AFTER THOUGHTS The Defense Rests Behind every great offensive explosion is a really bad defense. And two of the worst defensive teams in the nation lived up to their billing as Kentucky and Vanderbilt piled up 1,125 total yards and 11 touchdowns in the Wildcats' 56-30 victory over the Commodores. Both quarterbacks set career highs for yards passing. Kentucky's Jared Lorenzen threw for 453 yards and six TDs and Vanderbilt's Greg Zolman had 441 yards and two scores, and ran for a third. Think Tennessee noticed this little exhibition? The sixth-ranked Vols face the Wildcats and Commodores over the next two weeks. And here's guessing over the next few weeks, there will be plenty of smiles in the Tennessee film room when the Vol offense watches tapes from this game. 300 Club Harold "Tubby" Raymond became the ninth coach in college football history to win 300 games as Delaware beat Richmond 10-6. Raymond, who turns 75 next week, was hoisted aloft by his players and paraded around the field after the contest. He is 300-118-3. Quote of the Year (for now) "That play was just a reaction to being a yard or less away from the end zone. Once it jumped out of my mouth, there was really no turning back. It jumped out a little too quick. ... I knew it was the wrong thing to do, but it was too late. I couldn't stop it." -- Georgia coach Mark Richt, who called an off-tackle run from Auburn's 1 with 16 seconds remaining and no time outs left in Auburn's 24-17 victory. Say what? Just a reaction? Didn't he think of the time or situation or anything like that? He simply has one reaction to being that far from the game-winning TD. OK, first-year coach and he did beat Tennessee. Maybe the talk-radio shows will be kind. But all that said, here's hoping that somewhere former Georgia coach Jim Donnan (whom the Dawgs treated like a fire-hydrant after he led them to four straight bowl wins) is just laughing his butt off. Small School Love Villanova's Brian Westbrook carried 26 times for 287 yards and four touchdowns and caught a TD pass in the Wildcats' 54-34 victory over Hofstra. ... Bentley's Marc Eddy threw four TD passes to set the NCAA freshman record in a 44-17 victory over Stonehill. ... Montana's Yohance Humphery ran for 265 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-23 victory over Weber State. ... Mount Union completed its seventh straight undefeated regular season and won its 74th consecutive game in the Ohio Conference with a 54-7 victory over Heidelberg. SATURDAY'S STARS Indiana quarterback Antwaan Randle El became the NCAA Division I-A career rushing leader among quarterbacks in the Hoosiers' 37-28 victory over Michigan State. Randle El broke the mark set by Air Force's Dee Dowis in the third quarter on his way to a 149-yard day giving him a total of 3,645 -- 33 more than Dowis. Jared Lorenzen, Kentucky, threw for a career-high 453 yards and six touchdowns in a 56-30 victory over Vanderbilt. Cedric Benson, Texas, ran for 213 yards and scored three times as the Longhorns beat Kansas 59-0. Levron Williams, Indiana, ran for 251 yards and three touchdowns in the Hoosiers' 37-28 victory over Michigan State. Casey Clausen, Tennessee, threw five touchdown passes as the Volunteers beat Memphis 49-28. Justin Gage, Missouri, caught 13 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns, and threw for a third in a 41-24 victory over Baylor. Kliff Kingsbury, Texas Tech, threw for 440 yards and four touchdowns as the Red Raiders beat Oklahoma State 49-30. Steve Bellisari, Ohio State, passed for 263 yards and three TDs as Ohio State beat Purdue 35-9. Ryan Fuqua, Portland State, ran 45 times for 393 yards and three touchdowns in a 37-22 victory over Eastern Washington. Leonard Henry, East Carolina, ran for 234 yards and scored three touchdowns in a 28-26 victory over Cincinnati.

The Florida State streaks died and Chuck Amato cried.

Of course, it was Amato that did the most damage. When his N.C. State team handed Florida State its first-ever ACC home loss, it also ended any chance the Seminoles had of continuing its amazing 14-year run of 10-win seasons and top-5 finishes.

And Amato did it in his first visit back since spending 18 years as a Florida State assistant, ending Bobby Bowden's perfect 25-0 homecoming record and possibly the Seminoles' nine-year ACC title reign.

