Iowa State bowl thing

Jake Calhoun

Iowa State will be going to the Heart of Dallas Bowl to face Purdue, C-USA representative Tim Simmons confirmed to the Daily on Sunday afternoon.

The Heart of Dallas Bowl will be the third bowl game in which Iowa State will play in four years under coach Paul Rhoads.

Formerly known as the Ticket City Bowl, the Heart of Dallas Bowl is in its third season of existence and is played at the historic Cotton Bowl to take place of the game by the same name that has since been moved to the $1 billion Cowboys Stadium.

ISU fans were left hanging during the BCS selection, anxiously watching whether Oklahoma would get an at-large BCS bid in lieu of the Mid-American Conference’s Northern Illinois. Had Oklahoma been denied a BCS bid, it would have found itself in the Cotton Bowl to knock every Big 12 team down a peg in the Big 12 pecking order and knock Iowa State into a non-Big 12 bowl.

Akin to last year’s inaugural matchup with the Big East’s Rutgers, Iowa State will be facing Purdue for the first time in its history. Purdue, of the Big Ten Conference, finished the season 6-6 with a 3-5 conference record.