Irving, TX (Sportsbooks) - Alabama remained the top team in the latest Bowl Championship Series standings, while Oklahoma jumped over Texas into the second spot, gaining a berth in the Big 12 title game and an inside track to play for the national championship.
The Sooners (.9351) beat BCS No. 14 Oklahoma State (.4276) on Saturday, 61-41, to move to 11-1 and create a three-way tie atop the Big 12 South with Texas and Texas Tech. The tie could not be broken by conventional methods, as Texas had beaten Oklahoma, Texas Tech beat Texas, and Oklahoma beat Texas Tech during the season.
The Big 12 South's representative in the conference title game was therefore determined by BCS rankings, and the Sooners leapfrogged the Longhorns to get into the championship match. Oklahoma will play BCS No. 20 Missouri (.2818) in the Big 12 title game on Saturday in Kansas City. Missouri had clinched the North's spot two weeks ago.
Texas (.9223) fell to third despite a 49-9 win over Texas A&M on Thanksgiving and a head-to-head win over Oklahoma on October 11. But in terms of this past Saturday's opponents, Texas beat a weaker opponent in the Aggies, who are 4-8, while Oklahoma beat a now 9-3 Oklahoma State team.
Additionally, the Sooners have an extremely potent offense, having scored at least 60 points in the last four games, and a non-conference win over BCS No. 13 Cincinnati (.4831) on September 6. Oklahoma beat the Bearcats, the Big East champions, 52-26.
"Again, the unusual circumstances that everybody is talking about the entire week, glad to be over with," said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. "We all are. I know Texas Tech and I'm sure Texas are disappointed. All three of us have Big 12 South co-champion, tri-champion, whatever you want to call it trophies. Each of us have identical records in the conference and one of us has to go. None of us put the system together and that's the way it is. But again, the entire week everyone that wants to talk about head-to-head competition, then Texas Tech is every bit as disappointed as Texas is. Texas Tech just a couple of weeks ago head-to-head beat Texas, then a couple of weeks later, we beat them by 44 points. So they have as a legitimate a beef as anyone else does."
Alabama (.9713) stayed in the top spot thanks to a 36-0 win Saturday over Auburn. The Crimson Tide remained the only undefeated BCS conference team, but their path to the BCS National Championship Game goes through Atlanta.
The Georgia Dome will be the site of the Southeastern Conference title game, also played this upcoming Saturday, between Alabama and BCS No. 4 Florida (.8851). The Gators blasted BCS No. 24 Florida State (.0768) on Saturday, 45-15, and have won eight straight games -- all of them by at least 28 points.
Fifth through 10th positions in the BCS poll remained unchanged from last week, with Southern California (.8076), Utah (.7844), Texas Tech (.7805), Penn State (.7373), Boise State (.7034) and Ohio State (.6340) holding the spots in descending order.
The 11th through 20th teams are TCU, Ball State, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State, Georgia Tech, Georgia, Boston College, Brigham Young, Oregon and Missouri.
Georgia Tech rose seven positions after winning, 45-42, against Georgia, which fell five spots. Missouri fell seven spots after dropping a 40-37 game to Kansas.
The final five teams are Michigan State, Northwestern, Pittsburgh, Florida State and Virginia Tech.
