FG as time expires lifts Illinois to stunning upset of No. 6 Wisconsin – msnNOW, Nbcsports.com

So much for that.

4 Ohio State easily took care of business Friday night in Evanston,taking Northwestern to the woodshed (in a) – 3 shellacking of the Wildcats. A day later, heavily-favored and sixth-ranked Wisconsin was set to face Illinois, with Badgers expected to take care ofitsbusiness in helping to set up a titanic UW-OSU matchup in Columbus in Week 9.

Somebody, though, forgot to give the Illini that script as, down 20 – 7 late in the third quarter, the Illini went on a 17 – point run to secure a huge 24 – 23 upset of the previously-unbeaten Badgers in Champaign. The game-winning points came off the right leg ofJames McCourt, who connected from 39 yards out as time expired.

Entering the game, UW was listed as 31 – point favorites; exiting it, UI claimed its first win over a team ranked in the Top 10 since knocking off No. 1 Ohio State in 2007.

The Badgers, who were first nationally in scoring defense at 4.8 points per game prior to Week 8, allowed their first first -half touchdown of the season on Michigan transferBrandon Peters’48 – yard hookup withDonny Navarrowith less than six minutes left in the second quarter.

The Fighting Illini’s second touchdown of the day, aReggie Corbin43 – yard run, cut the lead to 20 – 14 with under a minute left in the third quarter. Following aJonathan Taylorfumble midway through the fourth, Peters’ second touchdown pass of the day, from 29 yards out to USC transferJosh Imatorbhebhe, pulled the Illini to within two at 23 – 21.

Yet another Badger giveaway, this one a Jack Coaninterception, gave the Illini possession of the ball at their own 47 – yard line with 2: 32 left in the contest. Eight plays and 32 yards later, the stage was set for McCourt’s late-game heroics.

Lost amidst the loss and his fumble was Taylor making some history.

Taylor came in four yards shy of 5, 000 rushing yards in his career. Any suspense related to the running back hitting that mark Saturday afternoon was quickly erased as Taylor ripped off a 16 – yard run on UW’s first play from scrimmage to eclipse that the 5k Plateau.

In hitting that mark, Taylor became just the fourth FBS back to reach 5, 000 yards prior to the end of their junior season. The first three were Georgia’sHerschel Walker(5, (yards at the end of his third year), Wisconsin’sRon Dayne(5, 091 and Oregon’sLaMichael James(5, 082).

More impressively, Taylor became the quickest ever to reach 5, 000 yards.

For this game, Taylor finished with 132 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries. It was the 28 th 100 – yard game of Taylor’s career , six (in seven games) this season.

(* I don’t care that the NCAA asininely doesn’t go back and retroactively add bowl stats, which they have officially counted since 2002.)

(Writer’s note: this post will be updated, as needed, over the next hour or so.)

At the break in Dallas, No. 19 SMU holds a 24 – 7 lead over Temple.

The Mustangs have led throughout, opening the game with an 11 – play, 77 – yard touchdown drive. Head coachSonny Dykesbypassed a 50 – yard field goal opportunity to go for a 4th-and-1 from Temple’s 33, and (Ke’Mon Freeman) rewarded that decision with a 3-yard carry.Shane Buechelefinished the drive two plays later with a 33 – yard touchdown pass toReggie Roberson, Jr.

Those two hooked up again in the second quarter when, leading 10 – 0, Roberson ran right past a Temple cornerback to snare a 75 – yard touchdown grab, giving the Mustangs a commanding lead with 7: (left in the first half.)

Temple answered with a 7-play, 65 – yard touchdown drive, scoring on a 1-yardRe’Mahn Davisplunge. The Mustangs, though, responded, piecing together a 9-play, 68 – yard touchdown drive that saw Buechele hitJames Prochefor a 10 – yard strike with 20 seconds left before halftime.

SMU has owned the scoreboard by owning the football. The Mustangs have run (plays to Temple’s) , gaining 381 yards to Temple’s 108. Buechele is 19 – of – 31 for 330 yards and three touchdowns.

The Owls have not done themselves any favors, dropping a handful of passes that would have gone for chunks of yardage. QuarterbackAnthony Russohas played better than his 7-of – 14 for 59 yards would indicate. However, Temple has mustered only 31 yards on 12 rushing attempts.

Getting past No. 12 Oregon’s mammoth offensive line and figuring out the Ducks’ defense has proven to be quite a challenge for teams this season but No. 25 Washington is giving their Pacific Northwest rivals everything they can handle to take a 21 – 14 lead heading into halftime on Saturday afternoon in Seattle.

The Huskies picked up where they left off in the second half against Arizona last week by discovering their downfield passing game. QBJacob Easonwas 15 – of – 19 for 168 yards and two touchdowns, including a beautiful play-action toss toJordan Chinfor a 48 yard scoring strike.

Salvon Ahmedalso got into the action with an impressive 77 yards and one trip to the end zone on the ground against a defensive unit that had given up just four touchdowns all season long coming into this one. It didn’t help that starting LBTroy Dyeand starting CBDeommodore Lenoirwere both injured for UO , losses that seemed apparent as the half wore on and UW took advantage by going right at their two replacements.

It’s not like Oregon was lackluster on offense though and they did their best to keep up with the much higher-scoring pace than most expected.Justin Herbertthrew for 161 yards himself with two touchdown passes, picking up a run game that was pretty limited asCJ Verdellmustered only 48 yards in the first half.

This game has a good chance at deciding the Pac – 12 North when all is said and done at the end of the year and so far the battle between ranked teams up in the corner of the country is living up to the hype.

LSU may not be dominating Mississippi State on the scoreboard the way projected, but there has yet to be a reason to believe the Tigers are in any serious danger in Starkville. The second-ranked team in the nation has scored points on every offensive possession of the first half and leads Mississippi State 15 – 7 at the halftime break.

LSU had three first-and-goal situations in the first half that all ended with field goals byCade York [“lsu tigers”,”mississippi state bulldogs”,”ncaa division i”,”southeastern conference”] . Considering how close LSU has been to blowing the doors off Mississippi State,Joe Moorheadand his program should feel fortunate at the halftime break.

But on the first play from scrimmage after the ensuing kickoff (which had a 15 – yard facemask penalty tacked on at the end of the return),Joe Burrowfound a wide-openRacey McMathdown the left side of the field behind broken coverage. Sixty yards later, LSU was back up by nine.

LSU has forced two turnovers, including a phenomenal one-handed interception by JaCoby Stevens. More importantly, LSU has scored 10 points off those two turnovers. For a team trying to mount a big upset, that won’t get the job done for Mississippi State. A turnover on downs on the first possession of the game by Mississippi State also led to an LSU field goal after getting the ball near midfield at the Mississippi State 45 – yard line.

Don’t worry. It’s officially OK to chuckle. Or guffaw, if you prefer.

During the second quarter of what would becomea decisive Oklahoma win over West Virginia, the beloved Sooner Schooner, as is custom, came onto the field to celebrate an OU touchdown, this one a two-yard run byJalen Hurts. Unfortunately, the two-horsepower wagon showed once again that its turn radius is nearly nil as ittoppled overaround the 15 – yard line, sending the drivers crashing to the turf and the horses running untethered from human restraints toward the tunnel.

As scary as it looked, the university subsequently released a statement in which it was confirmed that neither the humans nor the horses were seriously injured. Additionally, OU gave a suspected cause of the incident.