January 5th 2010, 8:00 ET FOX

This year marks the 76th year of the Orange Bowl, which has only once played in December. The Orange Bowl has had tie-ins with the Big Eight (now Big 12), Big East and is currently the home of the ACC.

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets are 3-2 all tim in the Orange Bowl with the most recent being a 27-10 loss to Florida in 1967. The Iowa Hawkeyes only Orange Bowl appearance was a 38-17 loss to USC in 2003.

Georgia Tech and Iowa have never played before.

General

My first reaction to these teams is that Iowa has played the better team and Georgia Tech has not performed at a level to close that gap.

Offense

Both teams have played similar quality defenses. The main thing that jumps out is the contrasting styles of these two capable offenses. Georgia Tech runs a run intensive option while Iowa uses a pass happy spread offense.

Usually the passing offense would accumulate more yards, suggesting Georgia Tech's offense has the edge. Turnover ratios also support this.

Defense

Again, both have faced very similar opposition. Iowa has proven they can slow down a strong offense far better than Georgia Tech, though both offenses are near the best that each side will have seen this year.

Summary

I expect Georgia Tech to take an early lead as the Iowa Defense settles in to defend the option and then Iowa to finish strong and take the game away in the end.

Iowa 27 Georgia Tech 21