FLORIDA — With the calendar turned to November and the College Football Playoff rankings making their debut, only Miami is in the mix among the state of Florida's squads.

Still, there is plenty to play for as teams jockey for strong finishes, better records and bowl positioning. 

While the Hurricanes, who checked in at No. 4 in the CFP debut poll, face what could be a pesky Georgia Tech team, UCF, USF and Florida all look to break away from the .500 level and finish the season strong.

All the state's teams except USF will have to look for road victories.

FSU travels to South Bend to face the No. 10 Fighting Irish in a game that figured to have much bigger consequences when the schedule was made.

Now, the one-win Seminoles are playing for pride and to notch more than one win this season.

Here’s a closer look at this week’s contests:

No. 4 Miami (9-0, 5-0 in Atlantic Coast Conference) at Georgia Tech (5-4, 3-3 in ACC), noon, ESPN

As one of the last two unbeatens in ACC play (SMU is the other), Miami has the inside track toward a berth in the conference championship game on Dec. 7. Georgia Tech is trying to end a two-game losing streak and to become bowl-eligible.

Miami quarterback Cam Ward is one touchdown pass from becoming the first Miami player with 30 in a season. He’s also 51 yards away from passing Timmy Chang (17,072) for No. 3 on the NCAA’s all-time, all-division list. At that point, Ward would trail only former Houston quarterback Case Keenum and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel.

And then there’s this: Miami leads the country at 47.4 points per game.

Florida (4-4, 2-3 in Southeastern Conference) at No. 5 Texas (7-1, 3-1 in SEC), noon, ABC

Saturday's game will mark the first between the teams since 1940. After playing No. 2 Georgia to a close loss last week, the Gators have to take on No. 5 Texas, which is playing for postseason positioning every week as it also was ranked No. 5 in the first College Football Playoff rankings.

At least coach Billy Napier won't have to worry about the game costing him his job, as Florida Athletic Director Steve Stricklin said earlier this week that Napier would be back next year.

Florida might have to go without promising freshman DJ Lagway, who injured his left hamstring in last week's game. If he can't play, the Gators will turn to Yale transfer Aidan Warner, who completed 7 of 22 passes for 66 yards after Lagway had to leave the game against Georgia. 

Longhorns defensive lineman Vernon Broughton will miss the first half because of a targeting penalty two weeks ago against Vanderbilt.

Navy (6-2, 4-1 in American Athletic Conference) at USF (4-4, 2-2 AAC), noon, ESPN2

USF comes into this contest on an uptick with two dominant wins in a row to almost erase memories of its October three-game losing streak.

But USF will have its hands full with a Navy team that was ranked until back-to-back losses to Notre Dame and Rice. Also, the Midshipmen's Wing-T offense could cause fits for USF’s defense, which hasn’t yielded less than 21 points in AAC play this year.

But if USF can maintain its play from last week, when it scored on six consecutive possessions while defeating FAU, the Bulls could creep closer to bowl eligibility.

UCF (4-5, 2-4 in Big 12) at Arizona State (6-2, 3-2 in Big 12), 7 p.m., ESPN2

In last week’s 56-12 rout of Arizona, UCF quarterback Dylan Rizk completed 20 of 25 passes for 294 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 55 yards. The game marked his first as a starting quarterback and gave the Knights (4-5 overall, 2-4 in Big 12) their first victory in six games.

Running back RJ Harvey also has been adding to his rushing total, running for 1,201 yards so far this season and becoming UCF’s No. 2 career rusher of all time.

Now, the Knights will try to carry that success 2,147 miles on the road against an Arizona State team (6-2 overall, 3-2 Big 12) that was picked in the preseason to finish last in the conference but has surprised many pundits this season. That won’t be easy because the Sun Devils are 4-0 at home, and they are already bowl eligible. UCF’s next victory will mark the 300^th in the football program’s history.

Although UCF leads the Big 12 and ranks second nationally with 272.3 rushing yards per game, the Sun Devils are third in the conference and No. 18 in the nation, averaging 210.4 rushing yards per game. Sun Devils quarterback Sam Leavitt might have to carry more of the load this week, if running back Cam Skattebo has to miss the game with an undisclosed injury.

FSU (1-8, 1-7 in ACC) at No. 10 Notre Dame (7-1), 7:30 p.m., NBC 

The Seminoles' five-game losing streak and 1-8 record has taken the luster off what was supposed to be one of this weekend’s marquee matchups when the season began.

Florida State will post its fifth losing season in seven years and could produce its lowest win total since the COVID-19 pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when the Seminoles were 3-6 and posted their lowest full-season win total since a 3-8 mark in 1975. But coach Mike Norvell said he believes a strong finishing kick could help turn around the program.

“For us, every game, every day, we’re recruiting,” Norvell said. “We’re having those conversations with guys that are committed to us. We’re having conversations with guys that we’re going after. Man, we’re putting everything that we have into the growth for this program. Obviously, it’s all going into the players we have to finish this season and then it’s a focus on where we’re going and who we’re doing it with moving forward.” 

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.