Mississippi State 17, Alabama 12
STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) -- Anthony Johnson returned an interception a school-record 100 yards for a touchdown and Mississippi State became bowl eligible Saturday for the first time since 2000 with a 17-12 upset of No. 21 Alabama.
It was the second straight win over his alma mater for Sylvester Croom, whose resurgent Bulldogs have won six games for the first time since 2000.
It also was the second straight win over a ranked opponent for Mississippi State (6-4, 3-3 Southeastern Conference), which beat then-No. 14 Kentucky two weeks ago. The win gave the Bulldogs a 2-2 record during a streak of four consecutive games against ranked opponents.
The Crimson Tide (6-4, 4-3) has now lost two straight. The Bulldogs limited Alabama to four Leigh Tiffin field goals and extended their streak of holding the Tide offense out of the end zone to 12 quarters.
Titus Brown, a Tuscaloosa native, ended the game with a sack as Alabama edged into Mississippi State territory in the final seconds.
Mississippi State intercepted John Parker Wilson twice in the game and held him to 121 yards passing. Wilson rarely found receivers open and often had to throw the ball away under pressure in the second half.
The Bulldogs also were stiff against the run, allowing Alabama just 153 yards and holding starting tailback Terry Grant to 75.
The victory looked awfully similar to a 24-16 upset of the Tide in Tuscaloosa last year. In a game widely considered the beginning of the end of Mike Shula's coaching career at Alabama, Mississippi State used defense to take an early lead, then wore the Tide down with a power running game.
The games also featured goal-line stands by Mississippi State at the end of the first half that wrested momentum from Alabama.
Last year the Bulldogs built a 24-10 lead with the help of a 51-yard interception return for a score, then stuffed Alabama at the goal line to end the first half.
With first-and-goal from the 3 and 34 seconds left on Saturday, it appeared the Alabama offense would finally score a touchdown against Mississippi State. But the Bulldogs stuffed Grant twice and on third down, Wilson was hit as he threw and Johnson intercepted the pass.
He raced down the left sideline with just an offensive lineman to beat as a school-record crowd of 56,188 howled in delight. The return broke Jack Nix's 70-year-old mark of 97 yards and gave the Bulldogs a 10-9 halftime lead.
Mississippi State struck again on the first drive of the second half. Wilson threw deep into double coverage on third-and-8 and Derek Pegues intercepted the pass and returned it 40 yards to the Alabama 25. Anthony Dixon scored from 3 yards out five plays later to make it 17-9.
It was the seventh game of the season decided by a touchdown or less for Alabama, which lost 41-34 to No. 2 LSU last week.
Croom, who played for Alabama from 1972-74 and coached at the school from 1976-86 before moving on to the NFL, is now 2-2 against his old team. He played and coached for the Tide during its glory years, but was passed over for Alabama's head coaching job when Shula was given the job five years ago.
He was hired at Mississippi State the following year, but inherited a team run into the ground and on NCAA probation.
Last year's win at Alabama seemed to be the start of Mississippi State's turnaround and in Croom's fourth year the team could be headed to a bowl, though another win in games against Arkansas and Mississippi would help the Bulldogs' cause.
Tennessee 34, Arkansas 13
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Erik Ainge threw for two touchdowns and Arian Foster ran for another as No. 22 Tennessee beat Arkansas 34-13 on Saturday.
The Volunteers (7-3, 4-2 Southeastern Conference) kept their drive for an SEC Eastern Division title alive and again silenced critics of coach Phillip Fulmer with a balanced offensive attack and one of their best defensive performances of the season.
The Razorbacks (6-4, 2-4) struggled all day in the red zone and continually hurt themselves with penalties. They gained 10 more yards than the Vols, but held the ball for seven fewer minutes.
Arkansas' Darren McFadden, the SEC's top rusher, finished with 117 yards on 22 carries, and Casey Dick completed 12 of 22 passes for 140 yards and two interceptions. Last week, McFadden tied the SEC single-game rushing record with 321 yards against South Carolina.
The Vols started and ended the first half with a bang. Tennessee drove 64 yards on the game's first possession, aided by three Arkansas penalties, and Ainge threw a 16-yard TD pass to Austin Rogers across the middle with 10:15 left in the first quarter.
Tennessee also marched down the field with about a minute left in the half and scored on a 14-yard pass from Ainge to Josh Briscoe with 10 seconds left to give the Vols a 20-3 halftime lead. Ainge finished 12-for-25 for 128 yards.