"I'm still undefeated in homecoming games here in this stadium," the raspy-voiced Amato said.

The loss gives FSU a 6-3 record with two regular season games remaining against No. 3 Florida and No. 17 Georgia Tech plus a bowl game. The Wolfpack also became the first team to beat Florida State twice in ACC games. The Seminoles are 75-4 since joining the league. Their other losses were to Virginia in 1995 and North Carolina earlier this season.

"I cried," Amato said. "Coach Bowden said, 'Chuck, you're supposed to be happy.' I said, 'When I'm happy I cry."'

And while the Seminoles might be down, there is nothing for them to be ashamed of. The run is one for the ages in any sport. The word dynasty may be overused, but Florida State was the dynasty in college football. The 'Noles played in three straight BCS championship games. They were the program everyone wanted to be -- and beat. Now it's happened a little, but here's guessing it won't happen a lot.

BYU and BCS? Please
All those thinking BYU belongs at the big boy BCS table, please check the last two games the Cougars have played. If anything shows BYU is nothing more than a decent team playing a, um, not-so-tough schedule, the past two weeks do.

Let's see...the Cougars gave up 34 points in back-to-back games. We were willing to look past Colorado State doing some damage last week, but Wyoming scoring 34 and piling up 476 yards Saturday and forcing BYU to score with just over two minutes left in the game to pull out the win? And Wyoming has lost its last 14 conference games.

C'mon. Rose Bowl? Fiesta Bowl? Please. They're lucky to be in the top-10.

"You can say what you want about our defense, but we haven't lost all year, so obviously our defense is better than the other teams' defense," BYU center Jason Scukanec said.

Well, that's some solid logic. The ol' "They suck worse than we do" defense. Impressive.

"The whole thing that people don't realize, we have come up big in a lot of situations," said BYU's Levi Madarieta. "It's something we're proud of. We've just got to keep working hard."

We give BYU credit for going undefeated so far. That's not easy, we know that. But to say they belong among the best in college football is flat out wrong. They deserve the conference crown if they can finish out with wins over Utah and Hawaii. They deserve a good bowl game. But BCS bowl? Sorry, we just don't see it.

He Chose Poorly
OK, we hate to second guess (wait, who are we kidding? Outside of good hot wings, there's little we like more), but what was UCLA's Bob Toledo thinking?

Down by a point and needing a good chunk of yardage to put the Bruins in position for a reasonable field goal attempt to win the game, Toledo decided to call running plays on five of the last six plays. The result: 15 yards, forcing junior Chris Griffith to try a 50-yard field-goal, which fell short and right to give No. 7 Oregon the 21-20 win.

"We did not want to throw at the end, we wanted to win or lose with the field goal. We wanted a field goal. He has been consistent," Toledo said of Griffith. "It would have been a great ending. He was kicking well in practice. He just hit it a little fat."

Um, did someone tell Toledo he didn't have DeShaun Foster for this game? Sure, QB Cory Paus had a pair of picks, but he was also 14-of-22 for 321 yards. That's not too bad. Toledo should have taken a chance so Griffith and the Bruins would have had one.

NUMBERS GAME Chris McKinney broke an NCAA Division III record with his fifth punt return for a touchdown this season as Guilford beat Emory & Henry 17-7 Saturday. McKinney shared the record with four other players, including former NFL running back Chris Warren, before scoring on a 77-yard return in the second quarter -- his third in as many games. McKinney, who transferred from North Carolina State in August, tied James Rooth of Division II Shepherd (W.Va.) College for the NCAA all-division record. Rooth did it in 1998. Miami beat Boston College 18-7 to extend the nation's longest major college winning streak to 18 games and the Hurricanes' own streak over the Eagles to 12. Oklahoma's defense kept its opponent out of the end zone for the second game in a row, limiting Texas A&M to 132 yards and five first downs in a 31-10 victory. Oregon State ended a 13-game losing streak against Washington, beating the Huskies 49-24. Purdue's Tim Stratton, who had caught passes in 36 consecutive games, did not have a reception in the Boilermakers' 35-9 loss to Ohio State. California lost its 12th straight, 55-14 to Southern Cal. Wyoming lost its 14th Mountain West game in a row, 41-34 to Brigham Young.