OU, Utah move up

Oklahoma and Utah moved into premium positions in the Bowl Championship Series standings Monday.

The Sooners are in second place, jumping ahead of Miami after the BCS standings made their debut last week with Oklahoma surprisingly in third.

Southern California remains in first place with a grade of .9843. Oklahoma’s grade is .9325 and Miami is now third at .9239.

The top two teams in the final BCS standings will meet Jan. 4 in the Orange Bowl.

Utah is now sixth, a position that would guarantee the Utes a spot in one of the other three big-money bowls if they can hold on to it.

Utes coach Urban Meyer found out about his team’s small but important jump from seventh to sixth from his wife, who left him a phone message.

“Her comment on this message — I didn’t get to talk to her — was ‘Hey you’re No. 6. Make sure you stay there. That’s really great coaching,”‘ he said. “I’m glad she’s cleared that up.”

A top-six finish in the BCS standings guarantees a spot in either the Orange, Fiesta, Rose or Sugar bowls, each with payouts of more than $14 million. To even be considered for a BCS bid, a top-12 finish is required. Utah is trying to become the first team to play in a BCS game from a conference outside the six leagues — Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-10, Southeastern Conference — that have automatic berths.

The Utes (7-0) are one of seven Division I-A teams with perfect records.

Boise State, the other unbeaten from a mid-major conference, moved up a spot to 13th.

The BCS is using a new formula that relies more on The Associated Press Top 25 and ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. The Sooners have been No. 2 in both polls all season but trailed close behind Miami last week in the BCS standings because of their relatively weak computer ranking.

Six computers are used to determine one-third of a team’s BCS grade, with a team’s highest and lowest computer rankings thrown out.

Oklahoma beat Kansas 41-10 last Saturday, which helped improve its ranking in the computers from fifth to fourth.

But Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops remains unfazed.

“It just doesn’t matter much yet,” he said Monday. “We have to play Oklahoma State this week. That’s the only thing we’re focused on.”