COLLEGE FOOTBALL : Upsets Move Fiesta Bowl Into the Catbird’s Seat

The Fiesta Bowl has replaced the Orange Bowl as the front-runner for college football’s national championship game.

Miami moved past Nebraska and into No. 3 Sunday in the bowl coalition poll, a combination of the Associated Press and USA Today-CNN surveys that is used to determine all major Jan. 1 bowls except the Rose.

The move sets up a possible Fiesta Bowl title game between Miami and the winner of Saturday’s showdown between top-ranked Florida State and No. 2 Notre Dame. There also is a chance that the loser of the Florida State-Notre Dame game could finish No. 2 in the bowl poll, which would lead to a coalition-mandated rematch in the Fiesta.

That could shut out the Orange Bowl and No. 4 Nebraska from the title picture.

Florida State (9-0) remained a unanimous No. 1 in the AP poll after beating Maryland, 49-20. Notre Dame (9-0) didn’t play Saturday. Ohio State (8-0-1) is fifth in the AP poll, followed by Tennessee (7-1-1), Auburn (9-0), Florida (7-1), West Virginia (8-0) and UCLA (7-2).

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Robert Trice carried 33 times for 187 yards and one touchdown as visiting Cal State Northridge beat Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 22-14, Saturday night in the American West Conference. Clayton Millis completed 11 of 25 passes for 177 yards and one touchdown for the Matadors (4-5, 1-2). The Mustangs fell to 5-4, 1-3.

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Michael Carter had five touchdowns--two passing, two rushing and one receiving--as Hawaii scored a 41-30 Western Athletic Conference victory over visiting Utah Saturday night.