Who Will Buckeyes Play In Pasadena?

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- What's brewing today with the 2009 Ohio State Buckeyes ...

BUCKEYES BUZZ: Now that Ohio State has officially clinched a Rose Bowl berth with Saturday night's thrilling 27-24 overtime victory over Iowa, everyone wants to know who the Buckeyes might play on Jan. 1 in Pasadena, Calif.

Oregon (8-2, 6-1) leads the Pac-10 standings, followed by Stanford (7-3, 6-2), Oregon State (7-3, 5-2) and Arizona (6-3, 4-2), with California (7-3, 4-3) and Southern Cal (7-3, 4-3) another game back in the loss column.

This coming Saturday will determine a lot. Oregon plays at Arizona and Cal plays at Stanford in two big matchups. In the only other game of consequence, Oregon State is at Washington State.

On Nov. 28, Arizona is at Arizona State and UCLA visits USC in two big rivalries.

A lot could be determined on Dec. 3 when Oregon State travels to Oregon. Then on Dec. 5, Arizona is at USC and Cal travels to Washington.

So even though the Pac-10, like the Big Ten, does not have a conference championship, the West Coast league still plays games that matter a full two weeks after Ohio State's final regularly scheduled game.

POLL DANCING: The Buckeyes moved up a spot to No. 9 in the latest Associated Press Top 25. Around the Big Ten, Penn State moved from 19th to 13th with a less than overpowering victory over Indiana, and Iowa stayed at No. 15 after the thrilling 27-24 overtime loss to Ohio State.

Florida remains No. 1, with Alabama sliding back around Texas to take over second - it seems as if they trade spots every week. Rounding out the the top 10 are: TCU, Cincinnati, Boise State, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, Ohio State and LSU.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES: Some leftover words of wisdom from the Iowa-Ohio State game ...

LB Austin Spitler on Devin Barclay's game-winning 39-yard field goal in overtime: "I didn't know whether to watch. I looked up. But never did we lose faith in Devin. For him to lose early in the game and then come back and win it is absolutely great."

DT Doug Worthington on Barclay's kick: "I had chills. I knew he would make it. It like you know you're going to get a gift for Christmas and you get it - it's still exciting."

LB Ross Homan on what he did during the final play: "I was on my knee, I closed my eyes - but I just opened them at the last second."

Barclay: "I was a central midfielder (in pro soccer). I scored some goals. But nothing in soccer was ever like this."

OPPOSING SIDE: Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz's addressed reporters after the difficult loss.

On the play of first-time starting QB James Vandenberg: "He gave us a chance to win the football game."

On RB Brandon Wegher missing the game with abdominal spasms: "That's kind of how our season has gone. It's been a thrill a minute."

On the offensive play-calling in overtime: "It's easy to second-guess aferwards. I wish we hadn't run the plays that went backwards."

Summing up: "At the end of the day, we came up short. Ohio State got the job done. We congratulate them. It's a tough loss and we'll have to try and regroup."

CLOSING WORDS: "I don't want to be a part of my first team to lose to Michigan," - Ohio State S Kurt Coleman.