Tide keeps rolling with drama-filled victory MAjor COllege ROundup

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 3 Alabama picked up another dramatic win and a second straight trip to the SEC championship game, defeating LSU 24-15 Saturday.

Julio Jones caught a 73-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter and Leigh Tiffin booted a 40-yard field goal with 3:04 left to seal it.

The Tide (9-0, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) earned a rematch with No. 1 Florida for the league championship in a physical game that left the Tigers (7-2, 4-2) without quarterback Jordan Jefferson and running back Charles Scott for most of the second half.

The win touched off another big celebration for Alabama, which survived a 12-10 win over Tennessee two weeks ago with Terrence Cody’s two blocked field goal attempts in the fourth quarter. Tiffin came up big in that one, too, with four field goals.

Texas 35, Central Florida 3

AUSTIN, Texas — Jordan Shipley set a Texas record with 273 yards receiving, including an 88-yard touchdown, and the No. 2 Longhorns shook off a slow start for a 35-3 win over Central Florida on Saturday.

The sixth-year senior broke the previous best of 242 yards set in 1987 by Tony Jones. The touchdown came early in the fourth quarter on a drive that started at the 1.

Colt McCoy passed for 470 yards with two touchdowns. He was just shy of current Texas running backs coach Major Applewhite’s school-record 473 yards in the 2001 Holiday Bowl.

Utah 45, New Mexico 14

SALT LAKE CITY — Jordan Wynn passed for 297 yards and two touchdowns in his first college start and Eddie Wide set a school record with his sixth straight 100-yard rushing game as No. 17 Utah beat winless New Mexico.

The Utes (8-1, 5-0) won their sixth straight and scored their most points since a 48-24 win over BYU last year to end the regular season. Utah also remained unbeaten in the Mountain West Conference, setting up a first-place showdown next week at No. 6 TCU.

Wide gained 122 yards in the third quarter alone as the Utes blew open the game with three touchdowns.

Wide’s 35-yard run to put Utah up 38-7. He finished with 145 yards on 20 carries with two touchdowns and Sausan Shakerin (saw-sawn shah’-kar-een) added 100 yards on 16 carries.

New Mexico (0-9, 0-5) lost its 13th straight, the second-longest streak in school history.

TCU 55, San Diego State 12

SAN DIEGO — Andy Dalton threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more as No. 6 TCU won its 11th straight with a win over San Diego State on Saturday.

TCU (9-0, 5-0 Mountain West) remained in the chase for a BCS bowl berth by staying undefeated.

The Horned Frogs jumped in front with touchdowns on five of their first six possessions. Dalton scored on runs of 13 and 7 yards as TCU held a 31-6 halftime lead. He also hit Ryan Christian on TD passes of 44 and 29 yards.

Stanford 51, Oregon 42

STANFORD, Calif. — Toby Gerhart bowled over the Oregon defense to make the Cardinal bowl eligible for the first time in eight years.

Gerhart ran for a school-record 223 yards and three scores, Andrew Luck threw for two touchdowns and Stanford held on for sixth win of the season.

The loss by Oregon (7-2, 5-1 Pac-10) just a week after beating Southern California 47-20 opened up the conference race and cost the Ducks a shot at a berth in the Bowl Championship Series title game.

Oregon State 31, California 14

BERKELEY, Calif. — Sean Canfield threw for 342 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a score in Oregon State’s victory over No. 23 California, which lost star tailback Jahvid Best to a concussion after he took a scary fall.

Cal (6-3, 3-3 Pac-10) couldn’t recover from seeing Best land on his head in the end zone after a leaping touchdown over a defender in the second quarter. The Golden Bears, who had won three straight to get back in the Top 25 for the first time following a four-week absence, lost their fifth straight at home to the Beavers — and this one made Oregon State (6-3, 3-3) bowl eligible.

Georgia Tech 30, Wake Forest 27

ATLANTA — Josh Nesbitt scored on a 3-yard run in overtime after Georgia Tech pulled off a gutsy play on fourth down, leading the No. 10 Yellow Jackets another step closer to the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.

Jonathan Dwyer rushed for a career-best 189 yards and went over 1,000 yards for the season, but it was Nesbitt and the guys on the defensive side who bailed out the Yellow Jackets (8-1, 6-1) at the end.

Miami 52, Virginia 17

MIAMI — Graig Cooper rushed for a career-best 152 yards and a touchdown, Damien Berry ran for a pair of second-half scores.

Thearon Collier had a 60-yard punt return for the go-ahead touchdown, and Jacory Harris finished 18 of 31 for 232 yards with two TDs for the Hurricanes (7-2, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). The 35-point margin of victory was Miami’s biggest in an ACC game since beating Duke 52-7 in 2005.

Oklahoma State 34, Iowa State 8

AMES, Iowa — Keith Toston ran for a career-high 206 yards and three touchdowns, Zac Robinson threw a touchdown pass and the Cowboys bounced back from their drubbing by Texas.

Oklahoma State (7-2, 4-1 Big 12) controlled the game with a solid performance on both sides of the ball and reached seven victories for the fourth straight season, the first time in school history that has happened.

