Iowa No. 4 in BCS

Oct. 25, 2009

IOWA CITY, Iowa – In a year of firsts, the University of Iowa football team Sunday established another first.

The unbeaten Hawkeyes climbed to No. 4 in the 2009 Bowl Championship Series, a standing that ranks as Iowa’s best in the 12-year history of the BCS, topping its three-week stay at the No. 5 position during the 2002 regular season that ended with Kirk Ferentz’s squad participating in the 2003 Fed Ex Orange Bowl.

Iowa jumped Texas Christian – which was eighth last week and sixth this – and Boise State – which was fourth a week ago and Sunday found itself at No. 7. All three teams – Iowa, TCU and Boise State – were leap-frogged by Southern Cal, which moved from seventh to fifth and is the highest ranked one-loss team.

Florida, Alabama and Texas remained in the first three positions. Iowa, which was ranked seventh in this week’s Associated Press Top 25 and eighth in the USA Today Coaches poll – was the No. 1 ranked team in five of the six computer rankings used by the BCS, a result, no doubt, of Iowa’s road victories at Iowa State, Penn State, Wisconsin and Michigan State.

A limited number of tickets remain for next Saturday’s Iowa football game against Indiana. Click HERE to learn about a special offer.

Iowa, unbeaten in its first eight games of 2009 – a new school-record, entertains Indiana Saturday at 11 a.m. Iowa time inside historic Kinnick Stadium. The game will be televised live by ESPN.

Iowa is the highest ranked Big Ten Conference team. Penn state moved up one position to No. 12, and Ohio State moved up two to No. 17.