If the fog shrouding the USC-Oregon State game served as last week’s metaphor for the BCS, this week it was power failures. A power failure knocked out a bank of lights in the Wisconsin-Michigan State game just as the Badgers’ dreams of an undefeated season were being extinguished. A power failure in Laramie, Wyo., delayed the start of the Utah-Wyoming contest almost two hours, limiting the number of poll voters who were able to see the Utes’ latest runaway win. And short-circuits in the brains of a pair of Big XII coaches cast the BCS in a decidedly negative light.

The day’s brightest spotlight was on the Georgia-Auburn game, a matchup of top-eight teams in the BCS standings. The stakes were higher for Auburn, which came in undefeated and ranked no. 3 in the BCS. Many fans feared that their Tigers could go undefeated in the rugged SEC and still not qualify for the BCS title game. Saturday’s contest should help ease their minds, as Auburn’s victory was more one-sided than the 24-6 final score would suggest. The Tigers were in control from the outset, shutting out BCS no. 8 Georgia for the game’s first 57 minutes.

Auburn demonstrated why some consider it the nation’s most complete team. The Tigers’ stout defense limited Georgia to just 279 total yards, while quarterback Jason Campbell completed 18-of-22 passes for 189 yards and a touchdown. The tailback tandem of Ronnie Brown and Carnell “Cadillac” Williams combined for 152 yards rushing and another 108 receiving. Williams also threw a touchdown pass on a halfback-option play and returned a punt 40 yards to set up another score.

The Tigers’ mugging of Georgia, played in the afternoon and on national television, no doubt got the attention of poll voters. Auburn picked up first-place votes at Oklahoma’s expense in both human polls, tying the Sooners at no. 2 in the AP survey of writers and narrowing the gap in the coaches’ poll. It may be enough to move Auburn past Oklahoma when the new BCS rankings are released today. If not, strength of schedule favors Auburn in the season’s final weeks.

Oklahoma tried to make its own case for the voters against Nebraska on Saturday evening by running up the score, but the effort by coach Bob Stoops may have backfired. With 33 seconds remaining in the game, Stoops called a pass play on fourth down at the Nebraska 17 in an effort to pad a 30-0 lead. It was no isolated case of bad judgment; Stoops called seven passes on the drive with the game already decided.

Taking over on downs, Nebraska drove for a 39-yard field goal after calling timeout with one second left; both the timeout and the kick would once have been considered violations of football’s unwritten code of conduct. Throw in the fact that Nebraska’s final drive was aided by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against the Oklahoma fans for throwing oranges on the field – in reference to the Orange Bowl – and it was not a banner day for sportsmanship.

Coaches who run up the score often cite the BCS formula, when in reality, the computer polls it utilizes no longer consider margin of victory. In other words, coaches run it up to impress the same human voters who have been ranking college teams for decades. Somehow, what was once poor sportsmanship is becoming acceptable behavior in the name of the BCS.

Few coaches have been as brazen about this tactic as Stoops, who admitted after an October 23 game against Kansas that his decision to have QB Jason White throw a touchdown pass with 35 seconds left – making the score 41-10 – was influenced by the BCS. Stoops, a popular and respected figure, offered a non-apology apology following the Nebraska game, saying he hated “to be in a position (where) we’ve got to be working to score at the end of the game.” In other words, “The system made me do it.”

Conspiracy theories were on the mind of another Big XII coach Saturday, Kansas’s Mark Mangino. His Jayhawks were bidding to upset BCS no. 6 Texas, but blew a late 10-point lead and lost in the final seconds. Mangino, upset about a questionable offensive pass interference penalty that stalled Kansas’s attempt to run out the clock, declared that the call was an effort by the officials to ensure Texas would win and receive an at-large BCS bid, worth millions to the conference. To his credit, Mangino retracted the accusation almost immediately afterward, calling his remarks “inappropriate,” which probably won’t be enough to prevent discipline from the Big XII office.

If sportsmanship was the loser Saturday, Boston College, Utah, and Michigan were the biggest winners. Utah and Michigan can both thank Michigan State for their good fortune. The Spartans destroyed previously undefeated Wisconsin, 49-14, putting Michigan in position to claim an outright Big Ten title and a Rose Bowl berth with a win over Ohio State next Saturday.

Utah need not worry that voters weren’t awake for the finish of its much-delayed 45-28 win over Wyoming, as Wisconsin’s loss should vault the Utes back to no. 6 in the BCS rankings, guaranteeing an at-large bid.

ACC-bound Boston College moved into position to claim the Big East’s BCS bid by defeating West Virginia, 36-17. Wins over Temple and Syracuse in its final two games will give the Eagles a share of the conference crown and a likely berth in the Fiesta Bowl. Having a departing team represent it in the BCS is a nightmare for the beleaguered Big East, which has had to defend itself against criticism that it doesn’t deserve an automatic bid after losing Miami and Virginia Tech to the ACC.

Next Saturday is another day of rivalries, and several games will have a major impact on the BCS. In addition to Michigan-Ohio State, Auburn faces another tough test at Alabama in the annual Iron Bowl. Texas hosts Texas A&M, and the Longhorns will have an eye on Salt Lake City, where Utah faces BYU. cTexas may need a Utah loss to grab its first BCS bid, a scenario that is unlikely to occur no matter how impressive the Longhorns’ margin of victory.

Mr. Levine writes for FootballOutsiders.com.