Stanford stuns No. 2 USC; No. 1 LSU rallies
Tavita Pritchard threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradford on a fourth-and-goal with 49 seconds remaining Saturday night in Los Angeles, 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 4 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 9 passes for 83 yards, and Davis had 5 receptions for 152 yards. USC netted only 95 yards on 38 rushing attempts.
LSU 28, Florida 24: No. 1-ranked LSU barely converted a pair of fourth-down runs before Jacob Hester powered over from the 2-yard line with 1:09 remaining, completing a stunning comeback that gave the host Tigers (6-0, 3-0 SEC) a victory over No. 9 Florida (4-2, 2-2).
Tim Tebow shredded the nation's top-ranked defense for three quarters, giving Florida a 24-14 lead with 15 minutes remaining. He threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran for another.
But LSU kept rolling the dice and coming up with winners. The Tigers scored 2 touchdowns on fourth-down plays and another after pulling off a fake field goal. Then, on the game's decisive drive, they finally hit the jackpot.
Hester bulled his way into the end zone for LSU's first lead of the game. When the Tigers knocked down Tebow's final long pass in the end zone, the record crowd of 92,910 let out its biggest roar of all. The Tigers are still No. 1. And, with second-ranked Southern California losing, there's no doubt about it.
South Fla. 35, Fla. Atlantic 23: Benjamin Williams ran for 186 yards and 4 touchdowns, and Matt Grothe added 120 yards rushing and a score as No. 6 South Florida (5-0) beat host Florida Atlantic (3-3). South Florida committed 4 turnovers for the second straight game.
Boston College 55, BG 24: Matt Ryan threw 4 touchdown passes, and host No. 7 Boston College (6-0) pulled away with 4 interceptions late in the first half to overwhelm Bowling Green (3-2). The No. 7 Eagles entered the game with their highest ranking in 23 years and are off to their best start in 65 years.
Oklahoma 28, Texas 21: At Dallas, Sam Bradford threw for 3 touchdowns and hardly made a mistake in steering No. 10 Oklahoma (5-1, 1-1 Big 12) past No. 19 Texas (4-2, 0-2). Bradford was 21 of 32 for 244 yards, helping the Sooners end a two-game losing streak against the Longhorns.