Arkansas narrowed the lead to 27-13 with 8:27 left in the game on Michael Smith's 9-yard touchdown run after a handoff from McFadden out of the Razorbacks' ``WildHog'' formation. It was as close as the Hogs would get.
McFadden carried the Arkansas offense in the second half after only gaining 25 yards rushing in the first half. Felix Jones, the SEC's second-best rusher, left the game in the first half with a deep thigh bruise after rushing for just 3 yards.
The Razorbacks' only first-half points came on a 31-yard Alex Tejada field goal after the Vols came up with a big stop on third-and-6. Tejada also kicked a 42-yarder in the third quarter.
Arkansas went three-and-out in their first possession of the third quarter, and Tennessee responded with Foster's 59-yard touchdown run, the Vols' longest rushing play of the season that put them ahead 27-3.
Daniel Lincoln added field goals of 25 yards and 28 yards in the first half. The second field goal set a record for most field goals by a freshman, breaking James Wilhoit's mark of 17 set in 2003.
Tennessee linebacker Jerod Mayo ran 33 yards for a touchdown after intercepting a pass by backup quarterback Nathan Emert with 2:46 left in the game.
Kentucky 27, Vanderbilt 20
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Andre Woodson threw for 222 yards, Rafael Little had 70 yards rushing and No. 24 Kentucky beat Vanderbilt 27-20 on Saturday to keep its slim hopes of a berth in the Southeastern Conference title game alive.
The Wildcats (7-3, 3-3 SEC) snapped their two-game losing skid and clinched consecutive seven-win seasons for the first time since 1976-77. Kentucky still plays SEC East rivals Tennessee and Georgia, and has a chance to sneak into the league title game in Atlanta by defeating both.
For the Commodores (5-5, 2-5), their hopes of becoming bowl eligible will have to wait a little longer. Vanderbilt hasn't been to a bowl since the 1982 Hall of Fame Bowl.
Kentucky gave them countless opportunities to break the streak. The Wildcats had a season-high 13 penalties for 123 yards, including a holding call that wiped out a 52-yard reception by Keenan Burton.
The Commodores had eight penalties for 65 yards, and Byrant Hahnfeldt missed two field goals and an extra point for Vanderbilt.
Mackenzi Adams threw for 193 yards and two touchdowns for Vanderbilt, but sailed his final throw on fourth-and-6 over the head of Justin Wheeler in the end zone. Adams was sacked on second down, and Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson chose to have Adams spike the ball instead of using its final timeout with 17 seconds remaining.
Earl Bennett had eight catches for 68 yards, and Cassen Jackson-Garrison had 83 yards rushing for the Commodores, who essentially found themselves playing a road game with as Kentucky fans painted Vanderbilt Stadium blue.
Adams had an 8-yard touchdown run for Vanderbilt, tying the game at 20-20.
The Commodores struggled to close out drives with touchdowns and the Wildcats took advantage.
Derrick Locke had a 4-yard touchdown run to provide the winning score with six minutes left.
Maurice Grinter's 1-yard TD capped a 78-yard drive to open the second half and put Kentucky ahead 20-13.
A 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty on Vanderbilt's Broderick Stewart in the final seconds of the first half allowed Lones Seiber to make a 48-yard field goal that tied the game 13-13. Seiber also kicked a 38-yarder.
Adams threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to give Vanderbilt a 7-3 lead, as Kentucky coach Rich Brooks raced down the sidelines trying to call a timeout. Brooks pleaded with officials after the play that the timeout should have been called, drawing a 15-yard personal foul penalty.
The game was sloppy and marred by penalties and injuries.
Vanderbilt running back Jared Hawkins was carted off the field in the third quarter after suffering a blow to the head on a late-hit penalty by Wildcats safety Ashton Cobb. Hawkins was able to walk onto the cart after about five minutes. His status was not immediately announced.
Kentucky running back Rafael Little was sidelined earlier with a leg injury. Little was injured on the opening drive of the second half, and Kentucky announced his return as uncertain.
Georgia 45, Auburn 20
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- Georgia coach Mark Richt came up with another motivational gimmick for Auburn, and this one worked just as well as the end zone celebration against Florida.
Of course, it didn't hurt having Matthew Stafford and Knowshon Moreno.
With the No. 10 Bulldogs donning black jerseys for the first time in the modern era, Stafford threw a pair of touchdown passes and Moreno broke 100 yards rushing for the fourth straight game, leading Georgia past 18th-ranked Auburn 45-20 Saturday.
