Top 25 : LSU wins thriller over Florida

Gambling at every opportunity, LSU managed to hold on to its No. 1 ranking.

Florida’s hopes of another national title appear to be over after a remarkable Saturday night in Death Valley.

The Tigers 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 LSU a 28-24 victory over the No. 9 Gators in Baton Rouge, La.

Tim Tebow shredded the nation’s top-ranked defense for three quarters, giving Florida (4-2, 2-2 SEC) a 24-14 lead with 15 minutes remaining. He threw for a pair of touchdowns and ran for another.

But LSU (6-0, 3-0) kept rolling the dice and coming up with winners. The Tigers scored two 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.

(4) Ohio State 23, (23) Purdue 7: At West Lafayette, Ind., Todd Boeckman passed for 200 yards and two touchdowns as the Buckeyes (6-0, 3-0 Big Ten) beat the Boilermakers (5-1, 1-1).

Chris Wells ran for 85 yards on 18 carries and Ryan Pretorius made all three of his field-goal attempts for Ohio State.

Purdue had averaged 45 points and 496 yards per game, but Ohio State held the Boilermakers to 272 total yards. Purdue ran for just 4 yards on 17 attempts, and Jared Armstrong tied a school record with 12 punts.

(6) South Florida 35, Florida Atlantic 23: At Fort Lauderdale, Fla., South Florida’s highest ranking in school history was nearly short-lived.

Benjamin Williams ran for 186 yards and four touchdowns, Matt Grothe added 120 yards rushing and a score and the Bulls (5-0) held off fellow upstart Florida Atlantic (3-3).

South Florida committed four turnovers for the second straight game. But Williams and Grothe did enough to overcome the mistakes.

(7) Boston College 55, Bowling Green 24: At Boston, after two unimpressive wins, the Eagles showed again they can dominate by beating the Falcons (3-2) behind Matt Ryan’s four touchdown passes and the defense’s four interceptions late in the first half.

Boston College is 6-0 for the first time in 65 years and has a chance to match their highest ranking in 23 years.

(10) Oklahoma 28, (19) Texas 21: At Dallas, facing a tough foe in a hostile setting, 19-year-old Sam Bradford threw for three touchdowns and hardly made a mistake while steering the Sooners (5-1, 1-1 Big 12) past the Longhorns (4-2, 0-2) in their annual grudge match.

The Longhorns, who were ranked seventh before a 20-point loss to Kansas State last weekend, could be in jeopardy of ending a national-best, 114-week stint in the AP poll.

Tennessee 35, (12) Georgia 14: At Knoxville, Tenn., Arian Foster rushed for 98 yards and three scores, and the Tennessee defense never let Georgia get moving in the upset over the Bulldogs (4-2, 2-2 SEC).

Montario Hardesty rushed for 68 yards and a score, and Erik Ainge was 17 of 22 for 165 yards. The Volunteers (3-2, 1-1) even broke out a trick play, with wide receiver Lucas Taylor throwing for a 56-yard touchdown on his second career pass.

(13) West Virginia 55, Syracuse 14: At Syracuse, N.Y., Owen Schmitt scored his first two touchdowns of the season, defensive tackle Keilen Dykes returned an interception 19 yards for another score, and the Mountaineers (5-1, 1-1 Big East) got back on track with a victory over the Orange (1-5, 1-1).

Pat White was 12 of 15 for 148 yards and one touchdown and had 14 carries for a team-high 89 yards and another TD for West Virginia before leaving the game with a strained chest muscle.

(15) Virginia Tech 41, (22) Clemson 23: At Clemson, S.C., the Hokies (5-1, 2-0 ACC) had a record-tying 100-yard kickoff return TD by Victor Harris and an 82-yard punt return score from Eddie Royal in topping the Tigers (4-2, 2-2).

Virginia Tech’s defense was strong, too. D.J. Parker had a 32-yard interception return TD on Clemson’s first series and the Hokies held Clemson without a first down for nearly 21 minutes.

(17) Missouri 41, (25) Nebraska 6: At Columbia, Mo., Chase Daniel passed for a career-best 401 yards and ran for two scores and the Tigers (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) got a big game from its suspect defense in a win over the Cornhuskers (4-2, 1-1).

Nebraska, which entered the game averaging 36 points, was held without a touchdown for the first time since a 31-3 loss to Oklahoma on Nov. 13, 2004.

(20) Cincinnati 28, (21) Rutgers 23: At Piscataway, N.J., Ben Mauk threw two of his three touchdowns in a 19-second span late in the third quarter and the Bearcats (6-0, 1-0 Big East) forced four turnovers, including a game-saving interception by linebacker Ryan Manalac with 1:19 to play as Cincinnati defeated the Scarlet Knights (3-2, 0-1).

The Scarlet Knights had a chance to pull the game out in the final minutes as they drove from their own 20 to the Cincinnati 17. On a second-and-3, Manalac stepped in front of a Mike Tell pass to Tim Brown and sealed the win with an interception.

Kansas 30, (24) Kansas State 24: At Manhattan, Kan., Todd Reesing threw for 267 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Jayhawks (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) to a victory over the Wildcats (3-2, 1-1), a week after Kansas State won at Texas.

Kansas overcame some potentially ruinous mistakes and struck for a quick TD just 65 seconds after giving up the lead in the fourth quarter. With their first road win over a ranked team since 1995, they’ve started a season 5-0 for just the third time in 39 years .