Bright smiles and excitement replaced nerves and questions Sunday afternoon with the announcement that the ISU football team has accepted a bid to play in the Insight.com Bowl Dec. 28 in Phoenix.

The Insight.com Bowl, often called the fan’s choice because of the location and the weather, will feature a match-up between the 8-3 Cyclones and 7-4 Pittsburgh Panthers. The game will kick off at 6 p.m. CST in the Bank One Ballpark.

Following the announcement, head football coach Dan McCarney said he is excited about the team’s being chosen to play in the Insight.com Bowl.

“I can’t tell you how thrilled I am and how happy I am for a lot of people, but especially these players and assistant coaches that have worked so hard,” McCarney said. “It’s about time to get out of Ames in December, and I can’t think of a better place to go or with better hospitality than the Insight.com Bowl.”

Many people expected the Cyclones to be invited to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., but got invited to the Insight.com Bowl over Texas A&M, a team Iowa State lost to earlier in the season.

“I think it says a lot about our program, the leadership of [Athletics Director] Bruce Van De Velde, the kind of kids we have in this program and the turnout of the Iowa State fans that are going to come down there,” McCarney said. “I think they know that we’re going to come down there and turn out big numbers, and hopefully Iowa State fans do that.”

Van De Velde said the Insight.com Bowl is a good invitation for the Cyclones.

“The opportunity to get a team that is on the rise and the excitement surrounding that is very important in being chosen,” he said. “We have all that right now at Iowa State.”

Although the wait is over for the players and coaches, the focus hasn’t changed from winning the final game this season.

“I look at going to a bowl as our reward for doing good in the season,” said tailback Ennis Haywood, sophomore in child and family services. “We all know we still need to stay focused though. We still have a game to win.”

Although Haywood never has been to Phoenix, he said he is looking forward to the opportunity to play there.

“I’m just happy to be getting out of this cold weather,” he said. “We’re going to a bowl.”

McCarney stops short of guaranteeing victory for the Cyclones but does promise that his team will play hard.

“We’ll draw the line in the sand that day,” he said. “The Cyclones are going down there to win, not just look good and make an appearance. We want to win that football game.”

Tickets are available for the general public from the ISU Ticket Office starting at 8 a.m. today, and tickets may be ordered by phone at 1-888-478-2925.

Tickets will be available to ISU students Friday at 8 a.m. in the south box office of Hilton Coliseum. ISU students will need a fee card and ISU student ID to purchase tickets.