Black Friday: No. 1 LSU Falls to Arkansas in 3OT

By BRETT MARTEL
AP Sports Writer

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - LSU's national title hopes were crushed by a Heisman-worthy performance.

Darren McFadden rushed for three touchdowns and threw for another to lift Arkansas to a 50-48, three-overtime victory over the top-ranked Tigers on Friday.

Peyton Hillis also scored three TDs, the last in the third overtime. Felix Jones ran for the critical 2-point conversion to make it 50-42 Razorbacks (8-4, 4-4 SEC).

LSU (10-2, 6-2) responded when Matt Flynn found Brandon LaFell for a 9-yard TD, but Matterral Richardson intercepted the 2-point conversion attempt, and Arkansas' bench emptied onto the field in triumph.

McFadden, last year's Heisman Trophy runner-up, rushed for 206 yards 32 carries and now has 1,725 yards rushing this season. No doubt there are West Virginia and Ohio State fans who'd vote for McFadden for Heisman if they could.

By knocking off LSU, which was in first place in the BCS standings, Arkansas boosted the national championship hopes of West Virginia and Ohio State.

McFadden wasn't the only running back LSU had trouble wrapping up.

Hillis and Jones each ran for 89 yards as Arkansas finished with a 385 yards on the ground against one of the best run defenses in the country.

It's the second time this season the Tigers have fallen while at No. 1 and it's probably too late in the season now for them to get another chance.

The winner of tomorrow night's game between No. 2 Kansas and No. 3 Missouri will likely take over the top spot in the rankings and the BCS standings. No. 4 West Virginia, which was third in the BCS standings, has a chance to sneak up to at least No. 2 in each with a win over Connecticut.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes are done and waiting it out. They were fifth in the last BCS standings.

Flynn finished 209 yards passing and three touchdowns. He also ran for another score in the first overtime, when LSU could have emerged victorious with a stop on fourth-and-10.

But Casey Dick found Hillis open for a 12-yard game to keep the Razorbacks alive, then later found Hillis again for a 9-yard tying TD.

Jacob Hester rushed for 126 yards and two TDs for LSU, which had to rally from a seven-point deficits three times in the second half, and convert two fourth-down plays on its last drive in regulation, just to force overtime.

But in the end, Arkansas and embattled coach Houston Nutt walked away holding the ``Golden Boot,'' a trophy shaped like the states of Arkansas and Louisiana.

Nutt, who will have his team in a bowl game, may not be back with the Hogs next season after growing unrest in Fayatteville, Ark., and a slow start to the season. Arkansas officials have yet to confirm that, however, and firing Nutt may be a less popular move now.

LSU had already clinched the SEC West Division and will move on to the conference title game in Atlanta on Dec. 1, but will do so feeling a little hollow after letting a chance at a national title slip away. Winning the SEC title will put LSU in New Orleans in January, but for the Sugar Bowl, not the BCS Championship game they wanted to be in a week later.

Source: ncaafootball.com; Photo Credit: University of Arkansas

Ohio State, BC top BCS, Arizona State positioned to make push

By RALPH D. RUSSO
AP College Football Writer

NEW YORK (AP) - While Boston College gained some cushion on third-place LSU in the Bowl Championship Series standings and Ohio State held firm to first place, Arizona State moved into position to make a big stretch run.

The unbeaten Sun Devils raised their BCS average to .849 after beating California 31-20 on Saturday. Arizona State, with its most challenging games still to play, might not need teams ahead of it to lose to move up the standings.

The Sun Devils play at Oregon, which is fifth in the BCS standings, on Saturday, then finish with games against USC, UCLA and Arizona.

``If they win all of those games, that type of run would be difficult for voters to ignore,'' said BCS analyst Jerry Palm, who runs collegebcs.com.

The top seven teams in the BCS standings remained the same this week, with Ohio State and Boston College still in position to play for the national title in New Orleans on Jan. 7 if they can maintain their rankings.

Ohio State was No. 1 in both the Harris and coaches' polls and tied for second in the computer ratings with Arizona State. The Buckeyes had a BCS average of .976.

BC was second in both polls and first in the computer rankings. The Eagles have a BCS average of .956 and a lead of .068 on LSU.

