Once-powerful programs nearly out of bowl picture

Once again, there's no title talk at Alabama, Ohio State or USC this season -- not even conference title talk.

In fact, the Crimson Tide, Buckeyes and Trojans may all end up with losing records and without a spot in any of the 25 bowl games.

Times have changed for three of college football's glamour programs, which have combined for 12 national championships -- six for Alabama and three each for Ohio State and USC. 'Bama won a title most recently, in 1992.

New coaches were hired, enthusiasm restored, and winning was supposed to be at hand. About the winning part ...

Alabama is 3-4 under coach Dennis Franchione entering today's homecoming game against LSU (4-3); Ohio State is 4-3 under Jim Tressel as it travels to Minnesota (3-4); and USC under Pete Carroll is 3-5 with a home game against Oregon State (3-4).

In contrast, a trio of new coaches are faring quite well. Larry Coker at No. 1 Miami is 6-0, Gary Crowton at No. 13 BYU is 9-0, and Ralph Friedgen at Maryland is 7-1.

Alabama, which blew fourth-quarter leads in three of its last four games, needs to win three of its final four to have a postseason chance. 'Bama is tied with LSU for fourth place in the SEC West.

"I'm just going to try to win a game," says Franchione, who left TCU and replaced Mike DuBose. "Any of that other talk is very premature, I think. I always say you have to play yourself into the position to talk about those things."

Buckeyes blow leads

The Buckeyes have blown leads of 18 and 17 points in their last two losses. When Tressel left Youngstown State to replace John Cooper, there was a feeling Ohio State was good enough to win the Big Ten Conference and compete for a national title.

"The honeymoon ended when we were 1-1," says Tressel. Ohio State lost to UCLA in its second game, and is currently tied for fourth in the Big Ten with a 2-2 mark.

And then there's USC. Like 'Bama and Ohio State, the Trojans have faded in the fourth quarter, losing four in a row by a total of 14 points. They need to beat Oregon State today, then California and UCLA to qualify for a bowl.

"The guys talk about it some," says Carroll. "I am dwelling more on what's going around us right now and what is in front of us. We want to put together some back-to-back games where we get the wins and start to get that feeling that we are accomplishing something."

In today's games involving Top 25 teams, it's Temple at No. 1 Miami, No. 2 Nebraska at Kansas, Tulsa at No. 3 Oklahoma, Vanderbilt at No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Texas at Baylor, No. 6 Michigan at Michigan State, No. 7 Tennessee at Notre Dame, Arizona State at No. 8 Oregon, No. 9 UCLA at No. 16 Washington State, and No. 10 Stanford at No. 11 Washington.

Also, it's No. 12 Virginia Tech at Pittsburgh, No. 14 Florida State at Clemson, Troy State at No. 15 Maryland, Wofford at No. 17 South Carolina, No. 21 Illinois at No. 20 Purdue, No. 24 Texas A&M at Texas Tech, and Missouri at No. 25 Colorado.

A few conference races heat up today, especially the Pac-10, where five teams have one league loss.

At Husky Stadium, Washington (6-1, 4-1) takes on Stanford (5-1, 4-1), which is coming off consecutive upsets of Oregon and UCLA.

At Pullman, Washington State (7-1, 4-1) and UCLA (6-1, 3-1) both lost for the first time this season last week.

Oregon (7-1, 4-1) is at home to Arizona State.

In the Big Ten, Michigan (6-1, 4-0) controls its fate. The lone unbeaten team in conference play, the Wolverines have defeated Illinois (6-1, 3-1) and Purdue (5-1, 3-1), the only schools with just one conference loss.