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| Stanford quarterback Tavita Pritchard celebrates after Stanford upset Southern California 24-23 on Saturday. Associated Press Photo. |
College Recap: Stanford shocks Trojans in Coliseum
By The Associated Press
Monday, October 8, 2007 12:39 PM PDT
LOS ANGELES - Tavita Pritchard threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradford on a fourth-and-goal with 49 seconds remaining Saturday night, giving the 41-point underdog Stanford Cardinal a 24-23 victory over No. 2 Southern California.
The Cardinal (2-4, 1-3 Pac-10) moved 45 yards in 11 plays for the winning touchdown after John David Booty threw the third of his four interceptions.
A leaping Bradford caught the ball over cornerback Mozique McCurtis in the corner of the end zone, leaving the crowd of 85,125 at the Los Angeles Coliseum in stunned silence.
USC (4-1, 2-1) had its 35-game winning streak at the Coliseum snapped. The Trojans hadn’t lost at home since Stanford beat them 21-16 on Sept. 29, 2001, Pete Carroll’s first season.
Pritchard, filling in for the injured T.C. Ostrander, completed 11-of-30 for 149 yards and the winning TD in his first college start. The numbers weren’t great, but he led Stanford to 17 fourth-quarter points.
Booty went 24-of-40 for 364 yards, but in the end, that wasn’t enough for the Trojans. Patrick Turner caught nine passes for 83 yards and Davis had five receptions for 152 yards. USC netted only 95 yards on 38 rushing attempts.
No. 1 LSU 28, No. 9 Florida 24
BATON ROUGE, La. — Gambling at every opportunity, LSU stayed perfect.
The Tigers barely converted a pair of fourth-down runs before Jacob Hester powered over from the 2-yard line with 1:09 remaining to complete a fourth-quarter comeback.
Tim Tebow shredded the nation’s top-ranked defense for three quarters, giving Florida a 24-14 lead with 15 minutes remaining. Facing a defense that had two shutouts and was allowing less than 175 yards per game, Tebow passed for 158 yards and rushed for 75.
The Tigers scored two touchdowns on fourth-down plays and another after pulling off a fake field goal.
Hester finished with 106 bruising yards and LSU improved to 30-2 at home over the last five years.
No. 4 Ohio State 23, Purdue 7
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Todd Boeckman passed for 200 yards and two touchdowns and Chris Wells ran for 85 yards on 18 carries for the Buckeyes.
Ryan Pretorius made all three of his field goal attempts for Ohio State (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten).
Purdue (5-1, 1-1) had averaged 45 points and 496 yards per game, but Ohio State held the Boilermakers to 272 total yards. Curtis Painter, who had averaged more than 300 passing yards in his first five games, finished with 268. Much of that was gained in the fourth quarter against Buckeye reserves.
Ohio State won its 24th consecutive regular-season game.
Illinois 31, No. 5 Wisconsin 26
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Rashard Mendenhall rushed for 160 yards and scored two touchdowns, and Illinois recovered an onside kick to help end the nation’s longest winning streak.
Mendenhall had 100 yards rushing in the first half, leading the Illini (5-1, 3-0 Big Ten) to a 17-6 lead. Illinois quarterback Juice Williams ran for another 92 yards on 14 carries.
The Badgers (5-1, 2-1) hadn’t lost since Sept. 16, 2006, at Michigan.
Wisconsin quarterback Tyler Donovan threw two interceptions in Illinois territory, the first to safety Kevin Mitchell and the second to cornerback Vontae Davis. But Donovan led Wisconsin back, hitting tight end Garrett Graham for a 12-yard touchdown that made it 31-26.
No. 6 South Florida 35,
Florida Atlantic 23
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Benjamin Williams ran for 186 yards and four touchdowns, and Matt Grothe added 120 yards rushing and a score for the No. 6 Bulls.
South Florida (5-0), enjoying the highest ranking in its short-lived history, overcame committing committed four turnovers for the second straight game.
Williams had a 10-yard scoring run to break a 7-7 tie in the third quarter, and Grothe made it 21-14 with a 32-yard run two possessions later. Williams then scampered 54 yards with about 10 minutes remaining to make it 28-17.
Rusty Smith hooked up with DiIvory Edgecomb for a 47-yard strike, cutting the lead to 28-23 with 6:42 to play. But the Owls (3-3) missed the 2-point conversion and didn’t threaten again.
No. 7 Boston College 55,
Bowling Green 24
BOSTON — Matt Ryan threw four touchdown passes and Boston College pulled away with four interceptions late in the first half to overwhelm Bowling Green.
The No. 7 Eagles entered the game with their highest ranking in 23 years, and are off to their best start in 65 years.
