Illini-Spartan Winner Going to Holiday Bowl : College football: Iowa bows out of competition for Dec. 30 game.

A telephone call from the Big Ten allowed the Holiday Bowl to bypass Iowa and announce that it will take the winner of this weekend’s Michigan State-Illinois game, bowl officials said Tuesday.

The Holiday Bowl, which has been leery of Iowa (5-6, 4-3) all along, had announced Sunday that it will keep its agreement with the Big Ten to take the highest-finishing team after Michigan (Rose Bowl) and Ohio State (Citrus Bowl).

That would have been Iowa if the Hawkeyes were to defeat Minnesota on Saturday and Illinois (5-4-1, 3-3-1) defeats Michigan State (5-5, 5-2). However, since the Hawkeyes can finish no better than 6-6 and since they have played in the Holiday Bowl three times since 1986, bowl officials weren’t enamored with the idea.

But the Big Ten called Monday on behalf of Iowa, asking that the Hawkeyes be released from a possible obligation to the game because they had reached an agreement to play in the Copper Bowl--providing they defeat Minnesota on Saturday and reach the NCAA-required six Division I-A victories a bowl team must achieve.

“The original decision and nervousness (regarding) a 6-6 Iowa team was from the fact that Iowa had been so good to us and we didn’t want to turn our back on them even though we probably should have,” said John Reid, Holiday Bowl executive director.

By cutting its own deal, Iowa’s bowl fate does not hinge on the Michigan State-Illinois game.

“The thing that is good about it is we were able to do Iowa a favor and set up a situation for us where our berth is decided on the field,” Reid said. “That has a lot of appeal to us.”

Figuring out the third pick had been an exercise which would have required an understanding of advanced algebra but, basically, for Iowa to get into the Holiday Bowl, the Hawkeyes needed to defeat Minnesota on Saturday and have Illinois (5-4-1, 3-3-1) defeat Michigan State (5-5, 5-2).

And the only way the Illini could make it would have been to defeat the Spartans and have Minnesota upset Iowa.

Now, the Big Ten’s representative to the Holiday Bowl is much more clear-cut, and Iowa, which has been in the Holiday Bowl three times since 1986, is excused.

The winner of the Michigan State-Illinois game will play the Western Athletic Conference champion in the Dec. 30 Holiday Bowl in San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. The payout is $1.5 million to each of the participating teams.