BCS: Missouri, West Virginia, Ohio State 1-2-3

The Tigers play Oklahoma (10-2) in the Big 12 championship game at San Antonio on Saturday and the Mountaineers face rival Pittsburgh (4-7) at home.

Photo courtesy: wvu.edu

NEW YORK - Missouri and West Virginia have one more step to take before bumping into each other in New Orleans.

The Tigers and Mountaineers hold the top two spots in the Bowl Championship Series standings released Sunday with a week left in a topsy-turvy regular season.

The Tigers play Oklahoma (10-2) in the Big 12 championship game at San Antonio on Saturday and the Mountaineers face rival Pittsburgh (4-7) at home. If both win, it'll be Missouri-West Virginia in a most unlikely BCS Championship Game Jan. 7 at the Superdome.

A month ago, neither team was even in the top five of the BCS standings, but a string of upsets have left Chase Daniel and the Tigers and Pat White and the Mountaineers in control of their own destinies.

"I've been telling the guys, the more you win, the more that's at stake," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said Sunday in a conference call with reporters.

If either Missouri (11-1) or West Virginia (10-1) trip up next week, third-place Ohio State (11-1) is poised to take advantage and play in its second straight title game.

If the Tigers and Mountaineers both lose, the national title picture gets very murky.

Georgia was fourth in the standings, followed by Kansas (11-1). Neither will play in their conference title games, but both still have a shot to play for a national championship.

Georgia (10-2) could become the first team with two losses to play for a national title and several other two-loss teams could make a claim to be in the championship game if the top two lose for a second consecutive week.

Sixth-place Virginia Tech (10-2), seventh-place LSU (10-2), eighth-place Southern California (9-2) and ninth-place Oklahoma all have one last opportunity to surge up the BCS standings on Saturday.

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Ohio State's regular season ended Nov. 17 with a victory over Michigan that made the Buckeyes the Big Ten champions. The week before, Ohio State was No. 1 in the country when it lost to Illinois at home and seemingly fell out of the title race.

At worst, the Buckeyes, who lost the national championship game 41-14 to Florida last season, will be in the Rose Bowl.

Hawaii moved up to 12th in the standings after beating Boise State 39-27 and winning the Western Athletic Conference, putting Colt Brennan and the Warriors in position to earn an automatic BCS bid.
Story by: The Associated Press
Courtesy: West Virginia Athletics

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