowl odds and all of our Insight Bowl betting options will be published once the teams in the game are determined in the bowl selection show. This happens at the end of the regular NCAA footall season at the end of November or beginning of December. If you like our NCAA bowl previews be sure to check out all of NFL game previews each week. Falcons vs Saints, Lions vs Packers, 49ers vs Cowboys no matter what your favorite matchup we'll have previews as well as betting trends available for you each weekend.