Because Iowa State is tied for sixth with Texas Tech in the Big 12, there are four bowl games – Mainstay Independence Bowl, Galleryfurniture.com Bowl, Sylvania Alamo Bowl and the Insight.com Bowl – Iowa State could play in.

Beyond that, little is known.

“There are a thousand variables,” says Rick Hill, director of marketing for the Sylvania Alamo Bowl.

This game will be played on Dec. 29 in San Antonio. The fifth selection from the Big 12 will play the fourth or fifth selection from the Big Ten.

The winningest teams across the nation are selected first by the biggest bowls (Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar bowl, etc.)

As bowl games go, Iowa State is an average team, and Alamo, an average bowl, with $1.2 million guaranteed for each team, Hill said.

Texas A&M and Texas Tech are also vying for the Big 12 berth, Hill said.

Iowa and Purdue are currently the bowl eligible teams most likely to be selected from the Big Ten.

However, if Penn State and Michigan State win this weekend, Hill said, they will be considered as well.

The chances of Iowa State playing Iowa are “not very likely,” Hill said.

He says television ratings across the nation would be lower and fewer locals would buy tickets if the Hawks and Cyclones meet again.

That said, Iowa State’s chances are still good in San Antonio, Hill said.

He likes the nearly 30,000 Cyclone fans that traveled to the Insight.com Bowl last year.

He thinks a similar Southern exile this year is likely.

But again, nothing is known indefinitely. Much will be known after Saturday’s Big 12 Championship game.

“We’re going to use this whole week to get a firm idea.”

Expect an announcement early next week.

Expect the same from the Mainstay Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La.

“It really depends on who’s available,” says Glen Krupica, the executive director of the Mainstay Independence Bowl, played on Dec. 28.

Krupica and company will select the sixth team from the Big 12 no later than Monday, he says.

Kansas State is under consideration, but its 6-5 record may not bode as well as Iowa State’s 7-4, despite the Wildcats 42-3 win over the Cyclones four weeks ago.

Again, Texas Tech and Texas A&M are also available, Krupica said.

One of four teams – Arkansas, Alabama, LSU and Auburn – will play the Big 12 team.

Each school is guaranteed $1 million.

“[Iowa State] deserves to go a good bowl game,” says David Ippoliti, the executive director of the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl. “I’d be shocked if they were still available.”

But if Iowa State is, Ippoliti would gladly welcome the Cyclones to Houston on Dec. 28.

The seventh selection from the Big 12 goes to the Galleryfurniture.com Bowl and that team will play the third selection from Conference U.S.A.

Among those considered are Southern Mississippi, Texas Christian University and East Carolina.

Ippoliti says he doesn’t get to choose as much as accept the Big 12 team that has yet to go to a bowl.

Each team will take home at least $750,000.

The Insight.com Bowl will most likely exclude Iowa State. The fourth team from the Big 12 goes there on Dec. 29, and Iowa State is tied for sixth in the Big 12.

On Saturday Dan McCarney said he’d be happy to go anywhere.

Kevin DeRonde feels the same.

But if he had to choose, DeRonde said San Antonio and the Sylvania Alamo Bowl would be his preference.

“I’ve heard a lot of good things about it,” he said. Namely the city’s social scene and the Alamodome itself.

“I’d like to play a different Big Ten team,” he says of the likelihood, however slight, of playing Iowa.