The Bulldogs (8-2) remained on top of the Southeastern Conference East with a 5-2 mark, but they'll need a little help to reach the Dec. 1 championship game in nearby Atlanta. Tennessee has only two SEC losses, too, and holds the tiebreaker over Georgia.
Whatever the outcome in the league race, the Bulldogs will long savor this win over their longest-running rival. In the 111th meeting between the schools, Stafford threw a 58-yard TD pass to Mohamed Massaquoi and a 13-yarder to Sean Bailey. Moreno, a redshirt freshman, had another big game with scoring runs of 24 and 2 yards, finishing with 101 yards on 22 carries.
Thomas Brown finished off the Tigers (7-4, 4-3) with a 53-yard run to the Auburn 1 early in the fourth. Brannan Southerland powered over on the next play, and the celebration was on for the black-clad Bulldogs and all their fans wearing the same color.
Georgia scored the final 28 points against an Auburn defense that was leading the SEC and ranked fifth nationally in points allowed, just 14.5 per game. Georgia has eclipsed 40 points in three straight games, the first time that's happened since 1942.
Auburn rallied for the lead in the third quarter but couldn't overcome four interceptions by Brandon Cox.
Richt, who gave up the offensive play calling late last season, apparently has more time to sit around thinking up ways to fire up his players. Against Florida, he ordered his team to get a celebration penalty after their first TD, then watched the entire roster storm the end zone.
While Richt had to apologize to the SEC commissioner for his tactic, it sure seemed to work - Georgia rolled past the Gators 42-30, only their third win in that bitter series over the last 18 years.
Auburn had beaten Georgia in 12 of their last 15 meetings at Sanford Stadium, so Richt went looking for another motivational edge. He found it when the seniors put out the request for all fans to wear black, and the coach decided to have the players join the ``blackout.''
Richt spent most of the week dancing around the jersey issue, and the Bulldogs came out for warmups wearing their normal red home attire.
When the four captains walked out of the locker room still in red, there was a bit of a groan from the crowd. But it was all a ruse.
The rest of the team charged out through the main entrance wearing black jerseys, sending the 92,000 fans into a tizzy, the massive stadium rocking out to the AC/DC anthem ``Back in Black.''
Then it was time to take care of business on the field. Kelin Johnson snatched the first of his two interceptions on the very first play from scrimmage, setting up Brandon Coutu's 32-yard field goal and sparking Georgia to a 17-3 lead by early in the second quarter.
But the outcome was very much in doubt after Auburn, still smarting from a 37-15 loss to the Bulldogs a year ago, ripped off 17 straight points and took the lead on Wes Byrum's 33-yard field goal with just under 7 minutes left in the third quarter.
Georgia dominated the rest of the way, reclaiming the lead with two big plays. First, Stafford went deep down the right sideline for a 45-yard pass to Bailey. Then, Moreno ripped off a brilliant run, sprinting through a big hole over left tackle and, just when it looked like he would head for the corner, cut back to his right and left Auburn safety Zac Etheridge grasping at air. Moreno posed in the end zone with both hands on his hips, proud of his work.
When it was over, the Bulldogs sprinted toward the student section, dancing along with one more playing of ``Back in Black.''
Florida 51, South Carolina 31
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Tim Tebow accounted for all seven of Florida's touchdowns, a school record five rushing and two passing, as the Gators kept alive their hopes of making the SEC title game with a 51-31 victory over South Carolina on Saturday night.
Tebow was 22-for-32 for a career-best 304 yards and ran for 120 yards on 26 carries, accounting for more than three-quarters of the offense for the No. 17 Gators (7-3, 5-3).
No sophomore has won the Heisman Trophy, but Tebow is making quite a case by carrying the defending national champions.
With Florida's dual-threat receiver Percy Harvin out with sinus problems, Tebow took over, running things so efficiently the Gators didn't have a play lose yards until things were well in hand midway through the third quarter.
It was another terrible defensive outing for the Gamecocks (6-5, 3-5), who allowed 233 yards rushing and 537 yards total a week after giving up 651 yards, 542 of them on the ground, in a loss to Arkansas.
South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier drops to 1-2 against Florida, the team he won a Heisman Trophy and coached to a national championship. It also is the first time a team has scored more than 50 on a Spurrier team since Florida's 62-24 loss to Nebraska in the 1996 Fiesta Bowl.
Spurrier has lost four in a row for only the second time in his college coaching career and finishes with a losing SEC record for a second straight season - two things that never happened with the Gators.
