The college football season, from national championship to Heisman winner, is a puzzle that gets weekly work. Saturday, then, was good for a few more pieces. A weekend of illumination, especially in the state of Florida.

        • Piece No. 1. Miami is every bit as good as advertised. Or, in some places, feared. It is now hard to imagine, after the 49-27 cruise past Florida State in Tallahassee, the Hurricanes not running the table until their Dec. 1 trip to Virginia Tech.

        “Everybody said we haven't played anybody yet,” linebacker Jonathan Vilma said. “They can't say that anymore.”

        “They're not missing a thing,” Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. “They've got it all.”

        • Piece No. 2. Doesn't matter if a team can pass from Gainesville to Anchorage. Sooner or later, it must run to win.

        Florida had minus-36 yards rushing against Auburn on Saturday night. Thus was scratched one No. 1 candidate.

        “Maybe it was just the media attention that got to us. We thought we could just show up,” Florida coach Steve Spurrier said after the Gators lost 23-20.

        • Piece No. 3. Florida State will have to guard against a freefall. Redshirt freshman quarterback Chris Rix, with four interceptions and seven sacks against Miami, has light years to go.

        “He's simply having to pay the price for being a quarterback,” Bowden said. “He's having to learn on the run.”

        • Piece No. 4. Here comes UCLA. The Bruins' 35-13 dismantling of Washington, with 301 rushing yards from DeShaun Foster, confirmed that UCLA may be the interloper in what many now guess will be a Miami-Oklahoma championship game.

        The Bruins have beaten four ranked teams this season and allowed only 60 points, a remarkable turnaround for a defense that was shredded for 368 points last season.

        "We needed to make a statement, and we did that,” said coach Bob Toledo.

        But UCLA's moment of truth will come in November. Back-to-back games against unbeatens Washington State and Oregon.

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