Two weeks to go and practically nothing has been decided in conference races

Thanksgiving week means one thing: It’s time to set the table.

Oregon and Auburn remained 1-2 in the Bowl Championship Series standings Sunday, with Boise State gaining significant ground on No. 3 Texas Christian with a huge crossover game at No. 19 Nevada on Friday.

TCU’s grip on No. 3 appears to be slip-sliding away.

Incredibly, only one of the six major-college conference races has been settled, and even that one requires a drive-by dissertation.

We know Auburn and South Carolina are meeting for the Southeastern Conference title on Dec. 4 in Atlanta. We don’t know, yet, what will be at stake.

If Auburn can sneak past Alabama this week, about as easy as sneaking a pork chop past a wolf, the Tigers will play South Carolina for a trip to the national title game.

South Carolina will have three or four losses, depending on how it fares this week at Clemson.

So, it will be undefeated Auburn against three- or four-loss South Carolina or one-loss Auburn against three- or four-loss South Carolina.

The winner of the SEC title proceeds to either to the national title or Sugar Bowl.

A look at the other races:

— Pacific 10. Oregon is 10-0 and clinches its second straight title with a home win against Arizona this week. Stanford is 10-1 but the “1” is Oregon, meaning to reach the Rose Bowl the Cardinal has to beat Oregon State in Palo Alto and hope Oregon loses twice.

Stanford can still get to the Rose Bowl at 11-1 if an Auburn loss propels either Boise State or TCU to the BCS title game against Oregon. The Rose Bowl in that scenario does not have to take the Boise-TCU bake-off loser and could match Stanford against the Big Ten champion.

— Big Ten. Wisconsin, Michigan State and Ohio State head to the final weekend in a three-way tie. If it ends that way, the highest-ranked team in the BCS standings will get the league’s automatic bid, which figures to be Wisconsin.

The problem: Wisconsin beat Ohio State and Michigan State beat Wisconsin, but Michigan State and Ohio State didn’t play.

Michigan State is at Penn State, Ohio State plays host to Michigan and Wisconsin plays host to Northwestern.

Michigan State needs to win and hope archrival Michigan upsets Ohio State in Columbus. Even if Wisconsin beats Northwestern, the Big Ten would go to Michigan State based on its head-to-head victory over Wisconsin.

— Big 12. This is a one-bid league playing for a spot in the Fiesta Bowl.

Nebraska can clinch the North this week with a home win against Colorado. Missouri wins the division if Nebraska loses and the Tigers beat Kansas.

Oklahoma State takes the South with a home win against Oklahoma, which owns an 80-17-7 advantage in a series that dates to 1904.

A Sooners victory coupled with a Texas A&M win at Texas, however, creates a three-way tie — Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Texas A&M — that will require the BCS standings to settle the matter.

— Big East. We know a multi-loss team from this league is going to get an automatic bid to the Fiesta Bowl at the expense of another school that would deserve it more. Pittsburgh has a one-game lead over West Virginia and Connecticut and wins the conference title if it wins out against West Virginia and Cincinnati. West Virginia needs a win over Pitt and a Connecticut loss. Connecticut holds the tiebreaker over Pittsburgh and West Virginia.

— Atlantic Coast. Virginia Tech has won nine straight games since its 0-2 start and clinched the Coastal Division with Saturday’s win at Miami. That secured the Hokies a spot in the ACC title game no matter what happens this weekend at home against Virginia. North Carolina State takes the Atlantic Division with a win over Maryland.

Weekend wrap

— Boise State cut No. 3 TCU’s lead to a hiccup — .8995 to .8860 — in the BCS standings. The Broncos gained ground in both polls and the BCS computer index. Boise State appears poised to overtake TCU if it can win at Nevada.

— Boise State has not trailed in a game since the fourth quarter of its opening-night win over Virginia Tech.

— Bonehead play of the week goes to Mississippi receiver Markeith Summers for diving headfirst into the end zone after scoring the go-ahead touchdown against Louisiana State. The unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the ensuing kickoff positioned LSU at midfield en route to the game-winning touchdown.

— UCLA travels to Arizona State this week in a matchup of Pac-10 schools that were picked to finish eighth and ninth in the preseason media poll. UCLA and Arizona State are tied in the standings at 2-5. The loser of the game Friday falls to ninth place.

— Virginia Tech’s nine-game winning streak is the school’s longest since the Michael Vick-led Hokies finished 11-0 before losing to Florida State in the 1999 national title game.

— The Pac-10 remained the top-ranked conference in the Sagarin Ratings, followed by the SEC, Big 12 and Big Ten.

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