THE TIMES’ TOP 25

*--* Rk. Team (Rec.) Comment (last week’s rank) 1 TEXAS (7-0) Four out of five dentists surveyed think Texas is tops and Bevo needs to floss. (1) 2 PENN STATE (8-0) Paterno asks to borrow Hubble telescope to see field from Ohio State press box. (2) 3 ALABAMA (7-0) State has No.1 public golf course, Grand National, but it’s closer to Auburn. (3) 4 OKLAHOMA (6-1) Bob warns brother Mike to watch out for Trojans named Bush or White. (5) 5 FLORIDA (5-1) Jeff Sagarin gives pep talk after Gators debut at No. 12 in BCS computer ratings. (4) 6 USC (5-1) Third shutout for Trojans this year could involve Oregon State winning Pac-10 title. (6) 7 OKLAHOMA STATE (7-0) No ice in soft drinks after Pickens acknow- ledges billion-dollar loss in stock market. (7) 8 GEORGIA (6-1) Watch out for LSU defender with mean forearm shiver and penalty flag in pocket. (9) 9 OHIO STATE (7-1) Hard-to-kill team considers nickname change to Ohio State Cockroaches. (11) 10 UTAH (8-0) Take the week off, have a ball, enjoy the games, blow off some steam. (12) 11 TEXAS TECH (7-0) Four straight against ranked teams ought to even this record out a bit. (13) 12 LOUISIANA STATE (5-1) Referee who tackled South Carolina QB just named SEC defensive player the week. (14) 13 BOISE STATE (6-0) Team practices in library to prepare for Friday night crowd noise at San Jose State. (15) 14 TEXAS CHRISTIAN (7-1) Shutout prediction: Top-ranked defense goes against Wyoming team last in scoring. (NR) 15 SOUTH FLORIDA (6-1) Doctors says large Grothe discovered during checkup is team’s starting QB. (15) 16 MISSOURI (5-2) Jack Nicholson says team the last two weeks just hasn’t gotten any Missouri Breaks. (10) 17 BALL STATE (7-0) Rankman flags self for lifting Cards five poll spots during a week off. (22) 18 BRIGHAM YOUNG (6-1) As Joe Biden’s pop always told him, when you get knocked down, you got to get up. (8) 19 KANSAS (5-2) BCS dust in the wind . . . just a drop of water in an endless sea. (16) 20 TULSA (7-0) Leads NCAA in everything except maybe places you’d want car to break down. (NR) 21 GEORGIA TECH (6-1) Recent 10-7 win over Gardner-Webb has people excited again about football. (NR) 22 BOSTON COLLEGE (5-1) Genius move, Rankman, slotting the Eagles at Doug Flutie’s number. (NR) 23 OREGON (5-2) Ducks break out ugly black uniforms to honor passing of Mr. Blackwell. (24) 24 FLORIDA STATE (5-1) Bobby offers son Tommy chance to run water out to players during timeouts. (NR) 25 NORTHWESTERN (6-1) Picked the right year to miss Penn State on the Big Ten schedule. (NR) *--*