Nebraska Poll Vaults Penn State : College football: Cornhuskers’ big victory over Colorado leads to change. Coaches keep Nittany Lions first.

As hard-sell campaigning goes, Nebraska offensive tackle Zach Wiegert might want to think twice about a career in politics. Asked Saturday if he thought the unbeaten Cornhuskers deserved to be ranked No. 1 in the polls, Wiegert showed remarkable restraint for a player whose team had humiliated second-ranked Colorado, 24-7.

“I just hope all the voters watched the game, that’s all I’m going to say,” said Wiegert, who then declined to speculate about the vote.

Guess what? Someone watched.

In yet another ballot flip-flop, the Associated Press voters bumped Penn State (7-0) from the top spot and moved Nebraska (9-0) there from the No. 3 position. As it turns out, enough of the 62 writers and broadcasters who vote thought more of the Cornhuskers’ victory than the Nittany Lions’ 63-14 rout of then-No. 21 Ohio State.

The upper reaches of the USA Today/CNN coaches poll remained the same, by the slimmest of margins. For the third consecutive week, Penn State (32 first-place votes, 1,520 points) stayed at No. 1, followed by Nebraska (30/1,518).

The AP poll was hardly a mandate either. Nebraska received 33 first-place votes and 1,520 points. Penn State had 28 first-place votes and 1,514 points.

If Nebraska and Penn State remain unbeaten, the Cornhuskers would return to the Orange Bowl and most likely play Miami on Jan. 2, whereas the Nittany Lions would travel to Pasadena for a Jan. 2 appearance against the Pacific 10 Conference champion. At the moment, Oregon, Washington State, Arizona and USC are tied for the lead in the Rose Bowl race.

Bowl victories by both Nebraska and Penn State might result in yet another split national championship, which would be the third since 1990.

For now, though, neither Cornhusker Coach Tom Osborne nor Nittany Lion Coach Joe Paterno are pleading their cases. If anything, they say they couldn’t care less about the polls. . . . now. Come Jan. 3, when the final results are released, they will care.

“This was a big step,” Osborne said after the Colorado victory. “We’ve got a chance to get something done.”

Osborne was talking about an Orange Bowl trip, not the weekly rankings. Ask him about the polls and he grimaces.

Paterno was no different after the victory against Ohio State. He said he didn’t hear Osborne pushing for No. 1, so why should he? Anyway, he said, there were too many games left to worry about rankings.

Osborne and Paterno don’t need to campaign; Colorado and Ohio State will do it for them.

Buffalo Coach Bill McCartney, who said his team was whipped pure and simple, cast his vote for Nebraska. Colorado never had a chance, a theme echoed by Buff players.

“There is nothing I can say,” tight end Christian Fauria said. “We played horrible and they played great. Right now, there’s not much we can do. We just have to give credit to Nebraska.”

And there is little doubt whom Buckeye Coach John Cooper chose as No. 1. After watching Penn State score 63 points--the first time that has happened to a Buckeye team since 1902--Cooper was in awe.

“I hope they’re as good as I think they are--and I think they are,” he said. “I knew going into the ballgame they were a great offensive team. They may be the best offensive team I’ve seen since I’ve been in coaching. We couldn’t stop them.”

Penn State, in only its second season in the Big Ten, has won 12 consecutive games, the nation’s second-longest winning streak. And not since 1985, when Iowa was unbeaten after seven games, has a Big Ten team been ranked No. 1 this late in the season.

Completing the AP top 10 were Auburn, which earned one first-place vote, followed by Florida, Miami, Alabama, Colorado, Florida State, Utah and Syracuse.

The Pac-10 was well represented in the bottom half of the top 25. Washington was No. 12, Washington State No. 16, Arizona No. 18, Oregon No. 21 and USC No. 23.