College Football Notes: Week 9

The Oregon State Beavers did what no Pac-10 has been able to do for 27 straight games - beat USC.

The unranked Beavers (5-3) pulled the upset of the day and opened up the BCS road for West Virginia by defeating the third-ranked Trojans, 33-31. The loss ended a 38 game regular season winning streak for USC (6-1).

The Mountaineers, who had a bye this week, are now in a solid position to play for the national championship. A move up to number three in the BCS and the AP Poll is a given and if West Virginia wins out - a national championship game against the winner of Ohio State-Michigan is likely to happen.

Oregon State jumped out to a 33-10 lead only to watch the Trojans storm back. USC scored a touchdown with seven seconds remaining to make it 33-31, but missed the two-point conversion when John David Booty's pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage. Steve Smith had 11 catches for 255 yards and two TDs in a losing effort.

The top two teams in the country had easy times of it. No. 1 Ohio State crushed Minnesota 44-0 behind 183 yards passing and two touchdowns from Heisman front-runner, Troy Smith. Tailback Antonio Pittman finished with 116 yards as well.

No. 2 Michigan, who held Penn State to minus-16 yards rushing two weeks ago, limited Northwestern to minus-13 yards on the ground in the 17-3 victory. RB Mike Hart ran for 95 yards and a score.

No. 5 Texas and No. 17 Wisconsin had to battle back from big deficits to pick up victories on Saturday.

The Longhorns (8-1) rallied from a 21 points down to defeat Texas Tech, 35-31. Redshirt freshman Colt McCoy led the comeback by going 21-of-31 for 256 yards and four touchdowns. Red Raider QB Graham Harrell threw for 519 yards, but Texas Tech was held to minus-1 on the ground.

The Badgers (8-1) scored 20 unanswered points to defeat a pesky Illinois squad, 30-24. With RB P.J. Hill out with a sore neck, the Badgers looked to senior quarterback John Stocco, who threw for 217 yards and two touchdowns.

In a battle of ranked teams, No. 19 Oklahoma (6-2) capitalized on three turnovers to hand No. 23 Missouri (7-2) the 26-10 defeat. Allen Patrick, filling in for the injured Adrian Peterson, ran for 162 yards for the Sooners.

No. 9 Florida improved to 7-1 on the season with a 21-14 victory over SEC rival Georgia (6-3) in the World's Largest Outdoor Party. Andre Caldwell led the Gators with eight receptions for 86 yards and two TDs.

Tashard Choice ran for 107 yards and a touchdown to lead No. 21 Georgia Tech to the 30-23 ACC victory over Miami (5-3). The Yellowjackets need to win just two of their final three games to secure a spot in the ACC championship game.

The other big upset of the day saw unranked Oklahoma State (5-3) hand No. 20 Nebraska the 41-29 loss. Dantrell Savage ran for 122 yards and two scores to lead the Cowboy attack. The victory was only the fourth for the Cowboys in 41 games against the Cornhuskers (6-3).

Other scores from the top 25: Virginia Tech 24, No. 10 Clemson 7; No. 11 Notre Dame 38, Navy 14; No. 7 Auburn 23, Mississippi 17; No. 18 Boston College 41, Buffalo 0; No. 24 Wake Forest 24, North Carolina 17; No. 13 Arkansas 44, Louisiana-Monroe 10; No. 25 Oregon 55, Portland State 12; No. 22 Texas A&M 31, Baylor 21; and No. 8 Tennessee 31, South Carolina 24.

Highlight games for week 10 include: West Virginia (7-0) at Louisville (7-0); LSU (6-2) at Tennessee (7-1); Missouri (7-2) at Nebraska (6-3); Maryland (6-2) at Clemson (7-2); Penn State (6-3) at Wisconsin (8-1); Oklahoma (6-2) at Texas A&M (8-1); Boston College (7-1) at Wake Forest (7-1); and Oklahoma State (5-3) at Texas (8-1).

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