Rose Bowl awaits Miami and Nebraska

Miami's Ken Dorsey picks defences apart

BBC Sport Online's Kevin Asseo looks at the climax to the US college football season.

The race for the national championship has reached its final stages, with only a handful of the country's best college football teams still running at the front of the pack.

This season has progressed largely according to form, with Nebraska, Miami, Oklahoma, Florida, and Oregon making up the top five ranked teams in the nation.

All five have a chance to reach the Rose Bowl, this year's championship game, but the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Miami Hurricanes are the only two sides that control their own fate.

Both are undefeated, and victories in their remaining games would ensure a meeting at the Rose Bowl on 3 January.

Rushing record

It would be a fitting end to the season as each has dominated opponents throughout the season.

Each school's quarterback is a leading contender to win the Heisman Trophy as the nation's most outstanding player.

Miami's Ken Dorsey, like other great Hurricane quarterbacks of the past such as Jim Kelly or Vinny Testaverde, is a traditional pocket passer who picks defences apart with his precision throws.

Nebraska's Eric Crouch is more deadly with his legs than his arm and has perfected the art of leading the Cornhuskers' traditional run-oriented offence.

Eric Crouch could pass the 1,000 yard mark for the season

Crouch will likely finish the year with more than 1,000 yards rushing - a total nearly unheard of for a quarterback.

If either the Cornhuskers or Hurricanes falter, the door would be open for one of the teams behind them in the rankings.

Oklahoma's lone loss came against Nebraska in October, but the Sooners could have a chance for revenge on the first weekend of December in the Big 12 Conference title game, provided they beat cross-state rivals Oklahoma State first.

Despite losing star quarterback Josh Heupel to graduation following their national championship season in 2000, Oklahoma have maintained their high level of play in 2001.

Surprise failures

The Florida Gators have remained near the top of the rankings thanks to an offence that has achieved near-perfection.

Led by sophomore quarterback Rex Grossman, the Gators have piled up the points all season long, including one game against South Carolina which saw their offence score on each of its first nine possessions.

Oregon has enjoyed a brilliant season and has already clinched the Pac-10 Conference championship.

But Oregon's one loss, a 49-42 setback to Stanford, appears to be enough to prevent them from reaching the Rose Bowl, barring a collapse by three of the four teams ranked ahead of them.

As for the surprises in college football this year, they stem from the teams that are not at the top of the standings rather than those that are.

Florida State, champions of the Atlantic Coast Conference for the past nine seasons, fell from the ranks of the nation's elite teams this year by losing four of their first 10 games.

The Oregon State Beavers, picked by many experts to challenge for the national title, stumbled straight from the starting blocks and never recovered.

The Beavers lost four of their first six games and saw their postseason hopes disappear before the end of October.

With the bowl games now just weeks away, all eyes will be on Miami and Nebraska as they attempt to complete their undefeated regular seasons and secure a coveted place in the Rose Bowl.