BCS standings still point to Auburn-Oregon
Stanford was the big winner in the latest BCS standings. The Cardinal, along with Wisconsin, all but locked up bids to the Bowl Championship Series, and Oklahoma earned a spot in the Big 12 title game by outpointing Oklahoma State and Texas A & M yesterday.
Stanford was the big winner in the latest BCS standings.
The Cardinal, along with Wisconsin, all but locked up bids to the Bowl Championship Series, and Oklahoma earned a spot in the Big 12 title game by outpointing Oklahoma State and Texas A & M yesterday.
Auburn and Oregon also switched places at the top of the standings, with the Tigers slipping by the Ducks into first place - but that hardly matters.
Both are still on track to play for the national championship on Jan. 10 in Glendale, Ariz. Auburn needs to beat South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference championship game on Saturday to lock up its spot and Oregon needs a victory at Oregon State in the Civil War rivalry.
The only difference between one and two in the BCS is No. 1 gets to wear its home jerseys.
Texas Christian is third and in position to grab an automatic bid - possibly to the Rose Bowl - now that Boise State is no threat to swipe it from the Horned Frogs. The Broncos lost to Nevada, 34-31, in overtime on Friday.
TCU is also on-deck for a spot in the national championship game if one of the top two teams trip up.
But Stanford made the most important jump of all this week, taking the fourth spot after completing its season 11-1 with a 38-0 victory against Oregon State. BCS rules ensure the top four teams in the final standings a bid to the five big-money games.
Stanford was in danger of getting left out altogether because its fans generally don't flock to long distance bowl sites.
The BCS standings also broke the Big Ten's three-way tie at the top in favor of Wisconsin, which is fifth in the standings, a spot ahead of Ohio State.
Unless some strange voting takes place in the Harris and coaches' polls after Championship Saturday, the Badgers are headed to the Rose Bowl.
The Buckeyes are a good bet to land an at-large bid, but the Big Ten's other tri-champion, Michigan State, will have to settle for a second-tier game. The Spartans were eighth in the BCS standings.
Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M finished tied at 6-2 in the Big 12 South, but the BCS tiebreaker went the Sooners' way. Oklahoma was ninth in the standings, Oklahoma State was 14th and Texas A & M was 18th. The Sooners beat Oklahoma State, 47-41, on Saturday night to make the jump up the standings.
The Sooners will play Nebraska in the conference championship game and the winner lands a Fiesta Bowl bid.
Virginia Tech and Florida State will play in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship, with the winner getting an Orange Bowl bid.
Noteworthy
* Indiana fired coach Bill Lynch with 1 year left on his contract, a day after Indiana reclaimed the Old Oaken Bucket from Purdue to earn its only conference victory in a third straight losing season (5-7 overall, 1-7 Big Ten). Lynch was 19-30 since taking over as interim coach in 2007 after coach Terry Hoeppner died from complications of a brain tumor.
* Former offensive-line coach Jeff Stoutland was named Miami's interim coach in the wake of Randy Shannon's firing Saturday night following the Hurricanes' loss to South Florida that dropped them to 7-5. Miami expects to have a bowl destination by week's end.
* Louisiana-Lafayette fired coach Rickey Bustle, a source told the Associated Press. The Rajin' Cajuns went 3-9 this season, 41-65 under Bustle since 2002.