NEW YORK — Oregon and Auburn swapped spots atop the BCS standings and Boise State was passed again, this time by TCU.

The Ducks (8-0) moved into first place for the first time this season, which is interesting but not necessarily important.

Auburn (9-0) grabbed the top spot last week, but Oregon caught up after beating Southern California 53-32, leaving the Tigers in second place.

The top two teams in the final BCS standings on Dec. 5 play in the championship game Jan. 10 in Glendale, Ariz. Right now, the Ducks and Tigers are in control of the title race.

“They’re fighting over what color uniform to wear in the championship game,” BCS analyst Jerry Palm said.

Oregon is No. 1 in the two polls used in the standings and No. 2 according to the computer ratings. Auburn is first according to the computers and No. 2 among the voters of the Harris and coaches polls.

The other three unbeaten teams, TCU (9-0), Boise State (7-0) and Utah (8-0), are next in the standings, but they’ll need Oregon or Auburn to lose to even have a shot at playing for the national championship.

Boise State had been No. 3 for two weeks, but as the Broncos beat up on the soft part of their schedule, others are catching up — as expected. TCU jumped from fourth to third.

Utah, which plays TCU on Saturday, is fifth. Alabama is the highest rated one-loss team in sixth. With a game against rival Auburn to end the regular season and a possible Southeastern Conference title game, the defending national champion Crimson Tide (7-1) are definitely alive to repeat.

What are the chances the Tide returns to the national title game if it wins out?

“I don’t think it’s a slam dunk,” Palm said. “If forced to make a prediction now, I’d guess Alabama would go over undefeated Boise State or TCU, but I’m not operating under the assumption that would happen.”

Voters are giving more support than ever before to Boise State and TCU, and both are benefiting from some good non-conference victories that help their computer ratings. Those two factors could keep ‘Bama at bay, Palm said.

Still, the Broncos, Horned Frogs and Utes better watch their backs while they’re keeping an eye on each other.

Boise State beat Louisiana Tech 49-20 on Tuesday. Utah beat Air Force 28-23, and TCU easily handled UNLV 48-6 on Saturday. Those results didn’t necessarily swing things toward the Horned Frogs as much as Oregon and Auburn’s performances did.

After both won convincingly on the road, the Ducks and Tigers gained support in the polls and Boise State slid from second to third. The Broncos’ computer rating still lags behind in seventh.

Meanwhile, TCU’s No. 4 ranking in each poll, plus a third-place rating in the computers, added up to the Horned Frogs moving up.

The Broncos, Horned Frogs and Utes are all trying to become the first team from a non-automatic qualifying conference to reach the BCS title game.

TCU at Utah will likely eliminate one of those Mountain West Conference teams from BCS contention all together.

Boise State’s toughest tests the rest of the way in the Western Athletic Conference should come from No. 25 Nevada (7-1), Hawaii (7-2) and Fresno State (5-2). One loss would finish the Broncos’ BCS hopes.

The real race between the non-automatic qualifiers might be for that so-called BCS Buster bid — just like last season.

One, and only one, of those teams can grab an automatic BCS bid by finishing in the top 12 in the final BCS standings. Last year, TCU was highest rated and earned an automatic bid, but Boise State became the first team from a league without automatic entry to receive an at-large berth to one of the five big-money bowl games.

The Broncos and Horned Frogs were matched up in the Fiesta Bowl and Boise State won the battle of unbeatens in Arizona.

A similar scenario could play out this season with the winner of TCU-Utah or Boise State getting an automatic BCS bid and the other hoping to receive an at-large invite. But that invite is far from a guarantee when big-name teams such as Wisconsin, Ohio State, Nebraska and Oklahoma could also be available to bowl organizers.

BCS Standings

Oct. 31, 2010

Harris USA Today Computer BCS

Rk Pts Pct Rk Pts Pct Rk Pct Avg Pv

1. Oregon 1 2823 .9905 1 1464 .9925 2 .950 .9777 2

2. Auburn 2 2683 .9414 2 1384 .9383 1 1.000 .9599 1

3. TCU 4 2529 .8874 4 1292 .8759 3 .910 .8911 4

4. Boise St. 3 2635 .9246 3 1361 .9227 5 .800 .8824 3

5. Utah 6 2171 .7618 6 1141 .7736 9 .660 .7318 8

6. Alabama 5 2346 .8232 5 1213 .8224 15 .510 .7185 7

7. Nebraska 11 1793 .6291 10 961 .6515 6 .780 .6869 14

8. Oklahoma 9 1891 .6635 9 990 .6712 8 .720 .6849 9

9. Wisconsin 7 2041 .7161 7 1100 .7458 11 .560 .6740 10

10. LSU 12 1705 .5982 11 861 .5837 6 .780 .6540 12

11. Ohio St. 8 1986 .6968 8 1049 .7112 16 .430 .6127 11

12. Missouri 15 1293 .4537 14 676 .4583 4 .870 .5940 6

13. Stanford 10 1797 .6305 12 846 .5736 12 .530 .5780 13

14. Michigan St. 16 1279 .4488 15 652 .4420 10 .650 .5136 5

15. Arizona 13 1378 .4835 13 704 .4773 t13 .520 .4936 15

16. Iowa 14 1307 .4586 16 647 .4386 17 .390 .4291 18

17. Oklahoma St. 18 925 .3246 18 466 .3159 t13 .520 .3868 17

18. Arkansas 17 971 .3407 19 446 .3024 19 .240 .2944 19

19. South Carolina 19 903 .3168 17 517 .3505 21 .150 .2725 20

20. Mississippi St. 21 574 .2014 21 320 .2169 18 .310 .2428 21

21. Baylor 22 422 .1481 22 250 .1695 20 .220 .1792 25

22. Virginia Tech 20 631 .2214 20 379 .2569 28 .000 .1595 23

23. Nevada 23 288 .1011 23 112 .0759 23 .110 .0957 24

24. Florida St. 24 252 .0884 24 107 .0725 24 .060 .0737 16

25. N.C. State 25 139 .0488 25 96 .0651 25 .050 .0546 NR

———

Explanation Key

The BCS Average is calculated by averaging the percent totals of the Harris Interactive, USA Today Coaches and Computer polls. Team percentages are derived by dividing a team’s actual voting points by a maximum 2850 possible points in the Harris Interactive Poll and 1475 possible points in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

Six computer rankings are used to determine the overall computer component. The highest and lowest ranking for each team is dropped, and the remaining four are added and divided to produce a Computer Rankings Percentage. The six computer ranking providers are Anderson & Hester, Richard Billingsley, Colley Matrix, Kenneth Massey, Jeff Sagarin, and Peter Wolfe. Each computer ranking accounts for schedule strength in its formula.