Oklahoma hands Texas a second straight loss and LSU escapes Tennessee in wild finish

Oklahoma, LSU survive Sort’em out Saturday

Just call it sort’em out Saturday.

With five games matching ranked teams and conference play now in full swing, the first weekend of October was bound to give the national championship race a good shake.

No. 8 Oklahoma cemented its place among the contenders with a 28-20 victory against No. 21 Texas in the Red River Rivalry.

The second straight loss for the Longhorns, who played in the BCS title game last season, not only eliminates Texas from the national title chase, it likely will knock them out of the rankings for the first since he 2000 season.

Meanwhile, No. 12 LSU needed a big dose of good fortune to beat Tennessee 16-14 in Baton Rouge, in one of the wildest finishes of the season.

And No. 19 Michigan needed another huge dose of Denard Robinson to beat Indiana 42-35. The Wolverines’ star quarterback had 494 total yards, accounted for six touchdowns and ran in the game-winner from 4 yards out with 17 seconds left.

The biggest games were set to kickoff later. No. 7 Florida was at No. 1 Alabama in a rematch of the last two Southeastern Conference title games. In the Pac-10, No. 9 Stanford was set to play at No. 4 Oregon.

Earlier at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Landry Jones threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns, while DeMarco Murray ran for two scores on hurry-up plays for Oklahoma (5-0, 1-0 Big 12).

The Sooners (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) jumped out to a two-touchdown lead in the first quarter, then got bailed out by a muffed punt late for a second straight week. The Longhorns had scored 10 straight points and were set to get the ball back in the final 62 seconds when Aaron Williams dropped a punt and James Winchester recovered it to let Oklahoma run out the clock.

Two plays earlier, Jared Norton had a chance to give Texas (3-2, 1-1) the ball inside the Oklahoma 10 but instead knocked Jones’ fumble out of bounds.

The Longhorns lost back-to-back games for the first time since 2007, and following a surprising 34-12 loss at home to UCLA last week, are in danger of falling out of the AP Top 25 for the first time in 10 years.

Making his rivalry debut, Garrett Gilbert struggled to get the Longhorns’ offense moving until a late charge against an Oklahoma team that had been outscored 41-10 in the fourth quarter coming in.

Gilbert finished with 265 yards on 27-for-41 passing with no touchdowns.

At Tiger Stadium, LSU squandered what looked like its last chance to pull out a victory, but a Tennessee mistake on the same frantic sequence gave the Tigers one more shot.

LSU (5-0, 3-0 SEC) was confused on third-and-goal from the 1 and allowed the clock to run nearly to zero before a mishandled snap seemingly ended the game and sent Tennessee players streaming onto the field in jubilation.

The celebration was cut short when officials ruled the Volunteers (2-3, 0-2) had 13 defensive players on the field when the ball was snapped. Stevan Ridley then bulled into the end zone from a yard out for the wild win.

Ridley finished with 123 yards rushing. Jordan Jefferson had an 83-yard TD run on LSU’s first offensive play, but his game went downhill after that.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) — Terrelle Pryor returned after an injury briefly knocked him from the game, then led Ohio State on a clinching touchdown drive in the closing minutes against Illinois.

Pryor ran for 104 yards and was 9 of 16 for 76 yards and two touchdowns through the air, but he gave Ohio State fans a scare when he needed help off the field early in the third quarter. The star quarterback spent a couple minutes in the locker room before returning to the game.

Illinois (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) put a scare of its own into the Buckeyes (5-0, 1-0) with under 5 minutes to go when it marched down field, but coach Ron Zook elected to kick a field goal on fourth down that made it 17-13, rather than go for the tying touchdown.

The Buckeyes, playing their first road game of the season, responded by going the length of the field for the clinching score.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — Ed Wesley scored twice, TCU’s swarming defense forced two fumbles and the Horned Frogs overcame a lethargic start to beat Colorado State.

The Frogs (5-0, 1-0 Mountain West) were making their first trip out of the state of Texas this season and struggled early, leading just 6-0 at halftime.

Wesley’s two touchdowns in the third quarter helped TCU pull away from the Rams (1-4, 0-1), who came in as heavy underdogs.

