West Virginia daily

Before the season began, to most casual observers, Les Miles would have been only slightly more recognizable than the stock boy at your local supermarket. You saw him once a week or so, but you couldn't place him if you saw him in public.

That was Miles a year ago, when he was the anonymous head football coach at Oklahoma State. Today, Miles is a household name at Louisiana State, where he took over for Nick Saban.

But it is Miles who is on the verge of leading LSU to a berth in the Bowl Championship Series, while Meyer is playing out the string in his first season in Gainesville.

"I was taking over for coach Saban, who did a tremendous job," Miles said recently. "He put the program in a great position. For us, there were only a few things to tweak. We were headed in a great direction and we certainly wanted to continue that."

LSU is one bad home loss away from being in the thick of the national championship picture. The Tigers blew a 21-0 lead to Tennessee in September in Baton Rouge, falling 30-27 in overtime.

After an embarrassing 41-point loss at Auburn, South Carolina has won five in a row, including a road win at Tennessee and a home victory against Florida last week.

And, unlike Miles, Spurrier did not inherit top-of-the-line talent. Spurrier has discovered what it takes to win in the SEC in 2005, and that's much different from his previous stint in the league in the 1990s. This time it's not the passing game that wins. It's with, believe it or not, a running game and a capable defense.

Florida outgained South Carolina by more than 100 yards (359-246), had the ball for nine more minutes and held Gamecocks quarterback Blake Mitchell to seven completions, yet South Carolina never trailed and won, 30-22.

At Notre Dame, Charlie Weis is proving a coach can make a world of difference. The Fighting Irish were 6-5 last season under Tyrone Willingham. Weis needs two victories in his final two games against Syracuse and Stanford to send the Irish to a BCS bowl for the first time since 2000.

Notre Dame came within a whisker of beating the defending national champion Southern California Trojans and, after a brief respite from the national spotlight, has reclaimed its spot in college football's hierarchy.

"I just have enjoyed how I feel that everyone has kind of come on the same page. I didn't feel that way when I got here, and I feel that way now," Weis said. "In everything we've done, there's been a learning experience. I have not been error-free, needless to say, but I really believe everyone is kind of on the same page, and that's a good thing."

Pitt is having a rough first season under Dave Wannstedt. The Panthers, with 18 starters returning from an 8-4 team that earned the Big East bid to the Fiesta Bowl last season, need a victory next week at West Virginia to be bowl eligible.

The same program that once rivaled Miami as the top team in the Big East needs a victory against Notre Dame or Louisville to avoid the school's worst record in 57 years.

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