By Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service

Never mind the winners from a great college football weekend. The polls will make a fuss over them.

It's the losers who need soothing, because Saturday came with extraordinary pain.

Which agony do you find more compelling?

In mourning behind curtain No. 1 is Florida State, now 0-7 against Miami in one-point games, having watched the Hurricanes celebrate after the latest missed field goal du jour.

The day ended with Florida State's kicker in tears, being consoled by the team chaplain, and Bobby Bowden sick to his stomach, not to mention his heart. In Tallahassee, deja vu means wide one way or the other.

Said Seminoles quarterback Chris Rix of his coach: "He doesn't deserve endings like this."

Behind curtain No. 2 is Texas quarterback Chris Simms, who if captured by the enemy will be required to give only his name, rank and the fact he now has 14 interceptions and no touchdown passes against top-10 opponents.

"It's going to stink to be Chris Simms this week," said Longhorns receiver Roy Williams, about the abuse to be dumped upon Simms' legacy, now that he has lost to Oklahoma again.

"Chriss-y, Chriss-y," Sooner fans taunted at him.

Ouch.

"I don't give a damn about my legacy," Simms said. "The only thing I care about is winning games."

Behind curtain No. 3 are Ron Zook and Rex Grossman, the coach and quarterback of a Florida program that has hit the rocks. A 36-7 shellacking by LSU was the Gators' worst home loss since 1979, and left them out of the polls for the first time since 1990.

When the Florida fans weren't booing Saturday, some of them were sarcastically chanting the name of Ingle Martin, Grossman's backup.

"If we thought last week was bad," Grossman said of the criticism that will now have tropical storm force winds, "this week is going to be worse."

About the Heisman ... never mind.

Behind curtain No. 4 is Joe Paterno. Penn State is 4-2 and both losses have come in overtime after questionable calls. The Nittany Lions could just as easily be 6-0 and in the top 10.

Paterno was so upset after the defeat at Michigan, he answered questions for only three minutes and kept his players away from the media.

All four schools must pick up the pieces.

Florida State could still spoil the unbeaten records of Notre Dame and North Carolina State and win the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Penn State has a trip to Ohio State in two weeks that will likely have Big Ten ramifications.

Florida has five more games to find respectability.

And Simms faces Kansas State, Iowa State and Nebraska the next three weeks.

Simms might also want to call Peyton Manning and Troy Aikman. Manning could never beat Florida when he was at Tennessee, and Aikman could never beat USC when he was at UCLA.

It can happen. But that 14-0 interception-touchdown ratio is something he will have to fix, or live with.

Coming attractions

Notre Dame at Air Force. Ten unbeaten teams remain, including these two. The Irish will see if they can win yet another game with no offense.

Air Force does its work in the sky, but plays its football on the ground, running 79 times in its 52-9 mashing of BYU Saturday. The Falcons have 25 rushing touchdowns this season. Notre Dame's defense has allowed two.

Iowa State at Oklahoma. The Heisman Trophy race's Cinderella could get a boost or turn into a pumpkin. With more famous quarterbacks struggling hither and yon, Iowa State's Seneca Wallace has dashed onto the short list.

His 12-yard touchdown scramble against Texas Tech last week, when he actually zig-zagged for 60 yards from one side of Iowa to the other, is the kind of highlight that voters notice. But let's see what happens against Oklahoma's defense.