The Frogs rotated in a steady stream of fresh tailbacks all game long as they gained a season-high 346 yards on the ground. Matthew Tucker led the way with 87 yards, while Wesley added 78.

Andy Dalton finished with 67 yards rushing and threw for another 109, including a 39-yard touchdown pass to Jimmy Young early in the fourth quarter.

AUBURN, Ala. (AP) — Cam Newton connected with Emory Blake on a school-record 94-yard touchdown pass on his first throw and Auburn went on to rout Louisiana-Monroe.

Newton completed 14 of 19 passes for 245 yards with three touchdowns before sitting out most of the second half for the Tigers (5-0), who finally got a stress-free win after three straight close ones. The Southeastern Conference’s top rusher, Newton didn’t have a carry other than a sack, minimizing punishment in the mismatch.

ULM (1-3) fell to 3-35-1 all time against SEC teams and has been outscored 190-10 in the last four meetings with the Tigers.

Auburn had risen to the Top 10 after three straight wins that weren’t decided until the final minutes, but didn’t need any drama in this one.

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Jacory Harris tied a career best with four touchdown passes — three to Leonard Hankerson — and Miami opened Atlantic Coast Conference play with a victory.

Harris had all four of his scoring throws in the opening half as the Hurricanes (3-1, 1-0 ACC) led 27-14. Then they called on their top-rated ACC defense to hang on.

Ahead 27-21, cornerback Brandon Harris stopped Andre Ellington on fourth-and-1 from Miami’s 20 with 8:20 to go that ended the Tigers comeback.

Jacory Harris followed by leading a mistake-free, 62-yard drive that ended with Matt Bosher’s clinching 29-yard field goal.

Clemson (2-2, 0-1) came into the game leading the ACC in fewest turnovers with just two its first three games. But Miami forced the Tigers into three fumbles and three interceptions.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Denard Robinson ran 4 yards for a TD with 17 seconds left to give a 42-35 victory at Indiana and complete another spectacular performance by the Wolverines’ star quarterback.

Robinson ran 19 times for 217 yards and two scores, completed 10-of-16 passes for 277 yards and three scores and the game-winning drive was almost all about him.

Ben Chappell went 45 of 64 for 480 yards, all school records, and three TDs. Tandon Doss had 15 receptions for 221 yards for Indiana (3-1, 0-1).

The Hoosiers tied the score at 35 when Chappell hooked up with Darius Willis on a 19-yard TD pass with 1:15 to go.

But Robinson answered immediately. With a pass rusher in his face, he found a leaping Junior Hemingway for a 42-yard completion with 21 seconds to go. Robinson ran it in on the next play for the Wolverines (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten).

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Tyrod Taylor threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Jarrett Boykin with 1:27 left, and Virginia Tech rallied for a victory.

Taylor finished 12 of 24 for 123 yards with three touchdown passes and rushed for 121 yards to lead the Hokies (3-2, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) back from a 17-0 deficit.

Darren Evans rushed for 160 yards and two TDs, David Wilson returned a kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown and Jayron Hosley had three interceptions.

Russell Wilson was 21 of 49 for 362 yards with three touchdown passes for the Wolfpack (4-1, 1-1), whose first appearance in the national rankings since 2003 likely will be a short one.

Josh Czajkowski’s 42-yard field goal put N.C. State up 30-28 with 4:42 left.

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Kirk Cousins lofted a 1-yard touchdown pass to B.J. Cunningham on fourth down with 2:43 remaining, helping Michigan State seal its second straight victory without coach Mark Dantonio.

Dantonio, who had a mild heart attack Sept. 19, planned to return for this game, but the Spartans (5-0, 1-0 Big Ten) announced hours before kickoff that he had been hospitalized again Thursday because of a blood clot in his leg. He is expected to recover.

Michigan State overcame three first-half turnovers to remain unbeaten heading into next week’s showdown at Michigan.

With Michigan State leading 27-24 late in the fourth quarter, Wisconsin (4-1, 0-1) couldn’t stop the Spartans when they decided to go for the touchdown on fourth down near the goal line.

Cousins finished 20 of 29 for 269 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions.

Wisconsin’s John Clay was held to 80 yards on 17 carries, snapping his streak of 10 straight games rushing for at least 100 yards. James White picked up the slack, running for 98 yards and two touchdowns.