BCS standings released, Week 15: Ohio State vs. Auburn the final rankings battle

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With one week to go before the BCS rankings leave us forever, an undefeated Big Ten power is somehow in danger of missing out on the national championship. Meanwhile, Florida State's sitting pretty. Full standings below.

It doesn't matter that Ohio State went 12-0 last year. It doesn't matter that an unbeaten Auburn was shut out of the BCS National Championship in 2004. It doesn't matter that Ohio State has lost two national title games against SEC teams in recent years. It doesn't matter that the SEC has won seven straight championships.

Or at least it shouldn't.

What will matter, however, is whether the BCS polls and computers rank Ohio State or Auburn No. 2 next week, assuming the Buckeyes and (burnt orange and navy blue) Tigers win their respective conferences. We'd thought we were just about done with the season's series of debates over which team should rank No. 2 and which should rank No. 3, but we've only just now arrived at the biggest one ever. The BCS could deposit one of the biggest messes it's ever made on its way out the door.

For now, the updated BCS standings after Week 14's wild weekend:

		BCS		Harris Poll			Coaches Poll			Computer rankings
Rank	Team	Avg.	Prev.	Rank	Points	%	Rank	Points	%	AVG	A&H	RB	CM	KM	JS	PW	%
1	Florida State	.9948	2	1	2617	.9970	1	1546	.9974	1	1	1	4	2	1	1	.990
2	Ohio State	.9503	3	2	2488	.9478	2	1462	.9432	2	2	2	2	1	3	2	.960
3	Auburn	.9233	4	3	2422	.9227	3	1437	.9271	3	3	3	1	3	6	3	.920
4	Alabama	.8539	1	4	2262	.8617	4	1333	.8600	4	5	4	8	4	7	4	.840
5	Missouri	.8428	5	5	2231	.8499	5	1315	.8484	5	4	5	3	7	8	5	.830
6	Oklahoma State	.7629	7	6	2083	.7935	6	1248	.8052	9	8	7	9	15	5	11	.690
7	Stanford	.7069	8	7	1873	.7135	10	1034	.6671	7	7	6	6	8	10	9	.740
8	South Carolina	.7037	10	8	1841	.7013	7	1100	.7097	8	10	10	7	10	4	7	.700
9	Baylor	.6623	9	9	1778	.6773	7	1100	.7097	12	9	8	11	13	12	12	.600
10	Michigan State	.6529	11	10	1758	.6697	9	1037	.6690	11	12	13	10	9	11	8	.620
11	Arizona State	.5833	12	13	1277	.4865	13	765	.4935	6	6	11	5	6	9	6	.770
12	Oregon	.5321	13	12	1398	.5326	12	843	.5439	13	11	14	12	12	15	14	.520
13	Clemson	.5201	6	11	1444	.5501	11	853	.5503	14	16	12	15	14	16	13	.460
14	Northern Illinois	.4812	14	15	1104	.4206	18	547	.3529	10	18	9	13	5	2	10	.670
15	LSU	.4213	17	14	1258	.4792	14	720	.4645	17	20	18	19	16	18	17	.320
16	UCF	.3858	19	18	967	.3684	17	572	.3690	16	15	15	16	19	14	16	.420
17	Oklahoma	.3808	18	16	1041	.3966	15	660	.4258	17	14	16	17	25	20	19	.320
18	UCLA	.3506	22	19	779	.2968	19	473	.3052	15	13	19	14	11	17	15	.450
19	Louisville	.2630	20	17	1013	.3859	16	625	.4032	28	NR	17	NR	NR	NR	NR	.000
20	Duke	.2252	24	20	620	.2362	20	402	.2594	21	24	20	18	NR	19	23	.180
21	Wisconsin	.1988	15	21	485	.1848	21	266	.1716	20	21	22	21	18	13	20	.240
22	Georgia	.1143	NR	25	148	.0564	NR	41	.0265	19	19	NR	20	17	21	18	.260
23	Fresno State	.1006	16	22	428	.1630	22	215	.1387	28	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	NR	.000
24	Texas A&M	.0995	21	23	290	.1105	25	121	.0781	23	NR	24	25	22	22	21	.110
25	Texas	.0666	NR	24	167	.0636	24	149	.0961	25	22	21	NR	NR	NR	NR	.040

Rivalry Saturday

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Wildest Iron Bowl ever

Overtime Ohio State-Michigan

Clutch Buckeyes reach 24-0

Mizzou wins SEC East

And it gets even bigger

South Carolina owns Clemson

Bittersweet fifth in a row

Noles keep rolling

FSU splatters Florida

Bruins run Los Angeles

UCLA is back ... almost

Wisconsin's BCS dream ends

Penn State's future is here

Arizona State dominates Arizona

Rose Bowl within reach

Full Week 14 scoreboard

The numbers show a thin margin between Ohio State and Auburn as it is. And that's before next Saturday -- if both teams win, the Tigers will hold a significant advantage in the BCS computers, as Missouri's considered a more impressive team than Ohio State's opponent, Michigan State, is.

A win by either the Spartans or the other Tigers would render all this moot (except for Auburn athletic director Jay Jacobs suddenly becoming a huge Mizzou* fan, we trust).

* Though Missouri would have a better case for No. 2 than Auburn would, if you ask me, since the (black and gold) Tigers have spent most of the year smashing fools by exorbitant margins. But nobody's asking me. Mizzou's probably too far back to jump that far, barring insanity.

If our new Nos. 2 and 3 win their conferences, the polls would be where Florida State finds its Pasadena opponent. While many voters would fall back on the SEC's presumed strength of schedule and difficulty (and most strength of schedule numbers do rate Auburn's as tougher so far), others would sympathize with a 13-0 BCS conference champion that was ineligible last year.

The difference could be Urban Meyer, who's successfully stumped his team into a BCS National Championship before -- and that was an SEC team at the expense of a Big Ten team. But do voters still think of Meyer as they did then? Whether Meyer's national profile has changed since '06 due to various controversies would actually matter. Like, actually help determine the season's champion. That's insane and ridiculous, but it's the system.

We don't know whether Auburn or Ohio State would win the right to go play FSU if the two played on a neutral field. We don't have a playoff yet, not for 12 more months. We do know the Buckeyes have won all but two of their games by multiple scores, while Auburn's won by a single score six times (including the two luckiest, most improbable winning plays of the year). Auburn's also lost a game by 14 points. Gus Malzahn and Nick Marshall have led an immaculate rebuild, but let's not let that loss be a footnote.

So it begins. One more week. The only vital contributions to the debate going forward will be those made by the players on the field in the Big Ten and SEC championship games.