HOW THE AP TOP 25 FARED

1. Miami The Hurricanes did little more than an autumn wind swirling leaves on offense, but a classic fall was avoided because of a bizarre interception return for a touchdown in the final minute.

Won at Boston College, 18-7

Record: 8-0. BCS: No. 2

Next: No. 18 Syracuse, Saturday

2. Nebraska There’s nothing the Cornhuskers enjoy more than running the ball down the opposition’s throat, but Eric Crouch will be required to throw more than seven passes in BCS gut-check time.

Defeated Kansas State, 31-21

Record: 11-0. BCS: No. 1

Next: At Colorado, Nov. 23

3. Oklahoma As a reward for holding the Aggies to 132 total yards, game balls were passed out to each of Sooner starters on defense--hopefully not from scatter-armed Nate Hybl.

Defeated Texas A&M;, 31-10

Record: 9-1. BCS: No. 3

Next: at Texas Tech, Saturday

4. Florida A sign Steve Spurrier might be mellowing: His Gators throw for a touchdown with 2:28 left to take a 37-point lead but no on-side kick attempt follows.

Won at South Carolina, 54-17

Record: 8-1. BCS: No. 7

Next: No. 10 Florida State

5. Texas Major Applewhite, whose Longhorn career can be traced to the, oh, Earl Campbell era, played his last home game. Honest.

Defeated Kansas, 59-0

Record: 9-1. BCS: No. 5

Next: at Texas A&M;, Nov. 23

6. Tennessee Donte Stallworth is considered the Volunteers’ most-talented receiver since Carl Pickens, but his John Stallworth imitation (seven catches, three for touchdowns) wasn’t bad.

Defeated Memphis, 49-28

Record: 7-1. BCS: No. 4

Next: at Kentucky, Saturday

7. Oregon The Ducks are the last team standing in the Pac-10’s BCS free-for-all. Now, they can kick back for three weeks and watch other national championship contenders fight for survival.

Defeated No. 17 UCLA, 21-20

Record: 9-1. BCS: No. 6

Next: Oregon State, Dec. 1

8. Washington Husky Coach Rick Neuheisel took this BCS-backbreaker pretty hard: “We came into this game with a chance to really have a wonderful season.” ’Tis the season for Jimmy Stewart classics, Rick.

Lost at Oregon State, 49-24

Record: 7-2. BCS: No. 8

Next: Washington State, Saturday

9. Brigham Young The Cougars clawed their way out trouble in the Mountain West outback of Laramie, Wyo. They’ll need Lewis and Clark to navigate through troubled BCS waters.

Won at Wyoming, 41-34

Record: 10-0. BCS: No. 13

Next: Utah, Saturday

10. Florida State Those college football Semi-know-it-alls who were predicting the fall of the Bobby Bowden empire can pat themselves on the back.

Lost to North Carolina State, 34-28

Record: 6-3. BCS: No. 14

Next: No. 4 Florida, Saturday

11. Washington St. Fans at Sun Devil Stadium showed more arm strength than Jake Plummer in tossing water bottles on to the field after a controversial Cougar touchdown.

Won at Arizona State, 28-16

Record: 9-1

Next: xat Washington, Saturday

12. Michigan Perhaps Wolverines should offer back the Little Brown Jug they’ve held in this rivalry the last 13 years to any Minnesotan who wishes to drown his or her sorrow over losing the Twins.

Defeated Minnesota, 31-10

Record: 8-2. BCS: No. 10

Next: at Wisconsin, Saturday

13. Maryland Terrapin football team is having one of the best seasons in school history, but will soon have to take a backseat to No. 2-ranked basketball team.

Defeated Clemson, 37-20

Record: 9-1. BCS: No. 15

Next: at North Carolina State, Saturday

14. South Carolina Lou Holtz spoke all week about how different things were going to be against the Gators this year. Well, South Carolina did lose to Florida, 63-7, six years ago.

Lost to No. 4 Florida, 54-17

Record: 7-3

Next: Clemson, Saturday

15. Illinois The secret to a third consecutive come-from-behind victory: the Illini thinks it’s running a marathon. ‘We said to ourselves we won’t lose, we will finish,’ quarterback Kurt Kittner said.

Defeated Penn State, 33-28

Record: 8-1. BCS: No. 12

Next: at Ohio State, Saturday

16. Stanford Cardinal receiver, Teyo Johnson, a 6-foot-7 sophomore who plays basketball, is looking more like former Cal two-way star Tony Gonzalez.

Defeated Arizona, 51-37

Record: 6-2

Next: California, Saturday

17. UCLA Did you get the eerie feeling that Bob Toledo was on the same page as Paul Hackett when he called for two running plays before the game-ending missed field goal?

Lost to Oregon, 21-20

Record: 6-3

Next: at USC, Saturday

18. Syracuse Things weren’t going like Clockwork Orange for Syracuse until a late blocked punt set up the go-ahead touchdown.

Defeated West Virginia, 24-13

Record: 8-2

Next: at Miami, Saturday

19. Georgia Holy Toledo: With 16 seconds left and no timeouts, Coach Mark Richt calls a running play with Bulldogs at the Auburn 1. Oops. Running play is stopped, time runs out. Game over.

Lost to No. 24 Auburn, 24-17

Record: 5-3

Next: at Mississippi, Saturday

20. Georgia Tech This is what college football is all about: 1021 total yards, and seven touchdowns in the fourth quarter--including a lateral that resulted in winning score.

Lost at Virginia, 39-28

Record: 6-3

Next: at Wake Forest, Saturday.

21. Colorado Cortlen Johnson became the first Buffalo player to get 100 yards rushing and receiving in a game. He’ll settle for one of those against Nebraska in two weeks.

Defeated Iowa State, 40-27

Record: 8-2

Next: at Nebraska, Nov. 23

22. Michigan State The Spartans fail to become bowl eligible, but more importantly lose possession of the Old Brass Spittoon to the Hoosiers.

Lost to Indiana, 37-28

Record: 5-3

Next: at Purdue, Saturday

23. Virginia Tech Philadelphia story: Hokie freshman Kevin Jones returns to the city where he was a prep star and rushes for 155 yards.

Won at Temple, 35-0

Record: 8-2

Next: at Virginia, Saturday

24. Auburn After breaking Bo Jackson’s school record with 41 carries, Carnell Williams might want to change his nickname from Cadillac to Bus. Oh, that’s taken.

Won at No. 19 Georgia, 24-17

Record: 7-2

Next: Alabama, Saturday

25. Louisville Houston’s Phi Slama Jama versus Louisville’s Doctors of Dunk? No, just run-of-the-mill Conference USA football.

Defeated Houston 34-10

Record: 9-1

Next: at East Carolina, Saturday

*

Compiled by Jim Rhode