POST-WEEK 5 BOWL PROJECTIONS: HEAD WEST, YOUNG HAWKEYES

As the college football season enters Week 6, it feels reasonable to check back in on the bowl projections and see what potential holiday destination they're spitting out for Iowa.  After five weeks of games, the projections feel much better informed; we may not exactly how good certain teams are (especially when they've been fattening up on cupcakes for the last month), but we have a much better idea of who's likely to still be playing in late December and early January than we did back in August.

As we noted last time, the rules regarding Big Ten bowls have changed this year.  I recommend reading that recap to get a better handle on the state of Big Ten bowls in 2014.  If you're still confused... honestly, I don't blame you.  But feel free to ask your question in the comments; perhaps the BHGP braintrust can help answer it.

Unless otherwise noted, all bowl projections incorporate Week 5 results.

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Our friends at SB Nation:

Gator Bowl: Iowa vs. South Carolina (Jacksonville, FL; 1/2/2015)

Jerry Palm at CBSSports.com:

Heart of Dallas Bowl: Iowa vs. Marshall (Dallas, TX; 12/26/14)

Phil Steele:

Holiday Bowl: Iowa vs. Stanford (San Diego, CA; 12/27/14)

Athlon Sports:

Music City Bowl: Iowa vs. Missouri (Nashville, TN; 12/30/14)

Sporting News:

Pinstripe Bowl: Iowa vs. Louisville (New York, NY; 12/27/14)

ESPN (Brett McMurphy):

San Francisco Bowl: Iowa vs. UCLA (Santa Clara, CA; 12/30/14)

ESPN (Mark Schlabach):

Holiday Bowl: Iowa vs. USC (San Diego, CA; 12/27/14)

ESPN (Adam Rittenberg):

Holiday Bowl: Iowa vs. ??? (San Diego, CA; 12/27/14)

NFL.com (College Football 24/7):

Holiday Bowl: Iowa vs. USC (San Diego, CA; 12/27/14)

BTN:

San Francisco Bowl: Iowa vs. Arizona (Santa Clara, CA; 12/30/14)

Gazette (Scott Dochterman):

San Francisco Bowl: Iowa vs. Stanford (Santa Clara, CA; 12/30/14)

USA Today:

Pinstripe Bowl: Iowa vs. Miami (FL) (New York, NY; 12/26/14)

College Football News/Scout.com:

Outback Bowl: Iowa vs. Texas A&M (Tampa, FL; 1/1/14)

* Neither USA Today nor CFN had updated their projections to incorporate Week 5 results as of this writing.

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To recap, that's four votes for the Holiday Bowl, three votes for the San Francisco Bowl (formerly known as the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl), two votes for the Pinstripe Bowl, and one vote apiece for the Gator, Heart of Dallas, Music City, and Outback Bowls.  That's a slightly wider range of bowls than we saw before the season (the Gator, Heart of Dallas, and San Francisco Bowls are new additions), although the Holiday Bowl remains the favorite option.  Just over half of the bowl projections here (7 of 13) have Iowa going to a California locale (either San Francisco or San Diego), so perhaps Iowa fans better get ready to head west.

Meanwhile, in other bowl-related news... the site of one of our most cherished bowl memories is getting a new name.  Say goodbye to the Capital One Bowl; say hello to the Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus Bowl.  And despite the soulless commercialism the name embodies, it will always be the Capital One Bowl when I think back on this:

Meanwhile, Capital One is remaining affiliated with beloved bowls from our past; the Orange Bowl is switching title sponsors from Discover to Capital One.