Oregon and Auburn remain on top in polls; TCU moves up to No. 3
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There were no big surprises in Sunday’s two major college football polls. Oregon and Auburn remained entrenched in the top two spots of the USA Today coaches’ and Associated Press indexes, with Texas Christian supplanting Boise State at No. 3 following the Broncos’ loss at Nevada on Friday.
The AP top five is Oregon, Auburn, TCU, Wisconsin and Stanford, followed by Ohio State, Michigan State, Arkansas, Boise State and Oklahoma.
The USA Today top five is the same order, followed by Ohio State, Michigan State, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Boise State.
Although there is no question Oregon and Auburn will play for the national title if they win their final games next week, there are key positioning battles going on down below.
Wisconsin needs to finish ahead of Ohio State and Michigan State in the final BCS standings next week to earn the Big Ten tiebreaker and the automatic bid to the Rose Bowl.
Oklahoma will earn the tie-breaker for next week’s Big 12 title game against Nebraska if it finishes ahead of Oklahoma State and Texas A&M in Sunday’s BCS standings. That seems a safe bet considering the Sooners are six spots ahead of Oklahoma State, and nine ahead of Texas A&M, in Sunday’s coaches’ poll.
Stanford needs to finish No. 4 in the final BCS standings next week to earn an automatic bid to a BCS game. The Cardinal, No. 6 last week, figures to move up two spots after losses suffered by No. 4 Boise State and No. 5 Louisiana State.
-- Chris Dufresne