The Tigers who were off this week, have a BCS average of .888.

Ohio State, Boston College and LSU also are the top three teams in the AP Top 25.

Both the Eagles and Buckeyes are coming of big road wins. Boston College rallied from 10 points down in the final 2:11 behind quarterback Matt Ryan to beat Virginia Tech 14-10 on Thursday night.

Ohio State had little problem staying unbeaten at Penn State, beating the Nittany Lions 37-17 on Saturday night.

The rest of the BCS top 10 was Oklahoma in sixth place, followed by West Virginia, unbeaten Kansas, Missouri and Georgia.

Unbeaten Hawaii moved up three spots to 14th place in the BCS standings. The Warriors of the Western Athletic Conference need to be in the top 12 of the final BCS standings to earn an automatic bid to one of the five marquee bowl games.

SOURCE: NCAAFOOTBALL.COM; PHOTO CREDIT: COLLEGIATE IMAGES

No. 1 Buckeyes roll over No. 24 Penn St., 37-17

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) -- Maybe now No. 1 Ohio State will get the respect it's looking for.

Todd Boeckman threw for 253 yards and three touchdowns and Chris Wells ran for 133 yards, leading the Buckeyes to another easy victory, 37-17 over No. 24 Penn State on Saturday night.

The Buckeyes' vaunted defense didn't play up to its typical stingy standards, but it didn't need to be at its best with Boeckman on a roll and Ohio State's massive offensive line dominating.

``We couldn't stop them,'' Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. ``That was a good football team and they played really well.''

Several Buckeyes (9-0, 5-0, Big Ten) earlier this week complained they weren't getting enough respect despite their No. 1 ranking in the polls and Bowl Championship Series standings. Penn State (6-3, 3-3) was only the second ranked team Ohio State has faced. While the competition has been so-so, the Buckeyes have been blowing out their opponents.

This was Ohio State's toughest test yet, a night game one of the loudest venues in the country. A crowd of 110,134, the second-largest in Beaver Stadium history, started out loud but was quieted quickly and the Buckeyes went on to their seventh double-digit victory.

Ohio State has won 19 straight Big Ten games, tying the mark set by Michigan in 1990-92. The Buckeyes' last Big Ten loss came Oct. 8, 2005, 17-10 at Penn State.

This time, they left Happy Valley in a very good mood.

``They were one step ahead of us all night,'' Paterno said.

Boeckman, a first-year starter, silenced the Nittany Lions' rowdy white-clad student section early with two long first-half touchdown drives. He finished 19-of-26 passing with one interception.

Wells softened the defense by getting Ohio State into short-yardage situations on second or third downs.

Penn State's experienced secondary got burned for long gains by Boeckman.

The Nittany Lions, seventh in the nation in total defense coming in, had breakdowns on numerous third-down plays. Ohio State was 7-of-8 alone in the first half on third-down conversions and gained 453 yards in total offense.

The Buckeyes scored on five of their first seven possessions, each of their scoring drives starting at no better than their own 22.

A 15-play, 91-yard drive that ate up 6:26 of clock in the first half exemplified the Buckeyes' success.

After three straight runs by Wells of at least 6 yards, Boeckman rolled right from the Penn State 31 and threw a perfect pass through coverage to Brian Robiskie for a 19-yard gain.

Three plays later, a holding call negated Wells' touchdown from the 4 and pushed the Buckeyes back to a third-and-14 from the 16.

No matter.

With Penn State playing back in a zone, Boeckman hit Brian Hartline for a short pass left. Left tackle Alex Boone threw an open-field block on cornerback Lydell Sargeant, and Hartline eluded safety Anthony Scirrotto's tackle to get into the end zone for a 17-7 lead.

A 13-play, 87-yard drive in the third quarter proved to be decisive.

Penn State stopped Wells for a 1-yard gain on third-and-2, ending a streak of seven consecutive third-down conversions. Boeckman converted on a quarterback sneak to give Ohio State a first-and-10 from the Penn State 23.

Three plays later, Boeckman hit tight end Jake Ballard in the end zone - on third down, of course - for a 21-yard touchdown to put the Buckeyes ahead 24-7.

