Ohio State moved up to No. 2 in the Bowl Championship Series standings after Auburn's victory over Alabama. The looming question: If Ohio State and Auburn each win their conference championship games next week -- and it isn't a given for either team -- would one-loss Auburn buck precedent and jump unbeaten Ohio State?

This week's BCS standings, not to mention 16 years of BCS history, suggest Auburn will have a hard time reaching Pasadena without Ohio State losing. No unbeaten from a BCS automatic-qualifying conference has ever been ranked behind a one-loss team in the BCS standings.

Auburn Athletics Director Jay Jacobs, whose school got left out as an undefeated team in 2004, is already publicly pushing for either Auburn or Missouri to be in the championship game. It's understandable for Jacobs to make a push, although his comment that it would be "un-American" if a one-loss SEC champ is left out won't help his case.

The Buckeyes are No. 2 in the USA Today Sports Coaches Poll, the Harris Poll and the BCS computers. Ohio State's overall average of .9503 trumps No. 3 Auburn's .9233 -- a close margin, although not necessarily one Auburn can overcome if the Buckeyes win.

Auburn closed the gap on Ohio State, which barely edged Michigan on Saturday. But as ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit put it, if Auburn didn't jump Ohio State this week after the monumental win over Alabama and the perceived poor performance by Ohio State, it seems unlikely Auburn would make that jump next week if the Buckeyes beat No. 10 Michigan State.

Voters have a history of respecting undefeated teams. That's especially true of coaches, who make up one-third of the formula and often say it's incredibly hard to go through a season without a defeat. Another X-factor: Is the rest of the country outside of the Southeast ready to see the SEC's streak end?

Florida State, Ohio State and Auburn each moved up one place in the BCS standings after the loss by Alabama, which dropped to No. 4. BCS analyst Brad Edwards said No. 5 Missouri is so close to Alabama, that the Tigers would jump ahead if they win the SEC Championship Game.

The computers have Florida State No. 1, Ohio State No. 2, and Auburn No. 3. Auburn could improve a spot in the computers, but even if that happens, the decision would come down to voters since the human polls comprise two-thirds of the BCS formula.

CBSSports.com BCS analyst Jerry Palm wrote that if the computers stay the same, Auburn would need to gain 214 points on Ohio State in the Harris poll and 126 points in the coaches poll. That's a lot of minds being changed. Palm said that if every Harris voter moved Auburn up one spot and Ohio State down one, that wouldn't be enough to change the result.

It's quite possible that arguably the greatest Iron Bowl will end the state of Alabama's four-year run as BCS champions -- and the SEC's seven-year championship streak.

The circumstances facing the SEC this year explain why SEC Commissioner Mike Slive years ago pushed for a playoff, which will begin next year. Ironically, Slive first discussed what he called a "plus-one" model in 2004 after Auburn was left out with USC and Oklahoma also both undefeated.

The SEC has won the BCS championship with Alabama and Florida each having one loss on two occasions. In another year, LSU won the title with two defeats. But those instances occurred when there wasn't enough undefeated teams from major conferences to fill the top two championship-game spots.

In terms of strength of schedule, Jeff Sagarin's ratings currently rank Auburn's schedule as the 26th-best in Division I, Missouri at No. 41, Ohio State at No. 61 and Florida State at No. 66. Then again, Sagarin's BCS rankings oddly rate Northern Illinois No. 2. Northern Illinois is No. 10 in the overall average computer rank.

What about average margin of victories for the top BCS contenders? Florida State is beating teams by 42.7 points, Ohio State by 27.9 points, Auburn by 16.0 points and Missouri by 19.4 points.

All of this discussion about Auburn vs. Ohio State -- and the old SEC vs. Big Ten debate -- could be meaningless. Both teams must still win challenging games Saturday. Auburn plays Missouri at 3 p.m., and Ohio State faces Michigan State at 7:15 p.m. Florida State is heavily favored to defeat Duke in the ACC Championship Game. Quarterback Jameis Winston continues to play as investigators decide whether to charge him with rape.

In an unlikely doomsday scenario for the BCS, Alabama and Auburn could have a rematch if Florida State and Ohio State both lose, and Auburn wins in Atlanta. But for now, Auburn and the SEC are on the outside looking in on the national title race.