Iowa No. 6 in Bowl Championship Series Poll

Oct. 18, 2009

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IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa Hawkeyes are 7-0 for the first time in more than two decades. On Sunday, they learned they were considered the seventh best team in the country by the voters in the Associated Press Top 25 and No. 8 by those who cast ballots in the USA Today Top 25. They also learned on Sunday they were squarely in mix for a berth in one of college football’s Bowl Championship Series events.

Coach Kirk Ferentz’s squad – the last unbeaten team in the Big Ten Conference in 2009 – was the No. 6 team in the first BCS rankings of 2009 released Sunday afternoon. Florida is No. 1 followed by Alabama, Florida, Texas, Boise State and Cincinnati.

Iowa is the highest ranked Big Ten Conference team. Penn State is listed at No. 14, Ohio State is No. 18, and Wisconsin is No. 21.

Iowa has been one of the teams listed in the BCS’ first standings of the year three times prior to 2009. In 2002 – Iowa’s best BCS year – the Hawkeyes started at No. 13 and climbed to No. 5 after winning a share of the Big Ten Conference title. Iowa accepted an invitation to play No. 4 Southern Cal in the 2003 FedEx Orange Bowl.

A year later, Iowa was listed at No. 15 in the first BCS rankings for 2003. It spent the next two weeks at No. 11 before falling to No. 20 then rebounding to as high as No. 12.

Iowa was the No. 23 team in the first BCS rankings of 2006. The Hawkeyes didn’t appear in the first BCS rankings of the 2004 season, but did climb as high as No. 11 that year.

Iowa returns to action Saturday when they travel to East Lansing, Mich., for a 6 p.m. Iowa time date with Michigan State. That game will be televised live by the Big Ten Network.

IOWA and the BCS
Iowa has appeared in the first BCS rankings of the season four times in the 11-year history of the Bowl Championship Series.

• 2002 – 13th
• 2003 – 15th
• 2006 – 23rd
• 2009 – 6th