Nebraska (9-3, 6-3) suffered a disappointing loss at Iowa to finish out the 2016 regular season.

The Huskers now must wait until next Sunday to find out their official bowl game fate. We give our thoughts in this week's 3-2-1 column.

1 - Tampa or Nashville appear to be the likely bowl destinations for Nebraska

If Nebraska beat Iowa on Friday, there was an outside shot they could've snuck into a New Year's Day Six bowl games, but after Wisconsin and Penn State both won on Saturday, that made it highly unlikely.

The Huskers are basically last year's Northwestern, who was 10-2, but lost it's marque match-ups badly to Iowa and Michigan. They ended up getting invited to the Outback Bowl.

At 9-3, the Outback Bowl seems very likely for Nebraska, as long as the Big Ten gets four in the New Year's Day Six. If they don't, and Michigan goes to the Orange Bowl, the loser of the Big Ten title game could end up in Tampa. Iowa is a near lock to play in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, as the Hawks have not been there since 1991 and they have not played out west since 2011. The Huskers have been West two years in a row, and the Holiday Bowl three times since 2009.

The new Big Ten bowl rules prevent a team from traveling to the same destination/region multiple times in short period. That means if Tampa falls through, the Music City Bowl in Nashville would be the next option, and they too want the Huskers, since it would be a drivable option for NU fans.

2 - This team should look a lot different in a month

There's no question a month layoff should really change the look of this team. Quarterback Tommy Armstrong should be able to run at full speed by then, tight end Cethan Carter should be back to his old self and this offensive line will look fresh.

It could be a lot like last year where the Huskers came into the bowl looking like a different team.

3 - History says Mike Riley knows how to get a team ready for a bowl

It's hard to ignore Mike Riley's 7-2 bowl game record. Bowl games are very challenging to get your team ready for with the layoff and just keeping your guys motivated. That's why you see so many upsets in bowl games.

If last year showed us anything, Riley knows how to get a team ready over the month of December. With such a big senior class there's a good chance that could be the case again in 2016.

1 - Will the Big Ten get four teams in the New Year's Day Six?

This ultimately will be one of the biggest pieces to the puzzle if the Huskers end up in Tampa or Nashville. Today it appears four Big Ten teams will get into the New Year's Day Six.

As it stands right now, the Big Ten will get four (Ohio State, Penn State, Michigan and Wisconsin) of the 12 spots, the SEC (Alabama and next highest ranked), PAC-12 (Washington and USC) and ACC (Clemson and Florida State) will get two, while the Big 12 (Oklahoma vs. Oklahoma State winner) and Group of 5 (Western Michigan) one. Louisville's losses to Kentucky and Houston killed the ACC's bid to get more than two teams in, as did the SEC's awful finish - the league only has one team with more than 8 wins.

The Big Ten absolutely hit it out of park this year with four teams finishing 10-2 or better and the league should cash in big time with four invites into the New Year's Day Six.

2 - How well will Husker fans travel after the Iowa loss?

Big Ten fan bases are naturally at a disadvantage when traveling to any of the Florida bowl games.

Nebraska has traveled well twice in their four Florida games - 2008 Gator Bowl and 2011 Citrus Bowl. The Huskers came off wins to close the season in both cases. In 2012 they went back to Orlando after losing the Big Ten title game and played Georgia. In 2013 they played Georgia again on a rainy day in the Gator Bowl. Both the 2012 and 2013 games were poorly attended by Nebraska fans.

With that said, how much will Friday's loss to Iowa impact fan travel? With the possibility of two new bowl destinations, I think you will see a solid showing in either Tampa or Nashville.

The way Saturday played out, I still see the Huskers going to Tampa to play Florida, LSU or Auburn in the Outback Bowl. It just makes too much sense because Nebraska has never played in Tampa and it would be an attractive match-up on ABC to open the day.

Iowa also makes a lot of sense to play in the Holiday Bowl against Utah - Stanford will probably go to the Alamo Bowl from the Pac-12. Both are Tier 1 Big Ten bowls that will try to pair teams with the best fit. As long as the Big Ten gets four in the New Year's Six, this scenario should play out.

Sean Callahan can be reached at sean@huskeronline.com and he can be heard each day at 6:45 am and 5:05 pm on Big Red Radio 1110 KFAB in Omaha during the football season. He can also be seen on KETV Channel 7 in Omaha during the fall and each week he appears on NET's Big Red Wrap-Up Tuesday's at 7 pm.