STILL IN THE CHASE: With three weekends of Big Ten play remaining, seven teams still have a chance to win at least a share of the 2009 conference crown. Iowa rallied from a 24-14 deficit to explode for 28 fourth-quarter points and defeat Indiana, 42-24, and remain undefeated in conference play and in first place at 5-0. The two teams that shared the championship last season remain one game back in second place, as Ohio State and Penn State are both 4-1 in conference action. Wisconsin moved up in the standings by blanking Purdue to improve to 3-2 in Big Ten play. Michigan State, Minnesota, Northwestern and Purdue all have three conference losses, which means they need to win out and have the Hawkeyes drop their final three games to have a chance to earn a share of the Big Ten crown.

MARQUEE MATCHUP: The only two teams to win Big Ten titles over the last four seasons will meet on Saturday when Penn State hosts Ohio State. The Buckeyes have earned at least a share of the conference championship in each of the last four seasons while the Nittany Lions tied for first place in 2005 and 2008. Last season, PSU earned a hard-fought 13-6 road triumph against OSU to hand the Buckeyes their only conference loss of the season and win the tiebreaker and a berth into the 2009 Rose Bowl. The two teams have split their last four meetings, including Penn State wins in 2005 and 2008 that marked Ohio State's only conference losses in those seasons.

DOWN THE STRETCH: Among the four teams with two or fewer conference losses with three weeks to go, Ohio State may face the toughest remaining schedule with two of three games on the road against schools with a combined Big Ten record of 10-5. The Buckeyes face a road test against second-place Penn State, then host first-place Iowa before wrapping up the regular season at Michigan. Wisconsin also ends the Big Ten campaign with two of three on the road, but the Badgers' combined opponents' record is 4-11, including matchups against three teams in seventh place or lower in the standings. Iowa and Penn State each wrap up the regular season with two of three at home.

THE LUCKY SEVEN: With its victory against Indiana, Iowa improved to 9-0 for the fi rst ti me in school history. The Hawkeyes entered last weekend as one of seven Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs still undefeated and all seven teams remained perfect. Iowa is the only team to win its first nine contests, while six teams stand at 8-0, including Alabama, Boise State, Cincinnati , Florida, Texas and Texas Christian.

STREAKING HAWKEYES: Iowa has now won 13 consecutive games overall, the second-longest active streak among all FBS schools behind only Florida's current 18-game winning streak. The last time Iowa was victorious in 13 or more consecutive games was when the program won 20 straight contests between 1920 and 1923. The last Big Ten team to record 13 or more consecutive wins was Ohio State, which won 19 straight during the 2005 and 2006 seasons.

FOUR FOR BOWLING: After improving to 6-2 last weekend, Wisconsin joined Iowa (9-0), Penn State (8-1) and Ohio State (7-2) as the fourth Big Ten team to become eligible for bowl competition this season. Badgers' mentor Bret Bielema is looking for his fourth bowl trip in as many seasons at the helm and eighth consecutive postseason game for the program.

NOTHING NEW: With Iowa off to a 9-0 start this year, at least one Big Ten team has opened the season with nine or more straight triumphs for the fourth straight season and the fifth time in the last six years. Last season, Penn State sprinted to a 9-0 start before the Hawkeyes handed them their first defeat. In 2007, Ohio State started the year with 10 straight victories on its way to an 11-1 regular season and a return trip to the BCS National Championship Game. In 2006, both the Buckeyes and Michigan began the season with 11-0 marks before meeting in the regular season finale, with Ohio State improving to 12-0 and advancing to the ti tle game. No Big Ten team started 9-0 in 2005, but Wisconsin jumped out to a 9-0 start in 2004.

SOMETHING SPECIAL ABOUT THEM: Two Big Ten special teams standouts cracked the top 10 in various career statistical categories last weekend. Michigan State kicker Brett Swenson tallied 10 points against Minnesota, including a pair of field goals, to break into the top 10 in career points scored among all players. Swenson now has 345 career points to pass Ohio State kicker Dan Stultz (342 points from 1997-2000) for 10th place on the all-time list. Swenson also passed Stultz to move up to seventh in career kicking points and boosted his career numbers to 66 field goals (sixth all-ti me) and 147 extra points (11th all-ti me). Minnesota's Troy Stoudermire recorded six kickoff returns for 192 yards against the Spartans to crack the top 10 with 1,932 career kickoff return yards, passing MSU's Herb Haygood (1,770 yards from 1998-2001) and Wisconsin's Nick Davis (1,778 from 1998-2001).

FOUR MILLION STRONG: The Big Ten surpassed the four-million mark in all games attendance last weekend for the 17th straight season. Big Ten stadiums have welcomed 4,238,067 fans in 59 games for an average of 71,832 patrons per contest, which would mark the second-highest average in conference annals behind only the 72,566 average in 2005. Iowa, Minnesota and Ohio State all boasted packed houses last Saturday, giving the Big Ten 29 sellouts through nine weekends. With an average of more than three full houses per weekend and three Saturdays left in Big Ten play, the conference has the chance to produce 40 or more sellouts for the third straight year and just the third time in Big Ten history. The conference also surpassed the two-million mark for conference games only last weekend and boasts 2,012,394 fans for 29 contests.