Utah Falls a Spot to No. 7 in BCS

The news Monday wasn’t that the top five schools held their positions in the latest bowl championship series standings.

The news was the crowning (for now) of a new No. 6.

Only in college football, right?

While USC retained its perch atop the BCS and figures to stay there, so long as the Trojans win their last three games, Texas has replaced Utah at No. 6. Utah is seventh this week.

Utah is trying to become the first team from a non-BCS conference -- the Mountain West -- to earn a berth in one of four BCS bowls, Rose, Fiesta, Sugar or Orange.

Utah can guarantee itself one of two BCS at-large berths by finishing sixth or better in the final BCS standings and can be considered for a major bowl if it finishes in the top 12.

Here’s the problem: If every contending team wins out and USC and Oklahoma advance to the Orange Bowl, the Rose Bowl will use one of the at-large choices to take BCS No. 4 California.

If Utah is not a guaranteed pick, Texas will be an almost slam-dunk selection for the Fiesta as a replacement for Oklahoma. (The Big 12 Conference is tied to the Fiesta Bowl the way the Pac-10 is tied to the Rose.)

If Utah is No. 6 and the Rose Bowl takes Cal, then Texas is out and someone has to take Utah -- probably the Fiesta.

There is still a month of football left to sort out some of these thorny issues, but it appears now that Utah, to earn the automatic bid, will need at least one team ahead of it in the BCS to lose between now and Dec. 5.

Leading the race for the national title are USC and Oklahoma, with Auburn ready to pounce should either of them falter.

USC retained the top spot with a BCS average of .9847, followed by Oklahoma at .9664.

The top two teams in the final BCS standings will meet for the BCS national championship Jan. 4 in the Orange Bowl.

No. 3 Auburn, which has already started grumbling about the prospect of being 12-0 and not in the BCS title game, is third at .9097.

Auburn actually lost a little ground to Oklahoma last weekend but could ultimately make a push for the No. 2 spot if it wins its last three games against Georgia, Alabama and probably Tennessee in the Southeastern Conference championship game.

Auburn’s closing schedule is tougher than Oklahoma’s and that could be enough to sway voters and improve the Tigers’ No. 3 ranking in the computer component.