TOP 25: Paterno reaches another milestone

Joe Paterno reached another magic number and Michigan played maybe the wildest game in its storied history.

Paterno became the first major college coach with 400 victories as Penn State rallied from 21 points down to beat Northwestern 35-21 at Happy Valley. But the Nittany Lions' comeback wasn't even close to the craziest Big Ten game of the day. That one happened in the Big House, where Michigan beat Illinois 67-65 in triple overtime - the highest-scoring game in conference history.

Penn State 35,

Northwestern 21

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Backup quarterback Matt McGloin threw for four touchdowns and the Nittany Lions shut down Wildcats quarterback Dan Persa in the second half to get the 83-year-old Paterno his latest milestone.

Only two other coaches have more wins. Eddie Robinson had 408 with FCS school Grambling State, while John Gagliardi had 476 entering the weekend with Division III St. John's, Minn.

Mobbed by players, fans and his wife Sue afterward, Penn State honored Paterno with a postgame ceremony as backup tailback Stephfon Green held a sign that read "400. The Paterno Way."

No. 1 Oregon 53,

Washington 16

EUGENE, Ore. - Darron Thomas threw for a touchdown and ran for two more and top-ranked Oregon overcame a slow start to beat northwest rival Washington.

LaMichael James ran for 121 yards and three scores for the Ducks (9-0, 6-0 Pac-10), who looked out of sorts in the first quarter when they were held scoreless for the first time this season. Their first points came on a 29-yard field goal early in the second.

No. 4 TCU 47, No. 6 Utah 7

SALT LAKE CITY - Andy Dalton passed for a career-high 355 yards and three touchdowns, and TCU looked every bit like a team worthy of busting into the BCS championship game with a 40-point demolition of Utah.

TCU receiver Jeremy Kerley, a quarterback in high school, threw a TD pass as the Horned Frogs (10-0, 6-0 Mountain West Conference) jumped out to an early 20-0 lead, quieting a sellout crowd clad almost entirely in black for the "blackout" showdown.

No. 2 Boise State 42, Hawaii 7

BOISE, Idaho - Kellen Moore threw for 507 yards and three touchdowns and Boise State rolled up a school-record 737 total yards.

Moore was spectacular, completing 30 of 37 passes and at one point hitting 19 straight in the first half to help the Broncos (8-0, 4-0 Western Athletic Conference) build a 21-0 halftime lead. He fired touchdown passes of 12 yards to Tyler Shoemaker and 43 yards to Austin Pettis, and his 83-yarder to Titus Young early in the third quarter put Boise State up 35-0.

No. 3 Auburn 62,

Chattanooga 24

AUBURN, Ala. - Cam Newton passed for a career-high 317 yards and four touchdowns and ran for a fifth for Auburn.

Newton and the Tigers (10-0) churned out 48 points and 484 yards in the first half.

No. 12 LSU 24, No. 5 Alabama 21

BATON ROUGE, La. - LSU twice rallied from second-half deficits and once again coach Les Miles employed a little trickery on fourth down, this time to deal a crushing blow to Alabama's national title hopes.

Rueben Randle had 125 yards receiving to lead LSU (8-1, 5-1 SEC), including a 75-yard score on a pass from Jordan Jefferson.

The Tigers trailed 14-13 when Miles called an audacious reverse on fourth-and-1 in the fourth quarter. The 23-yard gain set up Stevan Ridley's go-ahead, 1-yard plunge.

Greg McElroy completed 21 of 34 passes for 223 yards, including touchdown tosses to Trent Richardson and Julio Jones. But he was intercepted and fumbled on a sack in his own territory, which allowed the Tigers to take a 10-point lead with less than 6 minutes remaining.

Alabama (7-2, 4-2) could not recover.

No. 7 Wisconsin 34, Purdue 13

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Montee Ball ran for a career-high 127 yards and two touchdowns, leading Wisconsin past Purdue.

Ball, who got extra work because second-string running back James White was out with a knee injury, had scoring runs of 31 and 15 yards for the Badgers (8-1, 4-1 Big Ten). Leading rusher John Clay was held to 42 yards on 12 carries.

