Iowa City, Iowa ? All season long, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz dismissed the BCS talk that swirled around the program, saying simply that the Hawkeyes would probably end up where they belonged.

It won’t be the Rose Bowl, which vanished in 15th-ranked Iowa’s overtime loss at No. 10 Ohio State last weekend. But if the Hawkeyes can close out their roller coaster of a regular season with a home win over Minnesota on Saturday, their hopes for a first BCS bowl trip since the 2003 Orange Bowl would still be alive.

Iowa (9-2, 5-2 Big Ten) is ranked 13th in this week’s BCS standings, one place ahead of the final spot for at-large consideration for a team from a BCS-affiliated conference.

Of course, all that BCS chatter is moot if the Hawkeyes can’t get past Minnesota (6-5, 3-4) on Saturday.

“I’m not even thinking about it. I hope nobody else is in our camp, because it doesn’t matter,” Ferentz said Tuesday. “That’s somebody else’s job.”