South Florida is wringing its hands over the computer fate of Miami. Oklahoma-Nebraska dominates the national landscape. There are other stories out there, stories worth telling as some old, familiar names are once again powers.

This is what and who they're talking about this week.

The Miami of the West Coast -- Mike Price could see the future. It wasn't good. In the years following the 1997 Rose Bowl, the Washington State coach knew times would be tough.

Twenty-nine seniors boosted the Cougars to the Pac-10 title four years ago. Star quarterback Ryan Leaf left early after that season for the NFL.

Jason Gesser is helping to bring good times back to Washington State.(Allsport)

"I saw the cupboard after that graduating class and pretty much knew where we'd be," Price said.

That was defined as 3-8, 3-9, 4-7 going into 2001. Now the Cougars are one of eight undefeated teams in the country and perhaps the one least regarded. They play in the Pac-10 where three other teams (Stanford, UCLA and Oregon) still have shots at the conference title.

Despite a rash of injuries, the Cougars (7-0) are ranked No. 14 and are a robust No. 10 in the BCS ratings. The man who has coached five first-round draft picks at Washington State is winning with one senior on his offensive line.

But if Washington State wins the rest of its games it would be hard to keep them out of the Rose Bowl. The next two games are at home -- No. 11 Oregon (on Saturday) and No. 4 UCLA.

"One of us," Price said, "is going to be right there."

After reaching the Rose Bowl four years ago, Price hit the recruiting trail hard, getting a quarterback from Hawaii (Jason Gesser), a running back from the Marines (junior college transfer Dave Minnich) and a receiver from out of nowhere (Nakoa McElrath).

Gesser is the anti-Leaf. Price intentionally recruited Gesser for his legs as much as his arm. He wanted a quarterback more mobile than Leaf. What he got was the current Pac-10 total offense leader.

Minnich is a 27-year-old former Marine who has been the heart and soul of the offense since arriving from Mt. San Jacinto Junior College two years ago.

McElrath, another juco transfer, is arguably the best receiver in the country averaging 112 yards per game.

"The guys we're playing now are the guys we recruited after the Rose Bowl," Price said. "It didn't show immediate impact. The immediate impact was the guys leaving."

Now the Cougars are an anonymous power. Following the Rose Bowl year, the Pac-10 changed its initial eligibility rules, allowing member schools only one partial qualifier per year.

"Now they're going to Fresno," said Price, referring to Fresno State which gladly accepts non-qualifiers.

Which makes the Washington State story even better. Price, in his 13th year, is a lifer in Pullman. He played football at Washington State. The family's cabin, where Price plans to retire, is 70 minutes away in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

"I can go up there at night, it's only an hour and 10 minutes away," Price said. "Couer d'Alene Lake is one of the most beautiful places you'll ever go."

Unless it's Pasadena.

The Nebraska of the Wasatch -- Brigham Young is known for two things in Utah -- establishing the Mormon religion and producing a progeny named Steve.

OK, so Steve Young was far removed from his revered relative but there is a connection. When you think BYU, you used to think quarterbacks. Not so much this year. While quarterback Brandon Doman is a fine thrower, the No. 16 Cougars are 12th nationally in rushing this season.

It's no coincidence that BYU is the highest scoring team in the country, largely because it finally has a balanced offense.

Junior running back Luke Staley is 13th nationally averaging 120 yards per game. It's not exactly Nebraska's power game, but BYU can run. In the old days under LaVell Edwards, BYU would go two weeks without getting 120 total rushing yards.

The turnaround in coach Gary Crowton's first year is frustrating. Edwards went 6-6 in 2000 and left the reins to his former assistant. But in BYU's best season since the 1984 national championship year, the Cougars can't get a sniff in the BCS.

They are 16th in both the media poll and BCS. The schedule is the problem. BYU hasn't played one ranked team this season. Its schedule strength (111th) is the sixth weakest in the country. This week's game at San Diego State won't help things.

