By MIKE LOPRESTI
Gannett News Service

Oklahoma, apparently, wants our attention.

The Sooners feel a little neglected. Ranked below Miami in the first BCS rankings, even though there are miles to go before anyone should care. Heisman conversations that keep underplaying Jason White, the quarterback who won it last year.

So with the score 35-10 and time running out against Kansas Saturday, what were the Sooners to do?

Sure. Throw a touchdown pass with 35 seconds left. From Jason White. Voters and computers, this one's for you.

To his credit, the Kansas coach did not try to wrap a down marker around anyone's neck.

"I don't blame Oklahoma at all," said Mark Mangino, a former Sooner assistant. "With the quest of having just one national champion, there's going to be some casualties along the way."

As for White, his numbers are starting to rise as defenses crowd in on freshman yardage machine Adrian Peterson. White has thrown eight touchdown passes in two weeks, and broke 300 yards Saturday for the first time this season.

And with the capsizing of Purdue's Kyle Orton, there's another quarterback vacancy on the Heisman "A" list.

"It's a good time of year for him to start getting hot," offensive coordinator Chuck Long said.

Strange situation, though. White's production hinges on how well Peterson is stopped. The Oklahoma backfield is a pretty small place for two Heisman candidates.

"I'm just happy putting points on the board," White said. "Whether I throw it 20 times or two times, it doesn't bother me."

WHAT IN THE NAME OF STEVE SPURRIER? Ron Zook's picture is in the dictionary next to the word "embattled." His survival chances at Florida seem the size of a proton after the Gators lost at Mississippi State.

As in previous 1-5 Mississippi State. As in lost-to-Maine Mississippi State.

The numbers do not lie. Florida is 4-3, and 20-13 in Zook's three seasons. Light years from the Age of Steve Spurrier. Zook is likely cooked, but it is never pleasant or pretty to watch the walls come crashing down on someone.

"This is not for me to answer," he said of his future prospects. "All I can do is what I can do. One thing about me, we're going back to work."

Georgia - ouch - is next

And it's not a happy camp.

"We've got a lot of players that talk during the week like they're going to be ready, but today a lot of players weren't ready," said tailback Ciatrick Fason. "The same players that were doing the talking during the week weren't ready."

QUOTEBOOK: "Honestly, to me it was a kick. I know to everybody else it was a lot bigger than that." - Florida State's Xavier Beitia, whose 22-yard field goal beat Wake Forest with 1:03 left. A film chronicle of Florida State kicking, of course, would look like the crash of the Hindenburg, especially against Miami. This was the first Seminoles field goal to win a game late since the 1994 Orange Bowl.

• "Their defense, as all know, is just a rolling barrel of butcher knives." - Northwestern coach Randy Walker about Wisconsin.

• "History shows we got their number." - Boston College receiver Tony Gonzalez, whose late touchdown catch beat Notre Dame 24-23. The Eagles have won four straight over the Irish by a total of 14 points. Plus 1993, when they knocked No. 1 Notre Dame out of the national championship with a 41-39 upset.

• "We were not going to let him lose this football game. It meant too much to him and the people of Tennessee." - Tennessee linebacker Kevin Burnett, about Coach Phillip Fulmer and the Vols' stormy relationship with Alabama.

• "All we need to do is recruit guys who are two inches taller, 25 pounds heavier, two, three-tenths of a second faster. All those guys today happened to be on the other sideline." - Purdue coach Joe Tiller, after the Boilermakers lost, again, to Michigan.

STATISTIC OF THE WEEK: Penn State has allowed only 58 points in four Big Ten games, or just six more than Wisconsin. Wisconsin is 5-0 in the conference. Penn State is 0-4. The Nittany Lions have scored only 27 points in the Big Ten.

THUMBS OF THE WEEK: Up to Iowa. Bullpen must have been effective in 6-4 win at Penn State. Fewest points for a Hawkeye victory in 47 years.

• Up to Brock Berlin. Miami quarterback finding his sea legs. Throws 11 touchdown passes in last three games after throwing only two in first three. Bad news for the rest of Hurricanes' schedule.

• Up to Utah. Latest glowing numbers from 7-0 team nobody knows: Of 36 trips into the red zone this season, 32 ended up touchdowns. "They are as good," said UNLV's John Robinson, "as any team in the nation."

• Down to Middle Tennessee State. Offers free postgame concert by hip-hop Big Boi trying to hype gate and meet Division I-A attendance standards, and only 16,718 show up. Free flu shots next?

• Down to Washington. Huskies were 1-5, but at least had not been shut out for 23 years and 217 games. Then they lost 38-0 to USC.