BCS and Sooners crash

Bowl Championship Series computer operators, who crowned Oklahoma No.1 last week without really asking, now need to go reconfigure — go figure.

It was another game-changer day, with schools nicknamed “Tigers” putting their paw prints all over everything.

Missouri provided the nightcap on madcap when it defeated Oklahoma, 36-27, in Columbia. It was the Tigers’ first win against the Sooners since 1998 and took a little of the sting out of having lost 19 out of the last 20 in the series.

It has to be convolutedly stated this was the third straight week the No.1 team has fallen, following Alabama and Ohio State, but No.1 (in the polls) Oregon actually routed UCLA on Thursday, 60-13.

Oklahoma stood No.3 in the Associated Press poll and No. 4 in Harris Interactive but rode to No. 1 in the BCS on the coat tails of brainless computers — which obviously hadn’t seen the Sooners play.

The eyeballs had it right and everyone should now be looking at Oregon, which is headed to Los Angeles next week to face a suddenly dangerous-looking USC.

Oklahoma’s loss is huge in the over-arching landscape and is a key knock-off for outsiders like Boise State and Texas Christian, which are trying to make historic runs to the BCS title game.

Staying undefeated is tough business these days.

We started with 120 perfect teams, began Saturday with 10 and now are left with a tenuous seven.

Oklahoma State, Louisiana State and Oklahoma all fell from the ranks and Michigan State almost did.

The schools remaining in this year’s national title chase have dwindled to a precious few — and we’re still a week from Halloween.

Three of the contenders — Boise State, TCU and Utah (probably a long hot) — don’t even play in power conferences.

That leaves four undefeated teams from the six big-boy leagues: Oregon (Pac-10), Auburn (Southeastern), Michigan State (Big Ten) and Missouri (Big 12).

You must also include one-loss Alabama in the conversation because the Crimson Tide is defending national champion and has a huge late-season climb-over opportunity against Auburn.

The Big East and Atlantic Coast conferences are out of it, but the Western Athletic and Mountain West are still in? If the system has been stacked against the minor leagues, well, this could be the year when the stack stops.

Oregon is, by far, the best-looking team to emerge from the weekend after its dominating win over UCLA.. Oregon rose to No.1 last week for the first time in school history and is now poised for its first top ranking in the BCS.

Boise State had the weekend off, always dangerous when you are a team with something to prove and people always wanting you to prove it.

Luck finally ran out for Louisiana State, which sneaked into the top 10 with the help of good defense and a lot of Dixie dust, when the Tigers found out the plain truth, against Auburn.

LSU Coach Les Miles, known as “The Hat,” had no more tricks to pull out of it in a 24-17 defeat.

Auburn has survived some tough scrapes of its own — Clemson, Mississippi State, Kentucky — to put itself in title position. Quarterback Cam Newton delivered another Heisman-worthy performance, rushing for 217 yards that included a 49-yard scoring run that led all the highlight shows.

How did he describe it?

“Just a play, is how I would describe it,” he said.

Auburn is a good team, but is it great?

“I don’t know that you can make that claim until the end of the year to figure out exactly where you land, “ Coach Gene Chizik said. “I think we’ve gone from good to better. I don’t there is any question about that.”

LSU’s loss probably knocks the Tigers out of national title contention because people still haven’t forgotten the end of the Tennessee game. Of course, counting out Miles is like counting out Freddy Krueger. In 2007, LSU mismanaged its way to a two-loss national title after everyone else collapsed on the final weekend.

This year’s LSU might be Michigan State (8-0), which stayed perfect with a narrow win at Northwestern after being down 17-0. For the second time this year, Michigan State used a trick play to pull out a win. In fact, it involved the same player — Aaron Bates.

In September, locked in an overtime battle with Notre Dame, Bates was crouched in field goal position as the holder when he rose up and fired the stunning, game-winning touchdown pass.

Saturday, in Evanston, Ill., Bates was the trigger man on a fake punt that set up Michigan State’s go-ahead touchdown.

“I think great teams in special seasons find ways to win and today we found a way,” Spartans quarterback Kirk Cousins said. “I really don’t know how. I’ll have to go back and watch the game to figure that out.”

There are still a lot of things to figure out.

Nebraska, knocked out last week by Texas, ended Oklahoma State’s undefeated dreams in the stillness of Stillwater.

“We are going to have to bounce back from this one,” Oklahoma State receiver Justin Blackmon said. “This is in the past now and we have to look toward the future.”

Guess what: Next week, Oregon plays at USC and Missouri plays at Nebraska. Boise State, TCU and Utah will be watching.

The future, incredibly, is now.

chris.dufresne@latimes.com