No. 9 Nebraska 31,

Iowa State 30, OT

AMES, Iowa - Eric Hagg intercepted a pass by Iowa State holder Daniel Kuehl on a fake conversion kick in overtime and Nebraska held off Iowa State in a thrilling final meeting between the two schools as Big 12 rivals.

Rex Burkhead ran for 129 yards and two touchdowns for the Cornhuskers (8-1, 4-1 Big 12), who played without star quarterback Taylor Martinez.

No. 10 Stanford 42,

No. 13 Arizona 17

STANFORD, Calif. - Andrew Luck threw for 293 yards and two touchdowns to lead Stanford.

Stepfan Taylor added four short touchdown runs for the Cardinal (8-1, 5-1 Pac-10), who won easily in the first meeting with Arizona (7-2, 4-2) when both teams were ranked.

Texas A&M 33,

No. 11 Oklahoma 19

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Ryan Tannehill threw for 225 yards and two touchdowns, Cyrus Gray added 122 yards rushing and another score, and Texas A&M snapped a seven-game losing streak to Oklahoma.

The loss left Oklahoma (7-2, 3-2) behind Oklahoma State and Baylor in the Big 12 South standings and made Texas A&M (6-3, 3-2) bowl eligible.

Texas Tech 24,

No. 14 Missouri 17

LUBBOCK, Texas - Taylor Potts came off the bench and threw for 188 yards and three touchdowns to lead Texas Tech.

No. 15 Iowa 18, Indiana 13

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Ricky Stanzi threw a 52-yard touchdown pass to Marvin McNutt with 2:50 left to push Iowa past pesky Indiana.

The Hoosiers had a chance to win it with 28 seconds left when Ben Chappell threw an 18-yard pass to Damarlo Belcher in the end zone. But Belcher dropped the ball and the Hoosiers turned it over on downs.

Iowa (7-2, 4-1 Big Ten) has won nine of its last 11 road games and managed to keep pace with the Big Ten leaders.

No. 16 Michigan State 31, Minnesota 8

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Edwin Baker ran for 179 yards and four touchdowns, and Michigan State bounced back from its first loss of the season.

Baker scored twice on fourth down near the goal line to help the Spartans (9-1, 5-1 Big Ten) take a 21-0 halftime lead. Minnesota (1-9, 0-6) never threatened after that en route to its ninth straight loss.

No. 17 Arkansas 41,

No. 18 South Carolina 20

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Ryan Mallett threw for 303 yards, Knile Davis tied a career high with three touchdowns and Arkansas handed South Carolina its worst home loss in five years.

Davis rushed for 110 yards, including scoring runs of 2, 21 and 1 yard for the Razorbacks (7-2, 4-2 Southeastern Conference), who won for the fourth time in five games. Mallett tossed a TD pass and ran for a score.

No. 19 Oklahoma State 55,

No. 22 Baylor 28

STILLWATER, Okla. - Justin Blackmon had 173 yards receiving and a touchdown and scored on a 69-yard run in his return from a suspension, leading Oklahoma State past Baylor with first place in the Big 12 South on the line.

Brandon Weeden threw for a school-record 435 yards and three scores and Kendall Hunter rammed in a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs for Oklahoma State (8-1, 4-1 Big 12), which opened a 34-0 lead on its way to moving past the Bears (7-3, 4-2) in the standings.

Clemson 14,

No. 23 North Carolina State 13

CLEMSON, S.C. - Kyle Parker threw for 214 yards and a touchdown as Clemson overcame several mistakes to beat North Carolina State for the seventh straight time.

The Tigers (5-4, 3-3 ACC) fumbled five times, losing two of them, threw an interception, had a touchdown called back on a holding penalty and missed two short field goals.

North Carolina 37,

No. 24 Florida State 35

TALLAHASSEE, Fla - T.J. Yates threw for 439 yards and three touchdowns and Casey Barth kicked his third field goal of the game with 55 seconds left as North Carolina upset the Seminoles.

Florida State's Dustin Hopkins missed two field goal tries in the fourth quarter, including a possible game-winner from 40 yards with 7 seconds left - wide right, naturally.