Auburn was idle last week, but still gained ground in the BCS.

The Tigers (6-3, 4-2 SEC) moved up two spots to No. 20 in the BCS standings Sunday, matching their highest point of the season after starting at No. 20, dropping to No. 23 after the LSU loss and moving up to No. 22 after beating Ole Miss.

Georgia (7-2, 5-1), Auburn’s Saturday opponent, checked in at No. 15 in the latest BCS rankings.

The Tigers showed back up in the USA Today coaches’ poll — one of three elements that go into the BCS — after being absent for the past two weeks, coming in at No. 25.

Auburn moved up one spot to No. 24 in the Harris Interactive poll and moved up three spots to No. 15 in the composite computer rankings, the other two components in the BCS rankings.

The Tigers are the sixth-highest SEC team in the BCS rankings, behind No. 1 LSU, No. 3 alabama, No. 8 Arkansas, No. 13 South Carolina and the Bulldogs.

Auburn also moved up a spot to No. 24 in the Associated Press poll.

Battle at DT

Freshman Gabe Wright took over starting at defensive tackle for sophomore Kenneth Carter against Ole Miss.

That doesn’t necessarily mean Wright’s the long-term solution at the spot, defensive coordinator Ted Roof said.

“They’ve both done some really good things. They’ve both got a lot of room for improvement,” Roof said. “We’re going to continue to rep both of them and see how it shakes out.”

Wright tallied one assisted tackle in his first career start, and Carter — who was slowed by injury — played but did not record a tackle.

Wright said last week he’s been taking snaps with the “orange” first team since the beginning of the season, and didn’t know where he and Carter stood heading into the Georgia game.

Rest and relaxation

Sophomore quarterback Clint Moseley spent his bye week hanging out with high school friends in Leroy.

The whole gang was there. Well, except for the one friend who had to cover a work shift at a Mobile Toys ‘R’ Us.

“It was what I needed. I’ve never laughed that much,” Moseley said. “I feel really refreshed. I felt like starting over when I got here today.”

All of the Auburn players interviewed Sunday night expressed relief at getting some time over the weekend, after the grind of nine straight weeks playing.

But freshman wideout Trovon Reed couldn’t keep entirely away from football.

He was home in Thibodaux, La. — a hotbed of LSU fandom — before, during and after the “Game of the Century.”

“I walked into Walmart and I took a lot of stuff, like, ‘You should have came here. You got your ring, but we’re going to have the new rings,’ and all that kind of stuff,” Reed said.

Focus on Auburn

Head coach Gene Chizik’s oft-repeated maxim from the bye week was Auburn spent most of its time working on Auburn.

So what, specifically, got run through with a fine-toothed comb?

On offense, Chizik said the Tigers wanted to work on third-down conversions and maintaining drives. Auburn is eighth in the SEC this year, converting only 37.1 percent of its third-down attempts.

On defense, Auburn set about trying to limit the number of big plays against it. The Tigers have allowed a touchdown of 40 yards or more in six of nine games this year.

And finally, the penalties. The Tigers are ninth in the SEC with 520 yards and are next-to-last in the league with 9.1 yards a flag.

“Our margin for error is too slim for us to overcome a lot of that,” Chizik said. “Just the little discipline things that can cost you ball games. That’s undisciplined football.”

Welcome, Missouri

Chizik was terse when asked about the SEC’s newest member, Missouri, which was officially accepted as the conference’s 14th team Sunday.

“They’re a great program, I know that,” Chizik said. “But I’m worried about only one thing right now, and that’s Georgia.”