COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : ACROSS THE NATION : Notre Dame, Florida State Still 1-2

Thanks partly to a close loss to Notre Dame and a postgame lobbying effort that would have done NAFTA proud, Florida State might get its New Year’s Day rematch after all.

Despite a 31-24 defeat Saturday at South Bend, the Seminoles and Irish merely swapped places in the all-important bowl coalition points standings. Undefeated Notre Dame is now No. 1 with 3,098 points, while Florida State finds itself at No. 2 with 2,900.

According to the bowl alliance agreement, the Irish and Seminoles, by virtue of their rankings, would be required to play again in the Jan. 1 Fiesta Bowl. Of course, both teams must finish the regular season in those two spots for a national championship rematch to occur.

As expected, Notre Dame (10-0) was voted No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, as well as the USA Today-CNN coaches poll. But the results weren’t unanimous. While all 62 first-place votes from the media poll went to the Irish, two of the 62 coaches chose Nebraska (10-0) as the top team.

Even with that support, the Cornhuskers could do no better than third in the AP poll, second in the coaches’ poll. Their point total of 2,833 left them 67 points behind Florida State in the coalition standings. Miami fell to fourth.

Nebraska must hope for Notre Dame to stumble at home against Boston College Saturday, or for Florida State (9-1) to lose at home against North Carolina State or on the road against Florida. Otherwise, the Cornhuskers are stuck in the Orange Bowl with only an outside chance at a national title shot.

UCLA (7-3) fell from 10th to 16th in the AP poll after its 9-3 loss to Arizona State. USC (7-4) moved into the top 25 at No. 22 with its 22-17 victory over Washington.