Arizona 48, Washington State 7

TUCSON, Ariz. — Travis Cobb returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown to set the tone for No. 21 Arizona.

Arizona led 34-0 at the half, then William “Bug” Wright returned a punt 86 yards for a score the first time the Wildcats touched it in the third quarter.

Arizona (6-2, 4-1 Pac-10), the only Pac-10 team never to go to the Rose Bowl, pulled within a half-game of first-place Oregon after the Ducks lost at Stanford. Arizona and Oregon both have one conference loss. Everyone else has at least two.

BYU 52, Wyoming 0

LARAMIE, Wyo. — Max Hall threw for 312 yards and four touchdowns in just over two quarters, and No. 25 BYU won its sixth straight over Wyoming, 52-0 on Saturday.

BYU (7-2, 4-1 Mountain West) recorded its first shutout of the season and second consecutive against the Cowboys. The Cougars beat Wyoming 44-0 last year.

Hall now has 28 career wins, one behind the school record held by Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer, who played at BYU from 1988-91.

UCLA 24, Washington 23

PASADENA, Calif. — Kevin Craft passed for 159 yards in the second half after taking over for injured Kevin Prince, and UCLA made a late defensive stand to snap its five-game losing streak with a victory over Washington.

Air Force 35, Army 7

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — Kevin Fogler caught a 73-yard TD pass and Anthony Wright returned a punt 88 yards for a score, helping Air Force beat Army for a fourth straight time with a victory.

Asher Clark rushed for two second-half scores as the Falcons (6-4, 4-2 Mountain West) broke open a tight game to become bowl eligible.

Before the game, the Air Force Academy held a moment of silence in honor of the shooting victims at Fort Hood. The flags on the campus also were lowered to half mast.

North Carolina 19, Duke 6

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Ryan Houston ran for a career-high 164 yards and Jheranie Boyd scored the clinching touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to help North Carolina beat Duke.

Charles Brown also came up with a key interception late in the third quarter as part of a dominating defensive performance for the Tar Heels (6-3, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who shut down Thad Lewis and the prolific passing attack that had carried the Blue Devils (5-4, 3-2) to three straight victories.

North Carolina State 38, Maryland 31

RALEIGH, N.C. — Russell Wilson threw three touchdowns and ran for another, and North Carolina State snapped a four-game losing streak by holding off Maryland in a matchup of the ACC Atlantic Division’s worst teams.

Wilson was 25-for-38 for 343 yards and the Wolfpack (4-5, 1-4) made just enough plays to secure their second win against a Bowl Subdivision opponent. Both teams combined for 752 total yards.

West Virginia 17, Louisville 9

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Jarrett Brown threw a touchdown pass but managed little offense and West Virginia struggled to beat Louisville.

Running back Noel Devine played sparingly after tweaking an ankle late in the first half and the Mountaineers (7-2, 3-1 Big East) were outgained 301-273, but improved to 6-0 at home. Devine was limited to 56 yards on 13 carries to surpass 1,000 yards for the second straight season.

Tennessee 56, Memphis 28

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Jonathan Crompton threw for a career-high 331 yards and five touchdowns and ran for another as Tennessee routed Memphis.

Crompton surpassed his career high of 310 yards with a 10-yard pass to Denarius Moore on Tennessee’s first drive of the second half.

Pittsburgh stays hot with rout of Syracuse

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Greg Williams’ 51-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the first half got slow-starting Pittsburgh going, and the No. 14 Panthers extended their best start to a season since 1982 by beating Syracuse 37-10 on Saturday.

Dion Lewis ran for 110 yards and a touchdown for the freshman’s sixth 100-yard game, tight end Dorin Dickerson caught his 10th touchdown pass this season and the Panthers (8-1, 5-0 in Big East) won their fifth in a row heading into next Saturday’s game against No. 19 Notre Dame.

Bill Stull was 16 of 23 for 225 yards and no interceptions as the Panthers, who last were 8-1 during Dan Marino’s senior season 27 years ago, set themselves up for a possible Big East title-deciding game against No. 4 Cincinnati on Dec. 5.

If the Bearcats defeat Connecticut on Saturday night and West Virginia on Friday, the Cincinnati-Pitt game will determine the conference’s BCS bowl participant regardless of what happens in the Pitt-West Virginia game on Nov. 27.

Pitt played much of the first half as if it was looking ahead to those three upcoming games, stalling offensively while leading only 6-3 on two Dan Hutchins field goals — until Williams returned a Greg Paulus pass tipped by Jabaal Sheard for his third career touchdown with 1:20 left in the half. Pitt outscored Syracuse 24-7 in the second half, with the Orange’s only TD coming with barely a minute remaining.

Paulus to Williams normally is a productive combination for Syracuse (3-6, 0-4), which lost its 29th in its last 32 Big East games. But the Orange clearly missed leading receiver Mike Williams, who quit the team on Monday after averaging 106.6 yards receiving per game.

Neither Paulus (12 of 18, 120 yards, 2 interceptions) nor backup Ryan Nassib (5 of 16, 21 yards, 1 interception) did much as Delone Carter’s 143 yards rushing represented most of Syracuse’s offense, which came into the game ranked 106th nationally.