College Football
Around the nation: USC leads group of one-loss teams

By The Associated Press

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Virginia Tech's loss last week has given hope to a number of one-loss teams, who are an upset away from moving into position for a bid in the national-championship game.

A loss by Oklahoma or Miami could create chaos in the Bowl Championship Series standings.

The Sooners and Hurricanes, both unbeaten, could face their toughest remaining tests Saturday. No. 1 Oklahoma hosts No. 14 Oklahoma State, which upset the Sooners the past two seasons.

No. 2 Miami travels to No. 10 Virginia Tech in a Big East showdown that lost a bit of its luster when the Hokies fell to West Virginia on Wednesday.

A loss by either top team would open the door for one-loss schools such as USC, Washington State, Georgia, Florida State, Ohio State and Louisiana State.

More important for those teams is making sure they have no more slip-ups.

"We've got to do our part, we have to play the best we can play," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said yesterday. "I can't control all the other stuff. I'm sure not going to worry about it."

BCS expert Jerry Palm projects Florida State, Georgia and USC will be neck and neck in the race for third place when the new BCS standings come out today. Those schools, along with perhaps Ohio State, are seemingly in the best position to capitalize if either Oklahoma or Miami loses.

The Sooners and Hurricanes also would be in contention to play for the championship even with another loss, with the biggest key being how far they fell in the polls.

"The more one-loss teams you have, the more say the polls will have in the decision," Palm said. "The polls are more likely to agree than the computers."

The polls agree that No. 3 USC is the best of the one-loss teams. If not for a triple-overtime loss at California in September, the Trojans would be in prime shape for the Sugar Bowl.

"We're really excited about where we are right now," USC coach Pete Carroll said after the Trojans beat Washington 43-23 for their first win in Seattle in 10 years. "We've got to keep going and keep pushing."

After playing four of five games on the road, USC will finish the season with three of four games at home. The first could be the toughest, as the Trojans host No. 6 Washington State on Saturday. There's also a game Nov. 22 against UCLA, which has won five straight and is tied for first place with WSU in the Pac-10.

"It's so nice to have these four of five games that we had on the road behind us," Carroll said. "It's been a grind for us and our guys have done a marvelous job of handling the road situation. It really, really feels good to know that we are coming home for a number of weeks now with one road game down the stretch."

USC-Washington State is one of many showdowns Saturday. There are six matchups between ranked teams.

No. 4 Georgia plays No. 23 Florida in a key game in the Southeastern Conference East, No. 9 Michigan State hosts No. 11 Michigan in a battle for first in the Big Ten and No. 12 Nebraska visits No. 16 Texas in the Big 12.

Late Saturday game

At Hawaii 31, Texas-El Paso 15 — Timmy Chang threw for 426 yards and three touchdowns as the Warriors (5-3 overall, 4-1 Western Athletic Conference) beat the Miners (2-6, 1-2) for their seventh consecutive WAC home win.

Chang was 27 of 54. He has passed for 960 yards in his last two games and has 2,619 yards in his seven starts this season.

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