Texas barely ahead of Oklahoma for No. 2 in BCS

Nov 24, 2008 - 2:07 AM MORRISTOWN, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Texas has the inside track on rival Oklahoma for the No. 2 spot in the Bowl Championship Series - at least for the moment.

The Longhorns climbed one spot to second while the Sooners jumped two spots to third in the latest BCS standings, which were released Sunday.

Texas (10-1) owns a BCS score of .9209 out of a possible 1.000. But the Sooners (10-1) are right on the Longhorns' heels with a .9125 rating.

Despite owning a lower computer ranking than Texas, Oklahoma faces a more difficult opponent - Oklahoma State (9-2) - in its season finale and likely would jump ahead of the Longhorns with a victory next weekend in Stillwater.

Texas closes its regular season on Thanksgiving against lowly Texas A&M (4-7).

Alabama remained atop the BCS standings with a score of .987. The only remaining undefeated team from a BCS conference, the Crimson Tide (11-0) finish their regular season next weekend against rival Auburn.

If they avoid an upset against the Tigers, the Crimson Tide would clinch a spot in the BCS championship game by beating Florida in the SEC championship game.

The coveted No. 2 spot currently belongs to the Longhorns, who rallied for a 45-35 victory over the Sooners on October 11 in the Red River Rivalry game.

However, Oklahoma thrust itself back into serious title contention courtesy of Saturday night's stunningly easy 65-21 thrashing of then-No. 2 Texas Tech.

By virtue of their win over the Red Raiders, the Sooners climbed to No. 2 in the USA Today coaches' poll and No. 3 in the Harris Interactive poll.

The Longhorns, Sooners and Red Raiders all are tied for first place in the Big 12 Conference's South Division.

If all three schools win their respective season finales, the South Division crown - and a date with Missouri in the Big 12 title game - will go to the team with the highest BCS ranking.

Florida (10-1) is fourth with a score of .8755, while Southern California (9-1) rounded out the top five.

Undefeated Utah (12-0) moved up one spot to sixth after routing rival Brigham Young, 48-24, on Saturday to win the Mountain West Conference title and secure its second BCS bowl bid in the last five years.

Texas Tech (10-1) fell five spots to seventh, followed by Penn State (11-1), which won a share of the Big Ten crown and booked a trip to the Rose Bowl with Saturday's 49-18 victory over Michigan State.

Boise State (11-0) and Ohio State (10-2) completed the top 10. Georgia (9-2) is 11th, followed by Oklahoma State, Missouri (9-2), TCU (10-2) and Ball State (11-0).