(AP) - Turns out No. 3 Southern California was vulnerable.
Oregon State capitalized on four turnovers to upset the Trojans 33-31 on Saturday, snapping USC's 27-game Pac-10 winning streak and breaking the national championship race wide open.
USC (6-1, 4-1) had also won 18 straight road games. However, the mighty Trojans had shown cracks in their last three games, each a victory by seven points or fewer.
John David Booty's two-yard scoring pass to Steve Smith with seven seconds left pulled USC to 33-31, but Oregon State's Jeff Van Orsow batted down a pass on the two-point conversion to preserve the lead.
USC started the day as was one of seven unbeaten teams in the country. Now there are six, including Ohio State and Michigan - expected to retain the top two spots in the Bowl Championship Series standings Sunday.
Oregon State fans celebrated wildly in the second half when Matt Moore hit Joe Newton with a nine-yard scoring pass and Sammie Stroughter ran a punt back 70 yards for a touchdown to give the Beavers (4-4, 3-2) a 30-10 lead.
USC came back with Booty's four-yard scoring pass to Fred Davis to close out the third quarter. Booty then found Smith in the end zone and Chauncey Washington ran in the two-point conversion to narrow it to 33-25 with 12:09 left in the fourth.
-
No. 1 Ohio State 44, Minnesota 0
At Columbus, Ohio, Troy Smith added to his Heisman Trophy credentials by running for one touchdown and throwing for another to lead the No. 1 Buckeyes past the Golden Gophers.
Antonio Pittman rushed for two scores for Ohio State (9-0, 5-0 Big Ten), who have won every game this season by at least 17 points. They play lowly Illinois and Northwestern, each of whom is 2-7, the next two weeks, while tuning up for the regular-season finale against No. 2 Michigan on Nov. 18 at Ohio Stadium.
-
No. 2 Michigan 17, Northwestern 3
At Ann Arbor, Mich., Mike Hart ran for 95 yards and a touchdown to lead the No. 2 Wolverines in a rain-soaked win.
Hart and Michigan's swarming defence kept Michigan (9-0, 6-0 Big Ten) on track for the No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup at Ohio State on Nov. 18. Next up for Michigan is Ball State next week followed by Indiana.
-
No. 5 Texas 35, Texas Tech 31
At Lubbock, Texas, Colt McCoy threw for 256 yards and four touchdowns, and Texas erased a three-touchdown deficit against the Red Raiders.
The Longhorns (8-1, 5-0 Big 12) won their 20th straight conference game and 17th consecutive road game, but didn't take their first lead until early in the fourth quarter when McCoy threw a 28-yard touchdown to Quan Cosby to make it 35-31.
-
No. 7 Auburn 23, Mississippi 17
At Oxford, Miss., Brandon Cox passed for a season-high 253 yards and a touchdown and John Vaughn kicked three second-half field goals for the No. 7 Tigers.
The Tigers (8-1, 5-1 Southeastern Conference) trailed Mississippi (2-7, 1-5) twice, but Auburn converted two third-quarter interceptions thrown by Brent Schaeffer into 10 points.
-
No. 8 Tennessee 31, South Carolina 24
At Columbia, S.C., Erik Ainge threw two touchdown passes to Bret Smith and ended a year of ugly memories from last year's loss to the Gamecocks.
Gamecocks head coach Steve Spurrier has largely had his way with Tennessee (7-1, 3-1) through the years. The coach won at Neyland Stadium with Duke in 1988, then took eight of 12 games from the Volunteers as Gators coach from 1990-2001. And he led the Gamecocks to their first win in Knoxville, Tenn., last fall.
-
No. 9 Florida 21, Georgia 14
At Jacksonville, Fla., Florida's defence forced two fumbles and intercepted two passes, helping the ninth-ranked Gators continue its recent dominance over the Bulldogs.
Florida now has won eight of nine and 15 of the last 17 in the series, and with the latest victory, it remained atop the Southeastern Conference East Division and moved a step closer to returning to the conference title game for the first time since 2000. The Gators (7-1, 5-1) need to beat Vanderbilt and South Carolina to make it happen.
The Bulldogs (6-3, 3-3) lost for the third time in four games and essentially dropped out of the division race.
-
No. 11 Notre Dame 38, Navy 14
At Baltimore, Brady Quinn accounted for four touchdowns as the No. 11 Fighting Irish amassed a season-high 471 yards in Notre Dame's 43rd consecutive win in the series.
