Former Top 10 teams will face off in the Insight Bowl on Tuesday night at Sun Devil Stadium in one of the most intriguing bowl games of the season. The Missouri Tigers still have a chance to finish this year in the Top 10 in the nation, but the Iowa Hawkeyes are just trying to end the season with a flurry after losing a number of games on the campaign down the stretch. Which team will you make your college football picks with on Tuesday night? Don’t be shocked if these three keys turn out to be the difference maker one way or the other.

Key #1: The Hawkeyes need to believe that they can win even without a pair of their offensive stars
As we mentioned earlier, Iowa got into the Top 10 in the nation as early as Week 2 this year, but a 34-27 loss to the Arizona Wildcats ended those dreams. Still, the Hawkeyes were ranked as the highest one loss team in the country for awhile, then were one of the highest two loss teams after losing by a point to the Wisconsin Badgers, and then they were the highest ranked three loss team in the land after losing to the Northwestern Wildcats. However, at that point, the wheels really fell off. The Hawkeyes were downed by the Ohio State Buckeyes and Minnesota Golden Gophers to end the campaign to drop out of the Top 25. To make matters worse now, they lost the services of leading rusher RB Adam Robinson and WR Derrell Johnson-Koulianos to suspension for the Insight Bowl. There really aren’t a ton of tremendous athletes for the Hawkeyes to count on at this point, but QB Ricky Stanzi is one of the best signal callers in the history of this school. This is a man that had not lost a game as a starter until that duel in the desert earlier this year, and he has found a way to overcome all sorts of odds. Head Coach Kirk Ferentz is one of the best in the nation, and he is always on the NFL short lists for jobs, though he has never left Iowa. If the Hawkeyes buy into their head coach and their scheme in spite of their losses at the end of the season, they’ll be able to stick around with one of the best teams in the nation.

Key #2: Missouri’s defense has to stay strong in one of its toughest games of the season
When you think of the Tigers, you think of a team that really loves to go aerial and put a lot of points on the board, and though this has been the case for several years, the difference that made Missouri a legitimate BCS Championship contender for a good chunk of the season was a defense that kept teams to just 15.2 points per game, good enough to rank No. 6 in the land. There were five teams kept to single digits this year, including in each of the last two games of the season. One of those four came against the Texas A&M Aggies, who ended up with a better bowl bid in the Cotton Bowl than the Tigers. Mizzou ended up beating six bowl teams this year, more than most in the country, and certainly more than many in the Big XII. There wasn’t a team that scored more than 31 points this year against the Tigers, and that includes the high flying Oklahoma Sooners and the surging San Diego State Aztecs. This wasn’t always a fantastic team in terms of total yards this year, averaging allowing 346.9 yards per game, but there is no doubt that this is a team that knows how to bend, but not break. Iowa’s offense is a lot more efficient than its numbers suggest, but this is certainly going to be a tremendous challenge against one of the best units in the Big XII.

Key #3: Blaine Gabbert needs to look like a pro in the face of a stout defense
We already mentioned that the Tigers are used to throwing the ball all over the place, and that really wasn’t an exception this year. There wasn’t a man that had 100 carries this year for Mizzou, while Gabbert threw the pigskin 418 times. However, for a player that was supposed to at least be an outside contender for the Heisman Trophy this year, Gabbert just didn’t put together the numbers necessary. He threw for just 2,752 yards and 15 TDs, a far cry from his 3,593 yards and 24 scores on the year in 2009. WR TJ Moe and WR Michael Egnew were the top two targets for this team, as the two combined for 160 receptions and 1,591 yards with ten of the team’s 16 passing TDs for the year. Iowa’s defense has a ton of potential NFL stars on it, but it really isn’t all that deep. Still, these Hawkeyes allowed just 312.5 yards and 16.4 points per game in the Big Ten, one of the more surprising offensive conferences in the nation this year.

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The Sunshine State is the home to a number of bowl games, but this one at the Florida Citrus Bowl between the West Virginia Mountaineers and the NC State Wolfpack is one that you certainly aren’t going to want to miss! These two teams play vastly differing styles of play, and they are expecting to put on a great show. But before you make your Champs Sports Bowl picks, be sure to take a peek at the three keys to the game that will determine the winner of this one on December 28th.

Key #1: Noel Devine finally needs to shine
2010 was supposed to be a season in which Devine really shined as a potential Heisman Trophy candidate. However, he never even emerged as one of the top players on the Mountaineers, let alone one of the best in the Big East or the best in the country. Devine did carry the ball 201 times this year, and in Morgantown, they had to figure that that would have been good enough for the senior to rush for at least 1,200 yards based on his history. However, an average of just 4.4 yards per carry was easily the lowest in his career. Devine only had 886 yards, and he didn’t even lead the team in rushing TDs, let alone total TDs. Over the course of the last two games against the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Pitt Panthers, Devine only has 17 carries for 58 yards, and he hasn’t found the end zone. There is no doubt that the Fort Myers product can leave school with a bang, as he has rushed for 4,267 yards in his illustrious career, but we really haven’t seen anything of late that has suggested that. More importantly for Devine, he is going against the No. 10 rush defense in the land at 106.9 yards per game. NC State did a great job against some of the better backs that the ACC has to offer this year, and if this is any indicator, Devine very well could struggle again.

Key #2: Russell Wilson must take care of the football
There really isn’t a more fierce defense that you’re going to find outside of the BCS games than that of the Mountaineers. WVU ranks No. 2 in the land in total ‘D’ at 248.8 yards per game, and as a result, there was no team that scored more than 21 points against this team all season long. The defensive line has been absolutely dominating at times, and there is a real chance for this unit to get into the face of QB Russell Wilson all day long. Wilson has put together an offense that has averaged over 400 yards and 32 points per game, but he has the ability to really turn the ball over as well. Wilson has been picked off 14 times this year, and he has had a few outings with multiple INTs. This is a man that, as a freshman, broke the record for most passes by a freshman without a pick, and Wilson has only gone backwards from there. If the junior can’t take care of the football against this defense, there’s going to be absolutely no chance to beat the Champs Sports Bowl odds.

Key #3: Someone for the Wolfpack has to emerge as a leader on the ground
Remember that Wilson has the ability to do this as well. Against the Florida State Seminoles, Wilson was all over the field as both a runner and a thrower, and though he only had 394 yards on the season, he can run for 100 yards against a napping opponent that doesn’t keep him inside the pocket. Aside from Wilson though, the backs for the Wolfpack are nothing to write home about because they are both freshman that have a lot of growing to do. RB Mustafa Greene rushed for 584 yards and four scores on the campaign, while RB Dean Haynes had 320 yards and three visits to the end zone. Again, we have to stress just how good the Mountaineers are in their front four, but if there aren’t at least a few holes that are opened up for the NC State offensive line, there’s just no hope. The Wolfpack ranked No. 95 in the land in the rushing game at 125.8 yards per game this year, but they would love to be able to reach this point on Tuesday against a rush defense that ranked No. 2 in the country at 82.6 yards per game.