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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa football team is ranked No. 6 in the first Bowl Championship Series standings of the season, No. 7 in the latest Associated Press poll and No. 8 in the USA Today coaches poll.

The computer rankings used by the BCS have the Hawkeyes rated No. 3.

And the weekly “bias-free’’ matrix rankings computed by University of Alabama-Huntsville senior research scientist Wes Colley have the Hawkeyes rated No. 1 in the entire country right now.

No one pointed out that last one to Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz on Tuesday, but his reaction would have been the same as it was to everything else.

“It’s October 20 so I’m not too worried about any of that stuff right now,’’ Ferentz said at his weekly news conference.

His Hawkeyes are one of only two 7-0 teams in the country – the other one, Alabama, is No. 1 in the AP poll – and they will attempt to become the first Iowa team ever to start a season 8-0 when they visit Michigan State at Spartan Stadium on Saturday at 6 p.m.

Ferentz doesn’t have a PhD from Princeton in astrophysical sciences, as Wes Colley does, but he had done some research of his own on Tuesday.

“Quick one for you: The teams that were 6 through 10 last year in the initial (BCS) poll, anybody want to take a shot where they finished?’’ he asked the media.

The gathered reporters pretty much shrugged in unison.

“Three moved down, one stayed the same and one moved from 10 to 1,’’ Ferentz said. “So a conclusion there is you could go up, you could go down or you might stay the same. That’s about all I took out of that whole thing.’’

He said he planned to share that item with his players although he’s not really worried about them losing sight of the one-game-at-a-time concept.

“We have such a long road ahead of us right now,’’ Ferentz added. “It’s natural for people to talk about it and think about it, but the best way for us to get anywhere is just try to take care of this week and that’s about all we can handle right now.’’

His players seem to be thinking the same way.

“That’s for the fans,’’ quarterback Ricky Stanzi said of the BCS talk. “We’ve got other things we need to worry about.’’

Offensive tackle Bryan Bulaga admitted he heard where the Hawkeyes are rated in the BCS.

“It’s … whatever,’’ he said. “All those teams are going to change before the season is over.

“We haven’t done much yet. We haven’t played our best football yet.’’

The Hawks have achieved a little. They’ve matched the best start in Iowa history.

Even though he conceded that rankings are “amusing’’ and “good for college football,’’ Ferentz said he couldn’t even guess as to whether or not his team is a legitimate contender for a national championship.

“I have no idea,’’ he said. “Right now I hope we can contend with Michigan State.’’

He knows what a victory at East Lansing would bring: More BCS chatter, more national title day-dreaming by Iowa fans.

“If we end up running the table, maybe we’re in that group …’’ he said. “We haven’t played half of our conference games yet so it’s premature to be worrying about that stuff.

“Winning takes care of itself,’’ he added. “It’s that simple. If we win enough, you usually get what you deserve in sports. It’s really how it works.’’