Miami will square off with Florida State on the football field Saturday, but it won't have any Bowl Championship Series implications. It won't affect the Top 25 polls. It won't be nationally televised.

It won't even be a big game in the ACC.

The coaching changes the former national championship programs made after last season haven't paid great dividends so far. Saturday's game will mark the first meeting in 30 years in which both teams are unranked -- and this is the same week in which upstart South Florida is ranked No. 2.

Last year, both the Seminoles and Hurricanes finished 7-6 and unranked. This year, both are 1-2 in the conference and coming off a loss.

And Jeff Bowden and Larry Coker are no longer around to take the blame.

FSU boosters paid Bowden to resign after a shutout loss to Wake Forest last November. FSU head coach Bobby Bowden hired Jimbo Fisher as his new offensive coordinator with a total annual package of $415,000.

There are three other new assistants on the offensive side, including line coach Rick Trickett, who left West Virginia for a $300,000 annual deal.

"It's not a quick fix, but I do think we're on the right road," Bobby Bowden said Wednesday. "We might be one player away or something from ... being back where we were, but I do like our staff."

The 4-2 Seminoles ran for just 47 yards in last week's 24-21 loss at Wake, the third time this year they have rushed for fewer than 100 yards.

FSU played musical quarterbacks in that game, going from starter Xavier Lee to ex-starter Drew Weatherford and back to Lee again.

Can the FSU offense improve this year?

"The answer to that question to me is the answer to this year," said Bowden, whose team hosts Miami at 3:30 p.m. Saturday on WSET.

"The running game has got to get consistent. It's got to become a factor. Right now it hasn't been.

"Your quarterback has got to become a factor. Right now, one week it is, one week it is not. ... That thing has got to become a factor where your quarterback is the difference."

Lee, a junior who has thrown for 764 yards, will make his third straight start Saturday. He was picked off twice at Wake.

FSU ranks 102nd out of 119 Division I-A teams in rushing offense (108.3 ypg), 93rd in total offense (342.7 ypg) and 87th in scoring offense (22.8 ppg).

The Seminoles own wins over Colorado and Alabama but have lost in the conference to Clemson and Wake. The Demon Deacons scored 17 second-half points against FSU.

"Early in the game, Florida State was just dominating us up front," Wake coach Jim Grobe said.

"We just kept pecking away at it and we didn't panic. We just kind of stayed with the game plan and as the game wore on, ... we started running the football a little bit better and hit some throws."

Miami had its most losses last year since going 5-6 in 1997. The school fired Coker as head coach and promoted Randy Shannon from defensive coordinator to succeed him.

Shannon has stressed discipline.

He also brought in five new assistants, including former Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Patrick Nix, who is UM's third offensive coordinator in as many years.

But the 4-3 Hurricanes rank just 78th in scoring offense (23.7 ppg), 95th in total offense (339.1 ypg) and 97th in passing offense (181.4 ypg).

Senior QB Kyle Wright, who didn't start the first two games, has thrown for 1,152 yards.

He completed just eight of 17 passes for 56 yards against Georgia Tech last week. Miami also failed to throw for at least 100 yards in the first two games, when Kirby Freeman started.

The Hurricanes beat Texas A&M on Sept. 20.

But they lost 51-13 to Oklahoma on Sept. 8 and are coming off back-to-back losses to North Carolina and Georgia Tech.

The problems have been different in each loss, said Shannon.

"That's the immaturity when you have a young team like we have," he said.

They're not terribly young, though. Eight of the defensive starters and seven of the offensive starters are seniors or juniors.

Shannon would love to have more fifth-year seniors, however. Wright is one of only 11 fifth-year seniors left from the 2003 recruiting class. There are 16 players remaining from the 2004 class, excluding walk-ons.

Two players left school early for the NFL after last season.

Miami has played 11 true freshmen this year, tying with Clemson and North Carolina for the ACC lead in that category.

"One thing about Miami and Florida State, ... they have a lot of guys leave early," Shannon said. "Sometimes you're not having that class where you have 18 fifth-year seniors ... [to] keep your program going."

Two of those true freshmen getting playing time are running backs Graig Cooper and Shawnbrey McNeal.

The team's other top running back is a sophomore, Javarris James.

The Yellow Jackets won 17-14 at the Orange Bowl last weekend, when they ran for 264 yards to Miami's 167.

"What helped us win last week was being able to stop their running game and being able to run the ball ourselves," Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey said.

"We obviously stopped the passing game."