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A kicker's field goal in Iowa City meant the world to a lot of folks in Columbus.

Daniel Murray, who hadn't converted a field goal since the season-opener, booted a 31-yarder with 1 second left to give Iowa a stunning 24-23 upset over No. 3 Penn State on Saturday. Besides knocking the Nittany Lions out of the national title picture, it also shook things up in the Big Ten race.

Ohio State (8-2, 5-1) now finds itself tied with the Nittany Lions (9-1, 5-1), a half-game back of Michigan State (9-2, 6-1).

If they win their last two games, the Buckeyes will likely share the title, giving them at least a piece of the last four championships. No team has ever won three straight outright titles.

BCS representative

So who gets the Big Ten's automatic Bowl Championship Series bowl berth in case of a tie for the title?

We have to assume that we'll end up with co-champions because of an MSU-PSU showdown. Then it's simple: The winner of the head-to-head meeting will be assured of a BCS berth. Ohio State, because of its win over Michigan State, would get it should the Spartans beat Penn State. And Penn State, with a win over MSU, would receive the guaranteed BCS spot because it beat OSU.

All of that does not mean that the Big Ten could not get a second, at-large BCS berth. Since BCS rules preclude a conference from having more than two teams in the 10-team pool, that means that only two teams from the Big 12 — from Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Missouri — will get in. Same goes for the SEC, where Alabama, Florida or Georgia will end up disappointed.

Big Ten's best

TB Chris "Beanie" Wells shared offensive player of the week honors in the Big Ten. Wells had 140 yards rushing and two TDs in an easy win at Northwestern. He's averaging 117.2 yards per game and needs just one more yard to top 3,000 for his career.

— Rusty Miller, Associated Press