Boise State moved up one spot to No. 4 in the BCS standings after Oklahoma lost, but the Broncos are far from controlling their own destiny.

LSU remained No. 1, while Alabama was No. 2 and Oklahoma State No. 3 -- all three well ahead of the Broncos. Clemson, at No. 5, is surging and just ahead of No. 6 Stanford. All six teams are undefeated, but only 0.0178 separates the Broncos from the Cardinal. Simply put, Boise State needs to win out and have every undefeated team lose to have a shot at the BCS national championship game.

ESPN BCS expert Brad Edwards said Sunday night that he believes if Boise State, Clemson and Stanford win out, the Tigers and Cardinal will leap ahead of the Broncos. Alabama and LSU play Nov. 5; Oklahoma State still has to play No. 8 Kansas State and No. 9 Oklahoma.

The big question, of course, is whether one-loss teams would finish ahead of an undefeated Boise State. Edwards was asked just that, particularly with the possibility of the loser of the LSU-Alabama game staying ahead of Boise State.

"The question is, 'Will those one-loss teams be viable national title contenders where they would be right up there next to Boise in the polls?" Edwards said. "We'll have to wait and see it play out and see who those one-loss teams are, and with about three weeks left in the season we'll have an idea of what kind of a chance Boise State would have of getting jumped by a one-loss team."

It helped the Broncos' cause that Oklahoma and Wisconsin lost this weekend, but they are going to need more help.

No. 17 Houston needs major help to get into a BCS game. Specifically, the Cougars really need Boise State to lose. The top non-AQ team is guaranteed a spot if it finishes in the top 12 of the final BCS standings. That would be Boise State if the Broncos win out. If the Cougars also win out, they would only be eligible for an at-large berth. TCU is the only non-AQ that has been selected as an at-large team.