By JOHN MARSHALL
AP College Football Writer
SCOTTSDALE (AP) -- The Fiesta Bowl missed its marquee matchup.
Left with little choice after the Orange Bowl took No. 5 Stanford, the Fiesta Bowl ended up selecting four-loss Connecticut to face Big 12 champion Oklahoma.
Instead of a showdown between two high-scoring offenses, it'll be a traditional power playing New Year's Day against a school known more for its basketball teams than its upstart football program.
"We really look at the rankings and the process, so we totally understand why Stanford has the opportunity; they certainly earned it," Fiesta Bowl chairman Duane Woods said Sunday after the announcement. "But we're very happy with our selection."
The Fiesta Bowl has a knack for getting must-watch matchups, from the top-me-I'll-top-you game between Boise State and the Sooners in 2007 to last year's BCS-busters matchup between the Broncos and TCU.
No. 25 UConn (8-4) doesn't exactly fit that mold, a hoops power coming from the East Coast and a conference that had a so-so year.
The Huskies shared the Big East title with West Virginia and Pittsburgh, earning the automatic BCS nod through a tiebreaker. UConn closed out the regular season by beating South Florida on Saturday night, but its list of losses includes Temple of the Mid-Atlantic Conference and a shutout loss to 6-6 Louisville.
The Huskies are 26th in the BCS standings and figure to be overwhelming underdogs for the game at the University of Phoenix Stadium, but they're not apologizing for anything.
"Don't get on UConn for what the system is," UConn coach Randy Edsall said. "We happened to win the conference and we're deserving to be there. We didn't back our way into it. We won our way into it."
Oklahoma is in familiar territory.
The Sooners (11-2) captured their seventh Big 12 title -- twice as many as any other school -- by rallying from a 17-point deficit to send Nebraska off to the Big Ten with a 23-20 loss in the Big 12 Championship game Saturday night.
Oklahoma finished seventh in the final BCS standings, but doesn't exactly have fond memories of playing in the Fiesta Bowl.
In the 2007 game, the Sooners were on the losing end of Boise State's breakout moment, falling 43-42 as the Broncos hit them with a barrage of trick plays. Oklahoma was ranked third and a big favorite the following year against West Virginia, only to be overrun 48-28.
The Sooners at least are on a bowl roll headed into this year's Fiesta Bowl; they beat Stanford in last year's Sun Bowl.
"We're on a one-game winning streak, so I want you all to note that," OU linebacker Travis Lewis said. "This is huge. We've got to finish. We've been talking all season about finishing. We're on a pretty hot streak right now. I think all the players are satisfied that we finished strong but it's not over yet. To cap this season off to win a bowl game, that would be awesome."
Oklahoma's fans figure to travel well to the desert.
The big question is whether Huskies fans will.
UConn is a solid draw during the postseason in men's and women's basketball, but all the way across the country for a football? That might be asking a lot.
"It reminds me back when we had Boise State coming out for a major game and we had the same kind of discussion: How will Boise travel?" Woods said. "I can you tell you there's that same energy in talking to UConn. They see this as a chance to get in the national light and get all their alums and fans out."
Updated December 5, 2010