Boston College (6-0) scored 38 straight points after Tyler Sheehan’s 6-yard pass to Freddie Barnes with 8:55 left in the half cut BC’s lead to 14-10. After that, the Eagles were well on the way to their 16th straight home victory.
Ryan finished 24-for-32 for 312 yards before Chris Crane took over in the fourth quarter.
Sheehan went 27-for-43 for 275 yards for Bowling Green (3-2).
No. 10 Oklahoma 28,
No. 19 Texas 21
DALLAS — Sam Bradford threw for three touchdowns and hardly made a mistake in steering No. 10 Oklahoma past Texas in their annual grudge match.
Bradford was 21-of-32 for 244 yards, helping the Sooners (5-1, 1-1 Big 12) rebound from a second-half meltdown against Colorado and end a two-game losing streak against Texas (4-2, 0-2).
The Longhorns — who were ranked seventh before a 20-point loss to Kansas State last weekend — could be in jeopardy of ending a 114-week stint in the AP poll, the longest in the country.
Bradford capped a 94-yard drive with a 35-yard TD toss to Malcolm Kelly on a third down with 10:42 left, which turned out to be the game-winner.
Colt McCoy was 19-of-26 for 324 yards, but was picked off in the fourth quarter.
No. 18 Arizona St. 23,
Washington St. 20
PULLMAN, Wash. — Thomas Weber kicked a 37-yard field goal with 50 seconds left to lift No. 18 Arizona State, and keep the Sun Devils undefeated under coach Dennis Erickson.
Washington State had a chance to tie with 12 second left, but Romeen Abdollmohammadi’s 46-yard field goal missed left and Arizona State held on despite scoring its fewest points of the season for Erickson, who coached at Washington State from 1987-88.
Rudy Carpenter completed 19 of 27 passes for 217 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions for Arizona State (6-0, 3-0 Pac-10). Ryan Torain gained 116 yards on 24 carries and did most of the work on what turned out to be the game-winning drive.
Washington State (2-4, 0-3) has lost three in a row and four straight to Arizona State.
Notre Dame 20, UCLA 6
PASADENA, Calif. — Jimmy Clausen scored on a quarterback sneak and Maurice Crum returned a fumble 34 yards for another touchdown during a 50-second span of the third quarter as Notre Dame fought its way out of one of the worst slumps in school history with a 20-6 victory over UCLA on Saturday.
It was only the second time Notre Dame had played in Pasadena. Knute Rockne’s “Four Horsemen” defeated coach Pop Warner’s Stanford team 27-10 in the 1925 Rose Bowl to give the Irish their first undisputed national championship.
This win was significant in quite a different way. It was Notre Dame’s first victory of the season and assured the Fighting Irish they won’t equal the longest losing streak in school history.
Notre Dame (1-5) knocked UCLA quarterback Ben Olson out with a knee injury late in the first quarter, then hounded freshman redshirt McLeod Bethel-Thompson into a string of mistakes, including four interceptions and a fumble in the second half.
A walk-on pressed into the backup role for UCLA (4-2, 3-0 Pac-10) because of an injury to Patrick Cowan, Bethel-Thompson had not thrown a pass in a college game.
N. Arizona 44, Portland St 43
PORTLAND — Portland State coach Jerry Glanville gambled on a two-point conversion attempt in the final six seconds and lost as Northern Arizona came away with a 44-43 win in the Big Sky Conference on Saturday.
Portland State quarterback Brian White could not find a receiver and his pass fell incomplete after Glanville decided to try to put the game away instead of kicking the extra point for a tie and sending it into overtime.
The Vikings held the lead — or at least a tie — for almost three full quarters before Northern Arizona quarterback Lance Kriesien threw a three-yard touchdown to Alex Watson to make it 35-31 for the Lumberjacks with 1:26 left in the third quarter.
Northern Arizona (3-3, 2-1) pushed their advantage to 42-31 when Lionel Scott scored on a 64-yard run early in the fourth period.
But White fired back for Portland State with a 38-yard scoring pass to Tremayne Kirkland, trimiming the Northern Arizona lead to 42-37.
The Vikings botched the ball placement on the extra point attempt, and Kasseem Osheroff — who played at Portland’s Grant High School a year ago — returned it the length of the field to give Northern Arizona two points and a 44-37 lead.
Portland State (2-4, 2-1) mounted a 78-yard drive in the game’s final three minutes, including two catches by Kirkland for 51 yards. The Vikings scored on a one-yard pass from White to Olaniyi Sobomehin, cutting the Lumberjacks’ lead to 44-43 with six seconds remaining. |