Buckeyes Advance In BCS Standings Again

COLUMBUS, Ohio —What’s brewing today with the 2009 Ohio State Buckeyes ...

BCS STANDINGS: The Buckeyes moved up one spot in the BCS standings released Sunday, from No. 17 to No. 16.

Florida held onto the No. 1 spot, while Texas and Alabama flipped rankings to land at spots 2 and 3, respectively. Iowa remains at No. 4, followed by Cincinnati at No. 5—up three spots from the previous week.

The next opponent on the Buckeyes’ horizon, Penn State, also moved up one spot from No. 12 to No. 11.

BUCKEYES BUZZ: Last week’s 45-0 blitz of a New Mexico State team that might have had trouble with Capital’s football team meant about as much as the spring game. Now, next week, that is the season.

A lot of Ohio State fans are already spying Saturday’s 3:30 p.m. showdown at Penn State as a make-or-break game. A loss and the Buckeyes are eliminated from a BCS game and likely contention for a fifth straight Big Ten title. A win and almost all of their remaining major goals are still within reach: a conference title and a good BCS game.

It’s all right there in front of the Buckeyes, too. Win out, and they’re assured of at least a share of the league crown and might just have enough mojo to either sneak around unbeaten Iowa and the Nittany Lions or at least lock up a top-tier bowl trip if not a choice BCS-game berth.

And to think that two weeks ago it appeared that all of those possibilities were off the table.

JOEPA SPEAKS: Within minutes of his team’s come-from-behind 34-13 victory at Northwestern on Saturday, Penn State coach Joe Paterno was asked about the looming battle with the Buckeyes:

“We’re going to play a good football team. I haven’t looked at enough tapes yet to know how good they are, but I’m sure they’re going to be really good. I know they were kicking the ears in of somebody today (New Mexico St. 45-0). I saw part of their game last week (a 38-7 win over Minnesota) and they were good. I think we’ll play a little better then what we’ve been playing, practice hard and see what happens.“

LOOKING AHEAD: The Big Ten announced late on Sunday afternoon that the Iowa at Ohio State game on Nov. 14 will kick off at 3:30 p.m. The game will be carried by ABC on a regional basis. The Hawkeyes (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten) are alone in first place in the Big Ten heading into Saturday’s home game with Northwestern.

MEDIA POLL: The Buckeyes climbed two spots to No. 15 in the latest Associated Press rankings. Penn State moved up one rung to No. 11.

Other teams of note: Florida remains No. 1, Texas slides by ‘Bama to No. 2, UC up one to No. 4, Iowa falls spot to No. 8 and Wisconsin joins the party at No. 24.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.