KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Sometimes, computer numbers, polls and game plans don't count. Sometimes, it's a matter of the heart.

In Miami's locker room Saturday, center Brett Romberg stood with a towel wrapped around him, describing the day he tore into his teammates.

"There was a little bit of a cancer growing on this team," Romberg said.

The week before, he had looked around and seen younger Hurricanes who didn't seem to know what it meant to get to the top, older players who apparently had forgotten. Miami was complacent, flat, just getting by.Someone had to step forward to stop it, Romberg figured. A player. Him.

Romberg emptied his heart that day, and it is likely that was one of the jump-starts to re-ignite the Hurricanes. By Saturday night, with Tennessee whipped, the defense revived and the No. 1 ranking back in the fold, Miami was back to looking like Miami.

"Too much winning," Romberg said, had dulled the Hurricanes, who have lost once in three years. "There had been too much of listening to what everybody else was saying about them. That's probably got something to do with what happened to Oklahoma (upset at Texas A&M).

"For weeks, they probably had people blowing smoke up their butt. To be honest, players listen to that."

"(Offensive line coach Art) Kehoe thought it was pretty much BS for me to do that," Romberg said. "But I'll never take back what I said, or did."

Close call in Columbus

The Bowl Championship Series picture cleared faster than you can say Miami versus Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl. All both need to do now is not lose.

But it could have been very different, if not for an Ohio State touchdown on fourth-and-1 Saturday at Purdue, on a 37-yard pass into the wind.

If that pass falls incomplete, the bushes are full of one-loss teams today clamoring to get to the Fiesta Bowl.

"Championship teams make that play," Purdue coach Joe Tiller said of the pass Craig Krenzel threw to Michael Jenkins.

Whatever happens to the Buckeyes, Krenzel's nerve can never be questioned.

Nor that of coach Jim Tressel.

"To be honest, I don't think anybody thought, `This is our season right here,'" Krenzel said. "We just did what we were trained to do to convert the first down."

So OSU is 11-0 for the fourth time in history. Oh-oh. The other three times, the Buckeyes lost the next game - to Michigan in 1995 and Rose Bowls in the 1975 and '79 seasons.

Ranking Hail Marys

Move over, Doug Flutie.

For improbability, distance and emotional distress to its victims, the last-second, 75-yard winning touchdown pass by LSU's Marcus Randall against Kentucky was every bit the equal to Doug Flutie's famous Hail Mary for Boston College against Miami in 1984.

Randall's pass bounced off or went through the hands of three Wildcats defenders.

And it was completed after Kentucky coach Guy Morriss had already been doused in Gatorade by his players, while Wildcats fans were pouring onto the field at the other end to have a go at the goalposts.

Only Stanford's band has ever been more premature.

"That's the kind of thing you only see in movies," said Kentucky running back Artose Pinner.

"The worst possible thing you could ever imagine," said Kentucky quarterback Jared Lorenzen.

"I saw it get tipped," said Devery Henderson, the LSU receiver who caught it, "and then I just reached out my hands and there it was."

Notice how the best Hail Mary passes in recent history - Doug Flutie, Colorado against Michigan, this one - have been done by the visiting team? The shock on the home fans' faces adds to the highlights and the memory.

Coming attractions

Ohio State at Illinois. The Buckeyes roll at home but wobble on the road, and Illinois has won three of its last four.

Quotebook

"I never thought about it when we had a BCS future. I don't know that we have one now and I don't really care." -- Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, about to be evicted from the penthouse of the BCS rankings after the Sooners were upset at Texas A&M.

"We could have won. We should have won. You can't be proud after a loss." -- Navy quarterback Aaron Polanco, refusing offer of a moral victory against Notre Dame. The Irish winning streak over the Midshipmen, 39 games going back to 1963, is older than a lot of Navy ships.

"The sad thing about it is we're not really a bad football team. We just play bad." -- Army coach Todd Berry after the Cadets lost to Air Force to drop to 0-9. Army is the only winless Division I-A team.

"I'm a church-going guy, but I've never prayed as much in my life as I prayed this week." -- Michigan State interim coach Morris Watts, who took over after the sacking of head coach Bobby Williams. In Watts' first game, Michigan State pounded Indiana 56-21.

Stat of the week

Miami has played 34 games this century and lost one (34-29 to Washington on Sept. 9, 2000 in Seattle).

Thumbs of the week

Up to R.C. Slocum. Texas A&M coach supposedly on the chopping block. But can you do that to a guy who just beat No. 1 Oklahoma?

Up to Texas. Might be the BCS school on deck if Ohio State or Miami fall.

Up to Washington State. Rose Bowl just one win away.

Up to Kevin Steele. He's fired at Baylor but refuses to leave a sinking ship until the end of the season for his players' sake. And we mean sinking. Bears' last five games have been lost by a combined 222-21.

Up to Kansas State. Biggest win in 100-game history of Kansas series (64-0) followed by biggest win in 85-year history of Iowa State series (56-7).

Down to Virginia Tech. Hokies have gone from national championship contenders to passing for 504 yards and losing to Syracuse.

Down to Boston College. Last week: A mighty win over Notre Dame. This week: 0-4 in the Big East.