UCLA NOTEBOOK: DARK CLOUD'S SILVER LINING FOR TV SCHEDULE.

Byline: Jon Wilner Daily News Staff Writer

Two months ago the Bruins complained that rescheduling Miami would disrupt their recruiting, spoil their Thanksgiving vacation and postpone their postseason banquet.

Now the Hurricane Bowl just might get them into the Fiesta Bowl. How about a game ball for Georges?

If not for the devastating hurricane, which passed south of Miami but hammered the Florida Keys, the Bruins would have played Miami on Sept. 26 and completed their season against USC nine days ago. They'd be home Dec. 5, watching Tennessee and Kansas State play big games on national television - an ideal chance to impress voters and gain computer points.

But thanks to the cancellation, UCLA will share the spotlight with its competitors on Championship Saturday. Yes, Miami's 66-13 loss at Syracuse might have sapped some of the appeal from the Hurricane Bowl. But in football as in politics, equal time is essential in swaying voters.

``I've got mixed emotions,'' UCLA coach Bob Toledo said. ``If we had played earlier, it might have been to our advantage because they're starting to grow.

``But we'd have been on the back burner. Now with (the Big 12 and Southeastern) conference championship games and us playing Miami, it's Championship Saturday. We'll all be visible to viewers. That's definitely in our favor.''

Speaking of Georges: Days before the storm reached the Keys, Puerto Rico took a direct hit from which the island has not recovered. According to a story in the Nov. 25 edition of the San Juan Star, almost 4,000 people are being housed in shelters across the island, and another 49,000 lack water services.

Russ Edmonston, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told the Star that Puerto Rico is passing from the ``response'' to the ``recovery'' phase.

UCLA's basketball team participated in the three-day Puerto Rico Shootout over Thanksgiving.

BCS update: The Bruins are expected to maintain their No. 2 ranking when the latest Bowl Championship Series poll is released today. They led No. 3 Kansas State by 1.24 points last week.

The final BCS poll will be released Sunday at approximately 10 a.m. The top teams will play for the national title Jan. 4 in the Fiesta Bowl.

A significant discrepancy in victory margin on Championship Saturday - UCLA at Miami, Kansas State vs. Texas A&M and Tennessee vs. Mississippi State - could affect the final rankings.

``How many points do you have to win by? That's crazy,'' Toledo said.

The Sagarin Ratings in USA Today give victory margin little weight, as BCS officials learned when they asked Jeff Sagarin to compute a Kansas State victory over Baylor with varying scores.

After its 49-6 victory last month, Kansas State was No. 1 in Sagarin's poll with a 105.71 rating. When Sagarin ran the numbers on a hypothetical 42-6 win, Kansas State's rating dropped to 105.49. A 35-6 victory lowered its rating to 105.11, and a 28-6 victory reduced it to 104.87.

The result: a 21-point difference in victory margin altered Kansas State's rating by a mere 0.84.

Roster move: Freshman center Jeff Wright, a Covina native, has quit the team and is expected to transfer to Cal State Fullerton to pursue his career in law enforcement.