Auburn up to No. 4 in BCS standings

— -- Auburn moved up two spots to No. 4 in this week's BCS standings, setting up a top-five matchup with No. 1 Alabama in the Iron Bowl.

Florida State remained in the No. 2 spot and has the inside track to play in the Vizio BCS National Championship.

No. 3 Ohio State also stayed in place and has a sizable advantage over Auburn, the top one-loss team in the standings.

The Buckeyes had the slimmest of leads last week on Baylor, but now have some breathing room after the Bears lost 49-17 at Oklahoma State. Ohio State's lead over the No. 4 spot was just .0013 points last week, but its the advantage over Auburn is .0964.

Whether Auburn could jump Ohio State with a win over Alabama on Saturday remains to be seen. Ohio State is ranked third in both polls used by the BCS and is also No. 3 in the computer average, which makes up one-third of the BCS formula.

Florida State slightly closed the gap on Alabama by about 25 percent for the second straight week.

Ohio State enjoyed a boost when Baylor's loss solidified its position at No. 3, and also because the top two teams played weak opponents Saturday. The Buckeyes gained back about 60 percent of their deficit behind both Alabama and Florida State.

Even if Auburn wins this week and fails to pass Ohio State, the Tigers could gain another boost in the SEC championship game by beating No. 5 Missouri or No. 10 South Carolina.

Missouri must beat No. 21 Texas A&M on Saturday to earn a spot in the SEC title game. If Mizzou loses, South Carolina will win the SEC East.

Ohio State will face No. 11 Michigan State in the Big Ten title game, which can help the Buckeyes' chances of staying ahead of the SEC champion.

Missouri jumped three spots this week after winning at Ole Miss -- passing Baylor, Oregon and Clemson.

Despite being ahead of both Auburn and Missouri in both BCS polls, Clemson took a hit in the computer rankings, dropping it to No. 6. Clemson's average computer ranking is 10th; Auburn's is fourth and Missouri's is fifth.

Oklahoma State moved up three spots to No. 7 by beating Baylor, which dropped five spots to No. 9.

Oregon, which suffered its second loss of the season Saturday, fell eight spots to No. 13.

No. 8 Stanford, which will play No. 12 Arizona State in the Pac-12 championship game in two weeks, moved up one position. The Sun Devils jumped five spots after beating UCLA, which fell eight spots to No. 22.

No. 14 Northern Illinois moved ahead two spots, but more importantly, the Huskies jumped fellow unbeaten BCS hopeful Fresno State, which fell one spot to No. 16. Northern Illinois beat Toledo 35-17, while Fresno State dismantled New Mexico 69-28.

The Huskies (10-0) are the top team from outside the BCS automatic-qualifying conferences and could qualify for a BCS bowl if the season ended today. Northern Illinois or Fresno State would earn a BCS slot if it finishes in the top 16 and stays ahead of the champion from the American Athletic Conference.

The American's UCF fell one spot for the second straight week to No. 19, while No. 20  Louisville moved up a position.

Fresno State fell because No. 15 Wisconsin jumped four spots after a win at Minnesota. 

No. 17 LSU moved up five spots after beating Texas A&M and is the highest three-loss team.

No. 18 Oklahoma can move ahead if it beats Oklahoma State in two weeks.

No. 24 Duke made the school's first appearance in the BCS standings, while Notre Dame moved back into the standings at No. 25. Minnesota and Ole Miss fell out after losses.