Morning Report: Florida is No.1 at right time

It's a cliche that has been spoken by every college football coach whose team was ranked No. 1 before the season.

"The only poll that counts," the coach would loftily intone, "is the last one."

Florida proved that again last night. The Gators (12-1) climbed to No.1 in the final Associated Press poll - the only week they had been ranked No. 1 all season.

Georgia, Southern Cal, Oklahoma, Texas and Alabama all preceded the Gators in the top spot. Florida will face Oklahoma (ranked No. 1 by the Bowl Championship Series) in the BCS national championship game on Jan. 8 in Miami.

The last time there were six teams ranked No. 1 in a season was 1984, when Brigham Young was the survivor.

PhilaTrivia. The Cardinals will host a playoff game for the first time since they defeated the Eagles in the 1947 NFL championship. Where was that game played?

Where's the menu? After finishing the season with six straight wins, Rutgers accepted a bid to play N.C. State in the PapaJohns.com Bowl on Dec. 29.

Rutgers is just the seventh team in NCAA history to play in a bowl game after starting the season 1-5.

In case you're not able to distinguish the PapaJohns.com Bowl from, say, the Meineke Car Care Bowl, be advised it will be played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala.

Quarterback Mike Teel put an unusual (and typical college kid) perspective on the Knights' fourth straight bowl trip.

"This will be the fourth different city I've never been to," he said in a university release. "I have talked to people who have been there and they said the food is amazing."

Teel went to Don Bosco Prep, which is in the northwestern corner of New Jersey, practically in New York state.

Why he has Birmingham confused with New Orleans, San Francisco, New York or other citadels of dining is hard to say.

The cuisine in Birmingham runs the gamut from pork rinds to barbecue to grits. Chinese, anybody?

Finally. Stephen Field, an assistant football coach at the University of Miami, says he was only doing the right thing.

There's no question about that, but pulling an injured man from a smoking car still qualifies as the good deed of the day.

Field was driving near the interchange of Interstate 95 and the Palmetto Expressway - one of the most heavily traveled areas in South Florida - on Saturday afternoon when he saw a wrecked car on its side against a tree, with smoke billowing from its engine. He smashed the windshield with a hammer and pull the injured driver to safety, all while gas fumes filled the air.

The man, whose identity was not released, was treated for minor injuries at Jackson Memorial Hospital, a spokeswoman said Sunday night.

"I didn't know what I was doing would get this much attention," Field told the Associated Press. "It's kind of different for me. But I'm glad he's OK, and if I had to do it again, I'd do it again 1,000 times.

"It wasn't just me," he said. "A lot of people stopped and helped, and I don't know their names, but I know they were good-hearted, great people."

Good job, coach.

Trivia answer. The Cardinals, then located in Chicago, took a 28-21 win over the Eagles in Comiskey Park, home of the White Sox.