The win keeps Florida in the hunt for the SEC title game. The Gators league schedule is done, making them big fans of Kentucky and Vanderbilt. They need the Wildcats to beat Georgia and they need Tennessee to lose to either the Wildcats or the Commodores to have a shot at playing LSU for the conference title Dec. 1.
The tone was set on the first play from scrimmage, when South Carolina lost the ball on a bad snap and the Gators scored on 5-yard run by Tebow moments later. The Gamecocks did take a 14-13 lead late in the first quarter after stopping Florida for no gain on a fourth-and-one and recovering a fumble.
Then Tebow took over either running or throwing the ball on 14 of Florida's next 16 plays, including scoring runs of 1 and 3 yards, to put the Gators back up 27-14.
Tebow also added touchdown runs of 2 and 5 yards in the second half, and threw a 22-yard score to Jarred Fayson in the second quarter.
The records keep piling up for Tebow. He now has 19 rushing touchdowns for the season, tying four others for the SEC record. He also has shattered the school-record of 14 running TDs held by Emmitt Smith in 1989 and Buford Long in 1952.
The sophomore has 42 total TDs running and passing, breaking fellow Florida QB Danny Wuerffel's SEC record of 41 set in 1996.
Andre Caldwell caught 11 passes for 148 yards and a touchdown with less than two minutes to go, while Brandon James ran for 49 yards for the Gators. John Curtis blocked a punt that led to Florida's second touchdown
Blake Mitchell was 26-of-42 for 316 yards. He has thrown for at least 290 yards in South Carolina's last three games, all losses.
With six wins, South Carolina is no lock for a bowl. The SEC has 10 teams bowl eligible and Vanderbilt just a win away with only eight bowl spots guaranteed. The Gamecocks end the season in two weeks against archrival No. 20 Clemson. Spurrier hasn't missed a bowl since his first Florida team was on probation in 1990 and hasn't had a non-winning season in college since going 5-6 his first year at Duke in 1987.
LSU 58, Louisiana Tech 10
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - With No. 1 in its sights, LSU had it easy for a change.
Matt Flynn passed for 237 and three touchdown Saturday night led No. 2 LSU to a comfortable 58-10 triumph over Louisiana Tech that could lift the Tigers back to the top of the national rankings.
Each of the Tigers' three previous victories - over Florida, Auburn and Alabama - were marked by late-game heroics that narrowly preserved the Tigers' national championship hopes.
They needed all of those comebacks, given their blown lead at Kentucky, which led to an overtime loss and an end to their brief stint at No. 1.
With Illinois upsetting No. 1 Ohio State earlier in the day, LSU stood to gain from putting this weekend's contest out of reach early and wasn't expected to get much resistance.
In 17 previous meetings between LSU and Louisiana Tech spanning more than a century, the Bulldogs (4-6) had beaten LSU only once, and that was back in 1904. LSU (9-1) was favored to win this one by about five touchdowns, a margin they held midway through the third quarter.
Flynn's scoring strikes included a career-long 71-yarder to Terrance Tolliver, which was also a career long reception for the freshman receiver.
That was LSU's longest play from scrimmage this season until Tech's secondary over-pursued on a trap play and Jacob Hester broke loose for a career-best 87-yard touchdown run.
Flynn also scored on a 1-yard sneak, threw a 37-yard scoring pass to Brandon LaFell and lofted a 14-yard TD to tight end Richard Dickson. LSU rolled up 595 total yards.
The Bulldogs' defense gave Flynn minor trouble in the first half with two interceptions, the first setting up Zac Champion's 37-yard TD pass to Brian Jackson, which briefly pulled Tech as close as 10-7 early in the second quarter.
But for the most part, the homecoming contest was a lopsided and anticlimactic ending to long day of tailgating under warm, sunny skies for purple and gold-clad LSU fans. Two of the loudest cheers of the night had nothing to do with what was going on in Tiger Stadium. The first was sparked by the announcement that former LSU coach Nick Saban and Alabama had lost again, this time to Mississippi State. Even louder was the response to the Ohio State result.
With the Buckeyes stumbling, LSU now needs three more victories to virtually assure itself a berth in the BCS title game in New Orleans, where the Tigers won their last BCS national championship during the 2003 season.
LSU travels to Ole Miss next Saturday, hosts Arkansas the day after Thanksgiving and meets the winner of the SEC East (probably Tennessee or Georgia) for the conference championship in Atlanta on Dec. 1. LSU's presence in the SEC title game was assured when Auburn and Alabama both lost earlier Saturday.