No. 1 Notre Dame Accepts Rematch With colorado : * Bowl Games: They will play again in the Orange Bowl, perhaps with the national championship on the line, but with a reversal of roles.

After a season of surprises, college football may get a familiar finish.

For the second year in a row, Notre Dame will play Colorado in the Orange Bowl with the national championship at stake. Last season, Notre Dame beat the top-ranked Buffaloes, 21-6, and spoiled their bid for the national title. Now Colorado will get a chance for revenge.

The Orange Bowl rematch was set Sunday, a day after No. 1 Notre Dame beat No. 9 Tennessee, 34-29, and No. 4 Colorado clinched a share of the Big Eight championship by beating Oklahoma State, 41-22.

Although bowl bids can’t officially be extended until Nov. 24, Orange Bowl president Art Hertz confirmed the matchup.

“Our selection committee has agreed that at the appropriate time we would extend an invitation to Notre Dame,” Hertz said. “There’s risks and advantages at every stage. We think the advantage of having two great teams line up in the Bowl is worth the risk.”

“We have elected to wait and see if we will be extended an invitation to play in the Orange Bowl against Colorado, the No. 2 ranked team,” Irish athletic director Dick Rosenthal said, expecting the Buffaloes to move from fourth to second in the weekly polls after setbacks losses by No. 2 Washington and No. 3 Houston Saturday.

The Irish still have games remaining against ranked opponents--No. 21 Penn State and No. 23 USC.

Nebraska can still tie Colorado for the Big Eight title, but Orange Bowl officials said Colorado is the choice because the Buffaloes defeated the Cornhuskers two weeks ago.

UCLA stunned Washington, 25-22, and No. 14 Texas toppled previously unbeaten Houston, 45-24, leaving no major unbeaten, untied teams in the regular season for the first time since 1936.

Houston is on probation and can’t go to a bowl, but many other top teams are firming up their postseason plans.

Texas appears headed toward a Cotton Bowl meeting with No. 5 Miami, which had the weekend off. All of a sudden, that’s shaping up as a more meaningful game than the Rose Bowl, which lost its luster and hopes for hosting a national title game when Washington and No. 6 Iowa both were beaten. Washington has already clinched the Pac-10 spot in Pasadena and Iowa, which lost to Ohio State, 27-26, still has the inside track for the Big Ten berth.

The Sugar Bowl will probably match the winner of the Tennessee-Mississippi game against the winner of the Ohio State-Michigan contest. No. 16 Mississippi did not play Saturday, while No. 19 Michigan downed No. 17 Illinois, 22-17.

Seventh-ranked Georgia Tech (8-0-1), which edged Virginia Tech, 6-3, is slated to play No. 13 Nebraska, a 41-9 winner over Kansas, in the Citrus Bowl.

The Fiesta Bowl wants to pair No. 11 Virginia and the second-best available team from the Southeastern Conference (unless it can get Notre Dame), but officials may have to move the bowl out of Arizona to get their wish.

Some Virginia players don’t want to play in the Fiesta because Arizona voters just rejected a proposal to make Martin Luther King’s birthday a state holiday. But Don Meyers, head of the bowl’s selection committee, says the game may be moved out of the state if either team objects to playing in Arizona.

A Clemson-Illinois matchup appears likely in the Hall of Fame Bowl even though the Illini lost their second consecutive game Saturday. No. 18 Clemson had the week off.

The Gator Bowl, one of eight New Year’s Day bowls, will probably pair the Ohio State-Michigan loser against a leftover SEC team, most likely No. 15 Auburn or Mississippi. Auburn’s 13-12 loss to Southern Mississippi all but eliminated the Tigers from the Sugar Bowl picture.

In other games involving ranked teams, it was No. 8 Brigham Young beating No. 25 Wyoming, 45-14; No. 10 Florida trouncing Georgia, 38-7; No. 12 Florida State crushing Cincinnati, 70-21; California surprising No. 20 Oregon, 28-3; No. 22 Louisville beating Boston College, 17-10; and No. 24 Michigan State downing Minnesota, 28-16.

Virginia beat North Carolina, 24-10, Penn State beat Maryland, 24-10 and USC crushed Oregon State, 56-7.

The rest of the tentative bowl lineup looks like this:

Holiday (BYU-Texas A&M;); Blockbuster (Florida State-Penn State); Copper (California-Wyoming); Hancock (USC-Michigan State); Independence (Southern Mississippi-Baylor); Freedom (Colorado State-Oregon); Aloha (Arizona-Syracuse); All-American (Louisville-SEC team or N.C. State); Peach (Indiana-SEC team or N.C. State); Raisin (Central Michigan vs. Fresno State-San Jose State winner); and Liberty (Air Force-Alabama).

The list of contenders for the national championship was cut on Saturday, and so was the list of prime candidates for the Heisman Trophy.

Houston’s David Klingler probably had his Heisman hopes dashed by a poor performance against Texas. Klingler, the nation’s leader in passing yardage and total offense, threw four interceptions and completed only 22 of 52 passes for 299 yards.

While Klingler clunked, Rocket soared and Ty was terrific. Notre Dame’s Rocket Ismail and BYU’s Ty Detmer may have made it a two-man Heisman race with their big-game heroics. Ismail’s 44-yard touchdown run with 3:33 left doomed Tennessee and BYU walloped Wyoming behind Detmer’s 484-yard, two-touchdown passing performance.

The only other player with a serious shot at the Heisman is Virginia’s Shawn Moore, who completed 16 of 22 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns against North Carolina.