Gators do some serious prowling

College football doesn’t get much better than Saturday, when fans didn’t have to look much past the top 10 to find frenzied finishes, upsets, close calls and blowouts.

But hidden within all the activity at Alabama, Kentucky, Central Florida and Nebraska was a message that might have gone unnoticed: Florida is serious about repeating as national champion.

The Gators delivered a don’t-forget-about-us announcement with a 59-20 shellacking of Southeastern Conference rival Tennessee.

“That’s a statement for us in SEC play and it’s going to set the tone for the rest of our games,” safety Tony Joiner said.

No. 2-ranked Louisiana State is widely considered the favorite to win the SEC title and earn a national championship game appearance, but the No. 5 Gators, who have outscored opponents, 167-54, in three games, will have plenty to say about that when the teams meet Oct. 6.

Sophomore quarterback Tim Tebow seems comfortable in a full-time starting role, receiver Percy Harvin is establishing himself among the premier skill position players in the nation and the Gators defense, a question mark before the season, held Tennessee to 37 yards rushing.

It was the largest margin of victory in the Florida-Tennessee game since a 49-3 Tennessee victory in 1990. Florida extended its winning streak to 10 games.

Florida already made history by becoming the first school to hold major division national championships in football and basketball simultaneously. After the basketball team won a second consecutive title in April, it’s looking like a repeat is possible.

“It’s a great time to be a Florida Gator,” Coach Urban Meyer said.

Orange, black and blue

While the Orange and Blue is riding high in Gainesville, another team of the same colors is wondering what happened to its once-proud program.

Syracuse dropped to 0-3 for the first time in 21 years after a 41-20 loss to Illinois. The Orange have been outscored, 118-32, against opponents that combined to finish 13-24 last year.

“Obviously, I’m frustrated and I want to keep working and getting better,” Coach Greg Robinson said.

Syracuse was among the beasts of the Big East throughout the 1990s, when the Orange were 82-35-3 overall and 44-17 in conference play. This decade, they are 36-47 overall and 19-29 in conference.

Be-Deviled

It may be getting ugly in Syracuse, but it has been that way for a while in Durham, N.C., where Duke had a 22-game losing streak -- the longest in major college football -- before Saturday’s game at Northwestern.

But the Blue Devils are smiling for now as they defeated the Wildcats, 20-14, for their first victory since Sept. 17, 2005.

Florida International, which lost to Miami, now has the longest losing streak, 15 games.

Quarterback sneak

Notre Dame’s Jimmy Clausen was beaten up against Michigan and needed to come out after getting sacked eight times in three quarters of a 38-0 loss. But his backup was nowhere to be found.

Demetrius Jones did not show up for the team meal Friday and did not board the team bus to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the game. Coach Charlie Weis said he had not heard from Jones, who started Notre Dame’s opening-week loss to Georgia Tech and completed one of three passes for four yards.

ESPN.com reported Saturday night that Jones had enrolled at Northern Illinois and planned to play there next season.

“What happened came as a surprise,” Weis said. “But I’m not going to use it as an excuse and say our team was distracted.”

Evan Sharpley played the fourth quarter Saturday.

No easy pickings

Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel had a pass intercepted against Western Michigan, ending his string of consecutive passes without one at 254 -- 17 shy of the NCAA record.

He began the game with the streak at 235 and extended the mark before Anthony Gebhart intercepted a pass in the second quarter.

Kentucky’s Andre Woodson, who completed 30 of 46 passes without an interception in a 40-34 upset of Louisville, has thrown 259 consecutive passes without an interception and next week could break the record of 271 set by Trent Dilfer of Fresno State.

Getting Ire-y

No. 13 Rutgers raised some eyebrows with the most prolific scoring spurt in school history during a 59-0 victory over Norfolk State, but the Scarlet Knights also raised the ire of their opponents.

Rutgers piled up 42 points and 277 yards in only 11 plays and 91 seconds -- setting a school record for points in a quarter -- but ticked off Norfolk State by calling three timeouts at the end of the quarter with a 45-0 lead.

“I guess they wanted to put up as many points as they could in the first half,” Norfolk State quarterback Casey Hansen said. “That’s not necessarily sportsmanlike. But that’s the route they chose, and they got the job done.”

Rutgers Coach Greg Schiano defended the timeouts, saying that he never lets up in the first half.

“If your starters are in there, you play the game the way you coach it,” Schiano said. “Once you start changing your personnel, then it’s a different story.”

Officially striped

The game between Jacksonville State and Memphis featured a little piece of history.

Line judge S.B. Thomas became the first female official to work in a major college football game.

An 11-year veteran of officiating at the high school level, Thomas is among 21 alternate officials who will work one or two nonconference games involving Conference USA teams.

Thomas was prohibited by conference rules from speaking with the media before the game, but Gerry Austin, the conference coordinator of officials, said the assignment came with pressure.

“If she does a good job, I think she will have a very positive effect,” Austin said. “If she messes up, some people might say females aren’t ready.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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peter.yoon@latimes.com