Could Be Too Soon For Rose Bowl Plane Tickets

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Is it too soon to start making flight arrangements for the Rose Bowl?

After the decisive 24-7 victory over Penn State, all the Buckeyes need to do to earn their first trip to Pasadena in 13 years is to beat Iowa at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Horseshoe.

Here's an abridged version of what the Big Ten's rules say about how the representative to the Rose Bowl is determined ...

"Unless ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the final Bowl Championship Series poll, the conference champion shall participate in the Rose Bowl. The championship shall be determined on the percentage basis of conference games. If there is a tie for the championship, the winner of the game between these two teams shall represent the conference" in the Rose Bowl.

Since Ohio State, even with a loss at Michigan to end the season, could do no worse than 6-2 in the Big Ten, and since the Buckeyes would have beaten both of the teams in a potential tie with them for the title (Penn State, Iowa), then the choice is clear.

Now, should Ohio State lose to Iowa, the only way it could still get a piece of a fifth consecutive Big Ten crown would be if the Hawkeyes turned around and lost at Minnesota on Nov. 21 while the Buckeyes were winning at Michigan. Even in that scenario, Iowa would win all tie-breakers and would go to the Rose Bowl.

In other words, don't get non-refundable tickets just yet.

BCS UPDATE: Ohio State is 11th in the latest BCS standings, one spot behind Iowa. The computers have the Buckeyes at 13th, while they are eighth in both the Harris Interactive and USA Today polls. Iowa is ninth in the computers, 12th in the Harris and 13th in USA Today.

Alabama actually traded places with Texas to move into the No. 2 spot behind top-ranked Florida.

Only the top two teams in the final BCS rankings will end up in the national championship game. Up until then, it's just conversation fodder.

POLL DANCING: The Buckeyes climbed from No. 15 to No. 10 in the latest Associated Press Top 25. They were one spot ahead of a team that they lost to, USC, which also has two losses.

Florida, Texas and Alabama remained the top three teams in order, followed by TCU, Cincinnati, Boise State, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh and LSU. LSU is the highest-ranked two-loss team in the rankings, staying at No. 9 despite the loss to Florida.

CHECK THIS OUT: Wasn't ESPN analyst and Fighting Irish booster Lou Holtz picking Notre Dame to run the table and play in a BCS game just a week or two ago? Now they're out of the AP Top 25 behind the likes of Temple, Rutgers and Navy, which served up a 23-21 piece of humble pie to the Irish on Saturday.

IMPRESSIVE NUMBERS: Ohio State's 24 points were the most against Penn State this season, as were the Buckeyes' 228 rushing yards rushing.

On the other side of the ball, the Buckeyes limited Penn State to just nine first downs - the Nittany Lions' fewest since a meager six against Iowa in 2004.

FACTOID: The last time Purdue beat both Ohio State and Michigan in the same season was 2000. Guy named Drew Brees was the QB of that 8-4 team, which whipped Buckeyes when they were No. 12 and Wolverines when they were No. 6.

IOWA I.O.U.: Ohio State has an all-time record of 44-14-3 against the Hawkeyes. The margin in Columbus is 28-8-1.

Iowa's largest margin of victory in the series is also its most recent win, a 33-7 home win in 2004. The Buckeyes have won 10 of the last 11 meetings.

The average score in those last 11 matchups: Ohio State 34, Iowa 17.

HOW S.I. SEES IT: Sports Illustrated writers and editors rank the top 16 teams in the nation each week, and then bracket them to see what it would look like if the BCS was thrown out and replaced by a single-elimination tournament.

This week, the mag has Ohio State at No. 9 meeting No. 8 LSU in the first round, with the winner advancing to meet the winner of top-ranked Florida and No. 16 Miami in the quarterfinals.

Their No. 4 team, Cincinnati, would get Iowa in the first round for a shot at either No. 5 TCU or No. 12 USC in the quarters.

If both Ohio State and Cincinnati were to win their first two games, they would then meet in the mythical semifinals.

HEYWARD AWARD: Cameron Heyward won the defensive honors as the Walter Camp Football Foundation player of the week.

The Ohio State DE from Suwanee, Ga., had 11 tackles including three for minus yardage and two sacks as the Buckeyes limited Penn State to just 201 yards of total offense.

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