Plenty of story lines to feast on

There is a lot, obviously, to digest this weekend -- many spread formations and bones to pick.

This column is about football, though, so let’s get to the bubbling bowl implications and what may be eating at you.

Tonight

* Boston College at Miami: Twenty-two. That was Doug Flutie’s number and how many years have passed since he beat Miami with his “Flail Mary” pass.

Boston College hasn’t defeated Miami since -- but this could be the night.

Boston College (9-2) needs a win over Miami (5-6) and a Maryland win over Wake Forest to win the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Miami is in crisis as it careens toward its worst season since 1977.

Miami reportedly is set to fire its coach, Larry Coker, who is 58-15 in six years compared with coach of the century Pete Carroll’s record of 63-11.

The sad, feeding-frenzy part is that people have replaced Coker before he has been formally dismissed. CSTV reported South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier would get his job.

Forget what Spurrier says, CSTV says, Miami is interested.

“Who at Miami?” an incredulous Spurrier wondered on his Sunday teleconference. “The president, the AD, or some guy sleeping under the bridge down there?”

Another underlying question: Does anyone at Miami really want to win tonight and go to the Boise (MPC Computers) Bowl? Play football, in an indigo mood, on a blue field?

Friday

* Texas A&M; at Texas: Two weeks ago, Texas was in the best one-loss perch to defend its national title -- then suffered that breakdown at Kansas State. Now, Texas has to win this game to clinch the Big 12 South Division. If Texas loses and Oklahoma wins, the Sooners claim the South and earn the Big 12 title-game trip. With no national title in play, the Big 12 champion this year is headed to the Fiesta Bowl, probably to play Boise State.

* Louisiana State at Arkansas: This game looked like Groundhog Day back in September, after USC crushed Arkansas, 50-14, in Fayetteville. Look who is vying for the grits and gravy now?

Arkansas has clinched the West side story of the Southeastern Conference divisional race but needs to upend LSU to keep one pickled pig’s foot in the national title trough. If Arkansas prevails on the SEC Sunshine Network (CBS), the Razorbacks get to dress up as Leprechauns and root for Notre Dame to beat USC. Arkansas needs USC out of the one-loss equation to make a run at the No. 2 Bowl Championship Series spot.

Saturday

* Notre Dame at USC:

“Elizabeth, this is the big one! -- Fred Sanford.

This is the big one.

USC and Notre Dame have staged some of the best acts in the history of college football theater. Last year’s thriller, a 34-31 win for USC in the tall grass at South Bend, may have been the best.

The stakes this year, if you can believe it, are also in the ozone.

If you trust any of the BCS gurus, USC is two wins from overtaking Michigan for No. 2 in the BCS and winning a date with Ohio State in the Jan. 8 title game.

If USC loses, it slumps off to the Rose Bowl, where all those Trojans cheerleaders holding roses last Saturday thought their team was headed anyway.

It might take an act of God for Notre Dame to get to the title game -- which means it’s possible -- as the Irish are getting boxed out by Michigan. Win or lose, the Irish are headed for a $16-million BCS game and still have a shot to make their first Rose Bowl appearance since 1925.

“Notre Dame is certainly on the radar screen,” Rose Bowl Chief Executive Mitch Dorger said this week.

The Rose Bowl is going to get either Michigan or USC as one of its game anchors. If Notre Dame beats USC, the Rose Bowl could play host to a rematch five weeks later. This is a bad idea, not favored by the BCS or the Rose Bowl, but it could be the best remaining option.

If Ohio State and USC play in the BCS title game, though, Notre Dame could be paired against Michigan in the Rose Bowl. Another rematch -- yuck! -- but at least not from the previous month in the same town.

“We know there are rematches that have taken place,” Dorger said. “It is something the BCS likes to try to avoid. We are mindful of that. There are a lot of factors to consider.”

Michigan, which has already manhandled Notre Dame, 47-21, would certainly be against this. Which raises the prickly question: How could Michigan argue for a rematch against Ohio State and then complain about a rematch against Notre Dame?

* Florida at Florida State: Florida’s public relations offensive, at this point, may be better than Florida’s offense as the Gators prepare to tackle the broken-down Bobby Bowdens.

Florida Coach Urban Meyer says it would be unconscionable if Ohio State and Michigan were allowed to meet in a rematch for the national title.

Translation: Florida, not Michigan, deserves that spot if the Gators go on to beat Florida State and then Arkansas on Dec. 2.

“You’re going to tell Ohio State they have to beat the same team twice, which is very difficult?” Meyer said on Sunday.

That’s interesting.

In 1996, the year Florida won its only national title, the Gators beat Florida State in the Sugar Bowl.

It was a rematch. Florida State had upset No. 1 Florida on Nov. 29.

At his weekly media breakfast the next day, Bowden said something along the lines of, “We won’t have to play ‘em again, will we?”

Florida loved the rematch idea ... that year.

* Arizona State at Arizona: These 6-5 schools could not be on more different tracks. One 6-5 coach should be the Pacific 10 Conference coach of the year, hands down, and the other is Arizona State Coach Dirk Koetter.

We remember thinking, when Arizona trailed California, 17-3, how futile it seemed that high-strung Wildcats Coach Mike Stoops was straining neck veins on every play. What was the point?

The point was that Stoops never concedes an inch. His team came back to win that game, then shocked Oregon in Eugene the next week.

That corner in Tucson? Arizona football has turned it.

* Oklahoma at Oklahoma State: All year, the Pac-10 was praying that Oregon’s disputed win over Oklahoma in September would not affect either team’s BCS chances.

Well, guess what? Oklahoma is 9-2 but should be 10-1 steaming toward a BCS at-large bid if not for that botched replay by Pac-10 officials in Eugene.

Instead, Oklahoma is No. 15 in this week’s BCS standings, and you have to be No. 14 or better to be BCS-bowl eligible.

* Boise State at Nevada: Boise needs one lucky roll in Reno to finish the season 12-0 and all but clinch a Fiesta Bowl bid. Nothing could go wrong now, could it?

Blitz package

* In a conference call this week, BCS commissioners released schools that were not being considered for one of the five BCS bowls.

The BCS did not, however, release three-loss Cal because there is still a pie-in-the-sky chance the Golden Bears could matriculate back into the top 14 of the standings. That would make Cal eligible to be considered by the Rose Bowl.

Cal is No. 19 in the BCS, so the odds are not great. “We can’t dismiss anybody,” Dorger said. The Rose Bowl, remember, would get the top two replacement picks if it loses Ohio State and USC to the BCS title game.

And don’t completely count out Rutgers, which could get back into Rose Bowl consideration if it wins the Big East by defeating West Virginia on Dec. 2.

* How can Michigan be eligible to play for the national title if it didn’t even win its conference?

Because conference commissioners did not amend that rule even after Nebraska got to the 2001 title game without winning the Big 12 North and Oklahoma made it in 2003 after losing the Big 12 title game to Kansas State.

Commissioners balked at the conference champion clause because of possible years like this one, when there is one undefeated contender and several one-loss teams vying for the No. 2 BCS spot.

“We had a thorough discussion,” Pac-10 Commissioner Tom Hansen said, “but we didn’t want anything to prevent the two best teams from playing.”

chris.dufresne@latimes.com