To so many, Steve Spurrier is a sort of magic man who marches at the head of a parade of believers, as did Robert Preston in his Music Man role of Seventy-Six Trombones. And so it was this New Year’s, so many Outback Bowlers figured he’d come back to the neighborhood of his Tampa Bay Buccaneer playing days, then Bandit and Buccaneer coaching days with his new South Carolina troupe and create whatever football magic they’d need to bedazzle those big, slow guys from Iowa, where it’s snowing and isn’t going to stop for a while.

The only thing is, the dazzle wasn’t there, and those big old guys were big and fast. They brought with them more of their fans than did South Carolina and they found their speed in the warmth, their hustle and skill which Carolina could not match. The day, the town and the Outback Bowl belonged to Iowa, 14-0 after a quarter and 31-10 after the game and it wasn’t that close.

This Iowa team just might beat this South Carolina team 100 out of 100 times.

The Hawkeye team danced around and about with speed and with dash as if to say thank you to the Outback Bowl for the invite. Outback Bowl information chief Mike
Schulze had a letter on his pocket phone from an Iowan saying he’d enjoyed every minute of his Bowl time here, and it didn’t matter whether Iowa was in it, that he’d be back. Schulze, fine at what he does, said the only minus was that the 52,000 didn’t fill RJS but said Iowa did more than its part.

“We got no complaints,” said Bowl boss Jim McVay. “The crowd’s good enough, the visitors happy, the sunshine bright and warm, the overlook upbeat and positive. The telecast makes this place look like what it is, great.”

And, by the way, reassuring the football and business worlds that the Super Bowl just ahead will be another dandy. Was the economic downturn a cause a of the not-quite-full RJS? Probably. Nothing is immune to that. Nothing will be.

“The weather has been perfect all week, the beach sand white, the warm water perfect, Ybor City has been Ybor City,” said McKay. “We expected all this 20 years ago when we got into the bowl business.”

Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive was around and about, readying to attend all bowl games with SEC member teams in it, including the college championship game at Miami matching the Florida and Oklahoma for the overall title.

“We always want to be a part of this bowl in this great area,” Slive said.

“We love it. Print that.” I have done that.

Chris Sullivan and Bob Basham and the other Outback sponsors were about, while their zeppelin hovered overhead. They became the big guys involved as sponsors years ago, taking this bowl over others pursuing them. They regret nothing.

There were some apologies for the game itself, the one in which South Carolina folk hoped Spurrier could create some of that magic. He could not. He could not today, tomorrow, or the next day against this complete Iowa team, starring running back Shonn Greene, a junior who said he’ll test the NFL draft this spring. He’ll go pro, probably.

Why not? He was judged the best in the land in his job. The pros surely will want him. In the Outback game, he was as advertised. He was a reason for the Iowa win. Scored three times. He made Iowa better in the Outback Bowl. South Carolina could not contain him.

The truth of it is, Iowa looked more like the Spurrier teams to which Floridians are accustomed, but with a little bit more inside/outside running with Greene. This Spurrier team will be a good one, next year and the year after that, with quarterbacks Stephen Garcia and Chris Smelley, both big, both with strong arms and more time to learn the football steps of the magical Spurrier.

These two QBs are in the right place at the right time. Orr, as wife Jerri Spurrier calls him by that middle name, has a lot of recent scores to settle. He will not want to be reminded that before Iowa rubbed him out in the Outback, 31-10, Florida had clubbed him and his 56-6, and Clemson, yeah, Clemson, had crushed him 31-14 in this season’s last regular game. Let’s see, in the last three games, that’s 110-30, the other teams.

But, remember, Orr was the quarterback of the original, the 0-12 Buccaneers, before he learned his magic.