NEW YORK — Southern California and Texas have a new team on their tails in the race to the Rose Bowl.

Alabama moved into third place — slightly ahead of Miami — in the Bowl Championship Series standings, putting unbeaten 'Bama in position to play for a national title if the first-place Trojans or Longhorns stumble down the stretch.

But the chances of Alabama moving up another spot and playing for college football's championship on Jan. 4 without a loss by one of the top two aren't good.

USC raised its BCS average to .9802 this week and kept its lead on Texas (.9765). And they're both way ahead of Alabama. The Tide has a BCS average of .8814, leaving it barely ahead of Miami (.8805).

"It really doesn't matter right now, because the bowls aren't next week and they're not this week," Tide linebacker DeMeco Ryans said Monday.

It's Alabama's best showing in the BCS standings.

The Hurricanes (7-1) defeated previously unbeaten Virginia Tech 27-7 on Saturday to make it possible for both them and the Tide to move up two spots this week. The Hokies had been in third place behind USC and Texas in the BCS standings for three weeks.

Penn State is fifth, followed by Virginia Tech, LSU, Ohio State, Georgia and Oregon. Like Miami, all of those teams have one loss. No team with one loss has ever been ranked lower than fourth at this point in the season and played in the BCS title game.

Notre Dame (6-2) moved up three spots to 11th, meaning the Fighting Irish are now in place to become BCS eligible by winning their final three games. Notre Dame needs at least nine regular-season wins and a final BCS ranking in the top 12 to be eligible for selection by one of college football's four big-dollar bowl games.

This is the final season Notre Dame can keep the entire $14 million-plus payout from a BCS bowl. Starting next season, the Fighting Irish will be guaranteed BCS money every season — even when they don't play in a game — but will receive a far smaller share when they do play in either the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta or Orange bowls.

Alabama is facing a difficult stretch run with LSU coming to Tuscaloosa on Saturday and the Iron Bowl at Auburn on Nov. 19. If the Tide survives, it would play in the Southeastern Conference title game, likely against Georgia or Florida.

But even winning out against that tough schedule makes the Tide a long shot to catch USC or Texas if those two remain undefeated.

"Anytime you go undefeated in the SEC and then have to play the SEC championship game on top of that, you'd kind of like to think that's enough." Tide quarterback Brodie Croyle said. "All we can do is handle our own business."

Alabama could become the second straight unbeaten SEC champion to be left out of the BCS title game in favor of the Pac-10 and Big 12 champions. Last year, Auburn had a perfect regular season, but ended up in the Sugar Bowl as USC and Oklahoma played in the Orange Bowl for the national title.

USC and Texas are currently Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in the AP, coaches' and Harris polls. The Harris and coaches' poll each count for one-third of a BCS average. A compilation of six computer rankings make up the other third. The Trojans and Longhorns have a huge lead in the polls and the computers.

Alabama is third in the coaches' poll and fourth in the Harris and AP polls. Miami is third in the Harris and media polls and fourth in the coaches' voting.

USC finishes the season with a game at California on Saturday, then home games against Fresno State (Nov. 19) and UCLA (Dec. 3). Texas plays Kansas at home on Saturday and at Texas A&M on Nov. 25. The Big 12 title game is Dec. 3 and Colorado would be the Longhorns' most likely opponent.

The final BCS standings are released and the pairings for the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta and Orange bowls are set on Dec. 4.