by FOXSports.com

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By virtue of its second-place showing in this week's standings, Oklahoma has emerged from a three-way tie atop the Big 12 South and will play Missouri in the Big 12 championship game.

Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Texas had finished the regular season with identical 7-1 conference records. And since each had lost once to one of its fellow division leaders, BCS standings became the ultimate tiebreaker.

The Sooners' 61-41 dismantling of Oklahoma State Saturday impressed the computers enough to allow them to move up one spot, just ahead of the Longhorns.

That probably doesn't sit too well in Austin, especially since the Longhorns beat the Sooners earlier this season at a neutral site, 45-35.

But since then, Oklahoma has been steadily gaining in the polls (both human and computer). They've won six straight, scoring no fewer than 45 points during that run and topping the 60-point plateau in each of the last four games.

As a result, the Sooners now appear to control their own fate, needing only a win over the Tigers to advance to the BCS title game against the winner of the SEC title game between No. 1 Alabama and No. 4 Florida.

While Texas is being penalized for making the mistake of losing their one game later in the season than the Sooners, the Longhorns are still in a position to make it to the BCS title game; Texas currently sits at No. 3 and could conceivably move up into one of the top two spots should Missouri spring the upset of Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game.

In another BCS oddity, there are currently four teams from outside the six BCS conferences currently residing in the top 12 in the standings -- Utah (No. 6), Boise State (No. 9), TCU (No. 11) and Ball State (No. 12). According to the BCS rules, only one non-BCS team is guaranteed a berth by virtue of finishing that high in the standings, which means Boise State, TCU and Ball State are likely going to be on the losing end of a fight with Ohio State for an at-large selection.