Buckeyes cornerback Malcolm Jenkins intercepted a wobbly pass by quarterback Anthony Morelli and returned it 24 yards for a touchdown to increase the lead to 34-10 with 9:36 left in the game, sending sad Nittany Lions fans to the exits early.

SOURCE: NCAAFOOTBALL.COM; PHOTO CREDIT: COLLEGIATE IMAGES

No. 1 Buckeyes hold off Spartans, 24-17

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- No. 1 Ohio State got a scare, but avoided being yet another upset victim.

The Buckeyes built a comfortable lead and then gave up two touchdowns off turnovers late in the third quarter - and almost lost another fumble deep in their own territory on the next play - to slip past Michigan State 24-17 on Saturday.

All week, both sides had talked about what happened in the 1998 meeting, when the unbeaten Buckeyes were 26 1/2-point favorites and had a 24-9 lead in the third quarter yet unraveled to lose the No. 1 ranking when the Spartans pulled off a 28-24 shocker.

Michigan State (5-3, 1-3 Big Ten) almost pulled off a repeat of that performance from nine years ago.

The Buckeyes (8-0, 4-0) rolled for most of the first three quarters, building their big lead on two touchdown passes by Todd Boeckman, the running of Chris Wells and a bruising defense that thoroughly shut down Michigan State.

Ahead 24-0 late in the third quarter, they were seemingly in command and looking ahead to next week's test at Penn State.

In the span of four plays, it was 24-14 and Michigan State blew a chance to recover another Ohio State turnover on the very next play when two defenders touched Wells' fumble, but the back ended up recovering.

The comeback started when Boeckman flipped a pass under pressure that safety Otis Wiley picked off and returned 54 yards to put the Spartans on the board.

After the ensuing kickoff, a short run and two penalties gave the Buckeyes a first down at their own 15. But Boeckman was sacked by Jonal Saint-Dic and fumbled, with linebacker Sirdarean Adams swooping in to scoop up the ball and run 25 yards to make it 24-14.

Suddenly, a crowd of 105,287 was so silent you could hear a national championship trophy drop.

After the next kickoff, the Buckeyes took over at their own 22. On first down, Wells fumbled when hit by Jeremiah Antonio and the ball bounced loose. Wiley and end Ervin Baldwin each had a clear shot at falling on the ball but failed to grab it.

Boeckman, who completed his first 10 passes in the game and tied a school-record with 12 straight completions, now had trouble even getting time to pass, much less complete one.

After an Ohio State punt midway through the fourth quarter, Brett Swenson kicked a 43-yard field goal to tighten it to 24-17 with just 3:42 left.

It got so bad that on the kickoff that followed, the Ohio State coach Jim Tressel even instructed returner Brandon Saine to take a knee to avoid turning the ball over with another fumble.

The Buckeyes took no more chances. Wells carried on the final seven carries while Michigan State exhausted its timeouts, gaining 36 yards as Ohio State played keepaway to stay perfect.

Wells, so close to being a goat, ended up a hero as he finished with 221 yards on 31 carries including a 5-yard touchdown.

After hitting his first 10 passes, Boeckman struggled, completing 15-of-23 passes for 193 yards and touchdowns of 14 yards to Jake Ballard and 50 yards to Brian Robiskie.

The Spartans mustered just nine first downs and 185 yards of total offense against an Ohio State defense which came in No. 1 in the nation in points (6.57 per game) and yards allowed (212 per game).

Michigan State didn't help itself in the opening half, with Brian Hoyer throwing an interception to Doug Worthington which helped set up Wells' TD run, and a 19-yard punt which gave the Buckeyes the ball at the Michigan State 29.

Hoyer, who finished 12-of-23 passing for 126 yards with the one interception, didn't complete his second pass until the Spartans' fourth possession.

Javon Ringer, averaging 178 yards in Big Ten games, ran for 49 yards on 18 attempts.

Ohio State's players wore small ``23'' decals on the back of their helmets in support of Ron Springs, a star running back from 1976-78 who is in a coma in a Dallas hospital after surgery. His son Shawn, currently a member of the Washington Redskins, also played for Ohio State from 1994-96.

Source: ncaafootball.com; Photo Credit: Collegiate Images