USC and Oklahoma are one and two, and in control

Tuesday, Nov. 23, 2004 | 12:38 p.m.

Southern California vs. Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl appears to be three victories away - two by USC and one by the Sooners.

USC and Oklahoma held the top two spots in the Bowl Championship Series standings on Monday, leaving little doubt that they are in control of the national title race.

Unbeaten Auburn is stuck in third place behind the first-place Trojans and second-place Sooners. The Tigers look as if they'll be the team left out of the Orange Bowl no matter how they do in the Southeastern Conference championship game on Dec. 4 against Tennessee.

USC finishes the season against Notre Dame on Saturday and UCLA on Dec. 4. The Sooners still have to play the Big 12 title game against either Iowa State or Colorado.

Only an unexpected loss or a dramatic shift in the polls, where USC is a solid No. 1 and Oklahoma holds a slight advantage over Auburn for second, could derail a Trojans-Sooners matchup.

"I think it will all work itself out," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. "Hopefully, everyone is fair about it. All the teams will make their final statement next week."

Not only did Oklahoma, with a BCS grade of .9642, slightly increase its lead over Auburn (.9356) from last week to .0286, but the Sooners also made a big gain on USC.

The Trojans' .9789 grade is their lowest of the season. Their lead on Oklahoma is down to .0147.

"It's good. You feel like you fought hard to be in that position," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "Like I said before, in the end I don't know how you separate (the contenders). When you look at strength of schedule and those things, those are making a difference. But we'll see how it all plays out."

USC was idle last week while Oklahoma was shutting out Baylor 35-0 on Saturday. Auburn trailed at the half before beating Alabama 21-13.

California (.8504) is in fourth place, Texas (.8301) fifth and Utah (.8172) sixth.

The Utes (11-0) finished their season on Saturday with a 52-21 win over Mountain West Conference rival BYU, all but ensuring themselves of being the first team from a non-BCS conference to play in a BCS game.

Teams from outside the BCS conferences need to finish in the top six of the final BCS standings to guarantee a spot in one of the four big-money bowl games.

Boise State is seventh, keeping alive the possibility that the BCS could have two mid-major teams in it this season. The unbeaten Broncos (10-0) of the Western Athletic Conference have a grade of .639 and one game left against Nevada.

Boise State would need to make a big jump and get some help in the form of losses by Texas or California. The Longhorns play Texas A&M on Friday and Cal plays at Southern Mississippi on Dec. 4, making up a game postponed by a hurricane in September.

But if Boise State was to crack the top six, the Broncos and Utes would get the two BCS at-large bids no matter where California and Texas end up in the standings.

The Rose Bowl, which desires a Big Ten-Pac-10 matchup, is banking on picking Cal to play Michigan if USC plays in the Orange Bowl.

"I don't see that as a bad news story," BCS coordinator and Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg said. "I think it's great that those teams are doing so well. I think it's a confirmation that the BCS system is accessible to everyone."