Quinn threw touchdown passes of 36, 33 and six yards, and ran 19 yards for a score. With Quinn leading the way, the Irish (7-1) scored on their first five possessions to take a 31-14 lead.
-
No. 13 Arkansas 44, Louisiana-Monroe 10
At Little Rock, Ark., Darren McFadden ran for 129 yards and a touchdown - and also threw for a score - to help Arkansas coach Houston Nutt earn his 100th coaching victory.
McFadden entered as the Southeastern Conference's leading rusher, but the Razorbacks scored two first-half touchdowns with him at quarterback, a new wrinkle in their offence.
-
No. 17 Wisconsin 30, Illinois 24
At Madison, Wis., forced to play much of the way without star running back P.J. Hill, the No. 17 Badgers rallied from a two-touchdown halftime deficit to beat the Illini.
The Badgers (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten) survived two first-half turnovers that led to Illinois touchdowns and two separate injuries to Hill to score 20 straight points against Illinois (2-7, 1-4) in the second half.
-
No. 18 Boston College 41, Buffalo 0
At Boston, Chris Crane filled in for sore starter Matt Ryan and overcame a soaking rain to run for two touchdowns and throw for another as the No. 18 Eagles sent the Bulls to their seventh consecutive loss.
Crane completed 17 of 26 passes for 142 yards to lead BC (7-1) to scores on its first four possessions. L.V. Whitworth ran for 84 yards and a touchdown, and Andre Callender had 81 yards rushing as the Eagles did not need to punt until late in the third quarter - and that was called back for a roughing the kicker penalty.
-
No. 19 Oklahoma 26, No. 23 Missouri 10
At Columbia, Mo., Paul Thompson threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score as the No. 19 Sooners turned five Tigers mistakes into points.
Two interceptions, a fumble, a blocked punt and a roughing the kicker penalty set up every score for Oklahoma (6-2, 3-1 Big 12), who beat Missouri for the 15th time in 16 tries.
-
Oklahoma St. 41, No. 20 Nebraska 29
At Stillwater, Okla., Dantrell Savage ran for 117 yards and two touchdowns, and Nathan Peterson returned a fumble for another score to lead the Cowboys to the win.
Savage scored his second touchdown of the game on a 20-yard run on the second play of the fourth quarter, capping Oklahoma State's comeback from an early 16-point deficit. It's the just fourth win for the Cowboys (5-3, 2-2 Big 12) in 41 games against the Cornhuskers but the second straight for the Cowboys in Stillwater.
The loss keeps Nebraska (6-3, 3-2) in a tie for the Big 12 North lead with Missouri, which lost earlier in the day to Oklahoma. Nebraska hosts Missouri next week.
-
No. 21 Georgia Tech 30, Miami 23
At Atlanta, Georgia Tech got Calvin Johnson back in the offence and took a major step toward reaching the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game.
One week after failing to catch a pass for the first time in his career, Johnson hauled in a tiebreaking, one-yard touchdown with 6:18 remaining.
Georgia Tech merely needs to win two of its last three conference games to secure the Coastal Division's spot in the Dec. 2, ACC championship at Jacksonville, Fla.
-
No. 22 Texas A&M; 31, Baylor 21
At Waco, Texas, Martellus Bennett rumbled 75 yards on one of his two touchdown catches and Mike Goodson added a game-clinching 64-yard TD run with 2:15 left to give the Aggies their fourth straight win.
A&M;'s Layne Neumann kicked a tie-breaking 22-yard field goal with 6:32 left.
-
No. 24 Wake Forest 24, North Carolina 17
At Chapel Hill, N.C., Riley Skinner threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Ken Moore and Jon Abbate intercepted a pass in the end zone to seal No. 24 Wake Forest's victory.
Abbate picked off Joe Dailey on the game's final play after the Tar Heels drove to the Wake Forest three with 41 seconds left.
The Demon Deacons (7-1, 3-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) have won seven of eight to start the season for the first time since 1979 and third time in school history.
-
No. 25 Oregon 55, Portland State 12
At Eugene, Ore., reserve Jeremiah Johnson ran for 90 yards and three touchdowns to lead Oregon past Division I-AA Portland State.
Johnson, filling in for injured starter Jonathan Stewart, had scoring runs of one, six and one yards in the first half to help the Ducks (6-2) overcome an early surge from the Vikings (5-4).