"My whole thinking is why can't you open it up, and let all conferences have an opportunity for a playoff?" Crowton said this week. "If you're not good enough, you lose and the winners move on.

"How can you pick just a small bunch of teams (eight for the BCS)? I don't think that's in the best interest of college football. I think it keeps all the money to a certain few and doesn't help the rest of the teams."

Crowton and BYU (7-0) have a legitimate gripe.

The original BCS formula in 1998 was based, in part, on BYU's 13-1 season in 1996. The Cougars were kept out of a major bowl that year despite the one loss. The formula was devised so that any team replicating that season, that included games against Texas A&M and Washington, would be in the BCS.

It's the reason why Fresno State was BCS bait until Friday when it lost to Boise State. BYU is different. Its non-conference foes are a combined 3-21.

The Oklahoma of the Beltway -- In this year of tragedy in and around Washington D.C., Turtle Power has been a welcome distraction.

Maryland (7-0), under first-year, 400-pound coach Ralph Friedgen, is ranked 10th in the AP poll and eighth in the BCS. One of the biggest games in the program's history is Saturday in Tallahassee where rebuilding Florida State has won nine ACC titles in a row.

The Terrapins can go a long way toward breaking that streak with a junior college no-name quarterback from Parsons, Kan. Shaun Hill was an afterthought recruit who has blossomed into a leader.

Former Maryland assistant coach Mike Gundy, a record-setting quarterback at Oklahoma State, came through Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College looking for a defensive back.

He found Hill, who is coming off a career game -- 105 yards rushing and 323 passing last week against Duke. Parsons, a small town of 11,000 in southeast Kansas, loved Hill but the love didn't extend to major colleges who looked the other way.

Call him a late bloomer or whatever, Maryland is a Rose Bowl contender because of the 6-foot-3, 225-pound senior. Hill doesn't blow you away with his arm or legs. He just wins, kind of like Oklahoma's Josh Heupel of last season.

Like Heupel, Hill had his season of adjustment going 5-6 in 2000.

Friedgen whipped him into shape for his multiple offense. All the players bought in. The night before last week's Duke game, Friedgen passed around his Georgia Tech national championship ring from 1990 and AFC Championship ring won with San Diego in 1994.

"They've passed every test they've had this season," Friedgen said. "I hope they can pass another one. The pride that's developing at Maryland after the drought of winning is amazing."

The pride extends to Parsons where sporting goods stores have started stocking Maryland gear. Parsons' mayor cut short a recent city commission because Maryland was on TV.

"So much of what I can do know was learned when I was a boy back in Parsons," Hill told the Kansas City Star. "Some people here at Maryland still don't know where Parsons is. ... They may not know where it is but they know I'm proud of where I came from."

Game of the Noon ET Television Window -- Aren't we throwing around the "Game of the Century" tag around a bit too much? The cliché has become like the term "superstar" in the NBA.

There was one and only Game of the (20th) Century -- Oklahoma-Nebraska, 1971. Since then the Sooners allegedly have played in three games of the century:

1. Last year's Nebraska game in Norman
2. This year's games against Kansas State and Texas
3. Saturday at Nebraska is the latest "classic"

The reason the games are so hyped is because Oklahoma keeps winning -- by double digits most of the time.

The Sooners streak will move to 21 in a row this week because their defense will rise up to stop Nebraska's running game. On offense, look at the Baylor film. Oklahoma quarterback Jason White was pretty good despite the eight sacks. He will make enough big plays, making Nebraska pay when it blitzes, to win.

Frank Solich and Eric Crouch will have yet to win their big one. The next game of the game of the century awaits the Sooners.

The Brawl to Settle Nothing At All -- Don't tell that to Duke and Vanderbilt. The matchup of two college football throw rugs (don't forget to wipe your feet) is almost cruel.

Duke leads I-A with a 19-game losing streak. Vanderbilt is 1-5 and hasn't had a winning season 1982. Jokes aside, it's a pity two good guys have had to endure -- some would say perpetuate -- all this. Duke's Carl Franks is the latest coach to hit his head against the wall at Coach K. University.

