By Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service

Consider this possible future firestorm. Imagine it's December and Miami ... defending national champion ... 12-0 and ranked No. 1 ... by then winner of 34 in a row ... having just beaten Virginia Tech ... not even getting into the Fiesta Bowl to play for the title?

How in the name of the Bowl Championship Series might that happen?

Two reasons. Notre and Dame.

The Fighting Irish might pass Miami for No. 2 in the BCS standings this week after their ransacking of Florida State, making them next in line to No. 1 Oklahoma. Their next three games are against Boston College, Navy and Rutgers. It doesn't take much to foresee an 11-0 Notre Dame team playing at USC on Nov. 30.

Should the Irish win there -and Oklahoma is still unbeaten - Miami could be the odd team left out. It depends on how the numbers are crunched. Think of the adjectives from south Florida.

Or turn it around. Imagine Notre Dame going 12-0 and being left out. Four Horsemen and all.

Tyrone Willingham - a mortal lock for coach of the year - will seek to keep the Irish stuffing one opponent at a time until then.

"If we don't get the next one," he said after deflating the Seminoles, "what does it mean?"

Air Force and Florida State were the first back-to-back road wins over ranked teams in school history.

"We compete," Willingham said, "and that's the name of the game."

The Irish's M.O.: They have forced 24 turnovers and turned them into 17 scores, including 11 touchdowns.

"They're no fluke," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. "You might be looking at a national champion."

Miami can't worry about possible BCS insults. The Hurricanes have to fix a defense that gave up 383 yards rushing to West Virginia, two weeks after it allowed 296 by Florida State.

Power struggles

A theme of this season is the discomfort of hallowed names. Nebraska, certainly. Florida. Washington. Tennessee.

"We're not good at anything, particularly offensively," said coach Phillip Fulmer, after his 4-3 Volunteers were flattened by Alabama.

Michigan took its worst home loss since 1967 and worst homecoming drubbing since 1937 in a 34-9 loss to Iowa.

The Wolverines rushed for only 22 yards. Welcome back, alums.

"Let's face it," said tailback Chris Perry. "It was embarrassing."

Iowa tailback Jermelle Lewis spoke of a Wolverine defense in disarray: "They were out there arguing with each other. It was like 10 guys missed their assignment and only one guy got it right."

Michigan is 6-2 but living dangerously. Four of its six wins were by a combined 10 points, including over 4-5 Purdue and 2-6 Utah.

Coming attractions

Colorado at Oklahoma. Sooners have top BCS spot to protect. Buffs have won five straight, averaging 38 points per game.

Florida vs. Georgia. Gators could save their season by ruining the Bulldogs' unbeaten record, and had a bye week to plan it.

Stat of the week

Hart, a school from the city of Newhall in southern California, is Quarterback High. Three Hart graduates started in the Pac-10 on Saturday - California's Kyle Boller, Stanford's Kyle Matter and UCLA's Matt Moore.

Thumbs up, down

Up to Tulsa. Shuts out UTEP to end nation's longest losing streak at 17. Who cares if only 12,317 attended homecoming?

Up to Mike Nugent. Kicking problems are rampant, but not at Ohio State. Buckeye sophomore is 18-for-18 in field goals.

Down to Kentucky. The goalposts are safe, anyway. Wildcats talk last week of tearing them down if they win, then get smacked by Georgia for 40th straight loss to a top-10 team.