What is up with football these days? In college, Notre Dame loses to a Purdue team which lost to Toledo, Nebraska struggles with Central Florida, Colorado is crushed by Michigan and UCLA crushes Texas the way Florida crushed Central Michigan. God, even if your star quarterback is out, you are the 10th ranked team in the country and you are playing at home!!!!!!

In the pros, both the Sunday night games go into OT and the Monday night games have had bizarre last- second finishes. The underdogs have had chances to win all four of the games, but have ended up pulling only one out, when Arizona defeated Dallas.

In the other games, K.C. stunned Oakland with a last-second pass to Andre Rison from Elvis Grbac, the Jets had a 30-yard field goal blocked by the Patriots as time expired, New England rallied to win in OT and Philly fumbled a snap to give the hated Cowboys a victory.

And close games aren’t the only surprise. “Can a team with pewter pants win?” asked Register columnist Marc Hansen.

The answer, of course, is a resounding yes. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have new pants, and a new winning attitude. Of course, as Coach Tony Dungee said, “A lot of 4-0 teams didn’t make the playoffs last year.” But still, you gotta love a team with Warrick Dunn and Trent Dilfer on offense and Warren Sapp on defense.

Sapp is a one-man wrecking crew who had a role in taking out both Steve Young and Jerry Rice in the same game, effectively destroying the Niners’ season.

Interesting enough, there is another undefeated team in Florida, and I’m not talking about either Steve Spurrier’s or Bobby Bowden’s team.

It’s the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are out to prove that last season was no fluke. They have looked impressive in their two victories, but must watch for complacency, especially with Mark Brunell out.

My favorite team also is in Florida, the Miami Dolphins. After going from one legendary coach to another last year, there were some adjustment pains.

But with Jimmy Johnson’s genius for finding great players like Zach Thomas and Jason Taylor in late rounds, this is a team on the rise. I still believe Dan Marino will end his career with a ring, thanks to Kareem Abdul-Jabar’s running and Marino’s own gun of an arm.

You know what? I want to go to Florida! With the cold weather creeping around here in the good ol’ Tall Corn State, some heat wouldn’t be bad.

There are sports reasons too: don’t get me wrong, I love the Cyclone football team and sincerely hope they can beat Iowa. But, it would be nice to be a watching a few football teams which could kill the Hawkeyes at will.

It would be nice to have two baseball teams in the region which are in a pennant race (Florida and Atlanta), and nice to have an NBA team (or two) in the state. And NHL teams and three playoff-bound NFL teams are the toppers. I’m starting to pack my bags!

Just kidding, of course. There are the minor problems of quitting courses and cash flow.

And of course, I wouldn’t be able to root for a basketball team which is going to win the NCAA. I bet a packed Hilton Coliseum is warmer, more comfortable and much more spirited than any arena in the Gator State. So, let’s go Cyclones!!!!!

Jayadev Athreya is a sophomore in mathematics from Ames.