"This could be one heck of a football game," Duke coach Carl Franks said. "I guarantee that Vanderbilt feels the exact same way."

Uh, yeah, right.

John Henderson -- Before the season, some were calling Tennessee's defensive tackle a Heisman candidate.

Since then, his play has mostly stunk and Henderson has popped off in the media. Maybe he's thinking about an NFL career too much. He could go a long way toward restoring his field credibility this week against South Carolina.

Leather Lungs in the SEC -- Lou Holtz was hinting this week that his Gamecocks won't come out of the huddle this week at Tennessee until it's quiet enough to hear the signals.

Bad move, Lou. In 108,000-seat Neyland Stadium, that's like throwing raw meat to the lions -- Tennessee whiskey to the Vols fans.

Holtz complained about crowd noise after playing Arkansas in Little Rock on Oct. 13. The offense certainly had trouble, scoring only one touchdown in a 10-7 loss.

"I'm really opposed to coaches trying to take fans out of the game," Holtz said. "I've had people say, 'Oh, you're trying to incite the fans.' I probably shouldn't have said anything. I wanted to say we should have the same opportunity to call our signals. They should cheer for their team and I'm all for that."

It might be typical Lou gamesmanship. South Carolina must win to stay in the division race in the SEC East

Watch out Georgia -- Florida has thrown 13 touchdown passes this season. The matches the total of the five other teams in the SEC East.

Cheap cyber shots -- It's become fashionable and, frankly, tiresome making fun of the quirky dudes whose eight computers make up that part of the Bowl Championship Series.

Who are we to stop a trend? Let's fire our own cheap shots while the first BCS ratings are still fresh in our minds:

• The Colley Matrix -- Sounds like Lassie in a futuristic action thriller.
• Anderson & Hester -- Washington grads that just happened to have the Huskies No. 1 in their Seattle Times poll on Sept. 30. Can't rid themselves of an unholy Pac-10 bias.
• Kenneth Massey -- Virginia Tech doctoral candidate assumed to have objectivity when it comes to the Hokies, whom he calls "we."
• Peter Wolfe -- Which three are true? A) plays classical piano; B) studies infectious diseases at UCLA; C) huge Bruins fan; D) medical background led to Pierce Bronson playing him in a WB hospital drama; E) former lead singer of the J. Geils Band. Answers below.
• Jeff Sagarin -- The bad boy of the hard drive set. In his younger years, the MIT grad was known to hang around Bloomington, Ind., playing street hoops and frequenting campus bars.
• Richard Billingsley -- A stress management expert out of Hugo, Okla. A natural since most of the stress produced in the town is by those trying to get out of Hugo.
• David Rothman -- The Nerd grown up. He's 66, single, has lived in the same Southern California apartment since 1974 and drives a 1981 model car. Rothman once submitted a college football ranking system to former NCAA executive director Walter Byers. Byers told him to buzz off. Rothman got the last laugh ... we guess.
• Herman Matthews -- Math teacher in Middlesboro, Ken. Which, considering it's Kentucky, probably needs all the math teachers it can get.

Answer to Peter Wolfe: A, B and C.

The Latest Nightmare Scenario -- This update comes courtesy of our friend Jerry Palm, but bears watching as the BCS heats up.

Palm contends that the possibility of three undefeated teams at the end of the season won't throw the season into chaos as much as the possibility of 13 one-loss teams. It can still happen if:

• Georgia, Michigan, Oregon, Purdue, South Carolina, Texas, Washington win out
• Maryland and Miami win out except games with Florida State and Washington
• Virginia Tech loses only to Miami
• Oklahoma and Nebraska split two games and lose to no one else
• UCLA loses only to Oregon

That would leave 13 major conference schools with one loss: Georgia, Maryland, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Purdue, South Carolina, Texas, UCLA, Virginia Tech, Washington.

Who would you choose to play in the Rose Bowl?