It's easy to explain, Brandon. You think it all went down on Saturday....but your timing of the events is off.
By Friday-into-Saturday morning of last week, YES, the i-Bowl was UNANIMOUSLY in favor of a ULM/Tech game. That's true. BUT (here's your missing info)--- Tech was originally extended an invitation the week of 11/17, which was the Saturday of the UTAH ST loss. As you may recall, we had representatives from the Orange Bowl, the Liberty Bowl AND the i-Bowl at that game.
Had Tech accepted the Independence Bowl immediately when it was extended (again, the Saturday-ish before Thanksgiving), ULM probably would have never been invited. Feel free to make up your own story as to why you guys would be sitting home at 8-4...but it certainly could have happened. OR it still could have been a unanimous vote on Saturday to invite as Tech's opponent...ULM.
The fictional drama of all this makes for a much better story than the reality.