SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Take that, Notre Dame.

No. 11 Michigan finally put a Big Blue bruising on the second-ranked Fighting Irish in a 47-21 rout Saturday – the most points scored against Notre Dame at home in 46 years.

Chad Henne threw three touchdown passes to Mario Manningham, and the Wolverines intercepted Brady Quinn three times and shut down the rest of the Irish offense.

Prescott Burgess intercepted Quinn on the second play of the game to set the tone. The Wolverines were ahead 26-7 before the Irish had their initial first down.

The Wolverines (3-0) ended a two-game losing streak to Notre Dame (2-1) as well as a three-game slide at Notre Dame Stadium. The 47 points were second only to the 51 scored at Notre Dame by Purdue in 1960.

It was a huge win for Michigan coach Lloyd Carr, who had been under fire for failing to win big games the past two seasons – twice in bowl games, and twice each to Notre Dame and Ohio State. Carr, though, improved to 4-1 against No. 2 teams and 16-6 against Top 10 teams.

It was just the eighth time the Irish have given up at least 40 points at home.

Henne finished 12-of 22 for 220 yards; Quinn, who has never had a big game against Michigan, was 24-of-28 for 234 yards with three interceptions and a lost fumble.

No. 3 Auburn 7, No. 6 LSU 3

AUBURN, Ala. – The Auburn Tigers survived another bruising showdown with LSU thanks to a stingy defense that wouldn’t budge and a reversed call that went their way late in the game.

Eric Brock deflected a pass near the goal line to stop one late drive and then made a game-saving tackle on the final play to preserve the win for Auburn (3-0, 2-0).

With LSU (2-1, 0-1 SEC) facing fourth-and-8 from Auburn’s 31 and 2:43 left, JaMarcus Russell fired the ball to Early Doucet near the goal line. A diving Brock deflected the pass, but Zach Gilbert was called for pass interference that would have kept the drive alive.

The officials overturned the call, although replays showed the contact came before the ball was tipped by Brock. LSU got the ball back at its 20 for another try with 1:11 left, drove to the Auburn 24 but a final pass completion fell 6 yards short of the goal line on the final play.

No. 1 Ohio State 37, Cincinnati 7

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State took awhile to get on track before Troy Smith and Ted Ginn Jr. hooked up on two touchdown passes to start the Buckeyes on their way to victory.

The defense held the Bearcats (1-2) to minus-4 yards on 22 attempts. The Buckeyes (3-0) had eight sacks for minus 59 yards.

Still, they didn’t have a firm grip on the game until tailback Antonio Pittman raced 48 yards around left end for a score with 10 minutes remaining to push the lead to 27-7. Pittman finished with 155 yards on 16 carries.

Smith completed 21-of-30 passes for 203 yards before taking most of the fourth quarter off. Ginn was limited to five catches for 33 yards, including touchdowns of 12 and 9 yards.

No. 4 USC 28, No. 19 Nebraska 10

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LOS ANGELES (AP) – If there was any doubt, USC declared itself a national title contender for a fourth straight season with a victory over Nebraska.

USC (2-0) won for the 36th time in 37 games, the lone defeat coming to Texas in the final seconds of last January’s Rose Bowl. The Trojans’ home winning streak is now 28 straight games.

Making his second career start, John David Booty was 25-for-36 for 257 with no interceptions and three touchdown passes for USC in a Leinart-esque performance.

All-American receiver Dwayne Jarrett, the one holdover star from last year’s record-breaking offense, caught 11 passes for 126 yards, including two touchdowns. He became USC’s career touchdown receptions leader with 31, breaking Mike Williams’ record of 30.

Freshman Emmanuel Moody ran for 70 yards on nine carries.

The bigger story on this day may have been the Trojans’ defense, which dominated the Cornhuskers (2-1).

No. 7 Florida 21, No. 13 Tennessee 20

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Dallas Baker caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Chris Leak that gave Florida the lead in the fourth quarter and the Gators held on to beat Tennessee.

Florida’s Urban Meyer’s first trip to Neyland Stadium as a head coach was a success as he made it two straight against the Vols.

The No. 7 Gators (3-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) preserved the victory when Reggie Nelson got his second interception of the game after Tennessee went for it on fourth down at the Florida 45.

Leak finished 15-of-25 for 199 yards with one interception and freshman QB Tim Tebow provided a spark with his running.

Tennessee (2-1, 0-1) was held to minus-11 yards rushing, and Ainge struggled in going 17-of-32 for 183 yards.

No. 8 Texas 52, Rice 7

HOUSTON – Texas had no trouble rebounding from last week’s loss to Ohio State as Colt McCoy and the Longhorns defeated overmatched Rice.

Texas (2-1) easily avoided losing two straight games for the first time since 1999 while Rice (0-3) has lost 19 of its last 20.

McCoy threw for 124 yards and two touchdowns and Selvin Young and Jamaal Charles both ran for more than 100 yards and scored a touchdown each.

The Longhorns scored on their first three possessions and then tacked on touchdowns on defense and special teams to take a 31-0 lead.

The Longhorns committed a school-record 19 penalties for 148 yards.

No. 9 Florida State 27, Clemson 20

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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – James Davis’ 1-yard run with eight seconds left gave Clemson and Tommy Bowden a victory over Florida State and Bobby Bowden.

Florida State (2-1, 1-1 ACC) struggled again offensively. It’s first offensive touchdown came on Joe Surratt’s 1-yard run with 10:27 left the game and Drew Weatherford hit Chris Davis for the 2-point conversion to tie the game 20-20.

Davis, the ACC’s leading rusher, had been held in check until the game-winning drive that started when a replay overruled an official’s decision on a fumble that had momentarily awarded the ball to Florida State.

Clemson (2-1, 1-1) had not won at Florida State since 1989.

Florida State’s Tony Carter ran back two blocked kicks, one for a touchdown, and another for two points on a blocked extra point.

No. 10 Georgia 34, UAB 0

ATHENS, Ga. – Freshman Matthew Stafford scored his first touchdown in a winning debut as Georgia’s starting quarterback and the Bulldogs put up their second straight shutout.

C.J. Byrd scooped up a blocked punt and returned it 12 yards to the end zone midway through the third quarter, which gave Georgia (3-0) a 20-point lead and essentially finished off a team that couldn’t muster anything offensively.

After beginning the season with a surprisingly close 24-17 loss at Oklahoma, UAB (1-2) managed only 163 yards against a defense that shut out South Carolina 18-0 the previous week.

No. 12 Louisville 31, No. 17 Miami 7

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Louisville came up with one of its biggest victories even though it lost Heisman hopeful Brian Brohm to a hand injury.

Brohm threw for 181 yards and touchdown for the Cardinals (3-0) before getting knocked out of the game. Brohm, who tore ligaments in his right (throwing) hand is expected to have surgery Sunday and miss three to six weeks.

Backup Hunter Cantwell finished up and threw for 113 yards and a touchdown. Miami fell to 1-2 for the first time since 1997.

The Cardinals had already lost one Heisman Trophy contender for the season, when running back Michael Bush broke his leg in the season opener.

No. 14 Virginia Tech 36, Duke 0

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BLACKSBURG, Va. – Sean Glennon and Virginia Tech’s offense started slow, but the Hokies’ fly-to-the-ball defense was again more than capable of shouldering the load, holding Duke to 139 total yards.

The Hokies (3-0) even had more points than Duke had total yards after Glennon’s second touchdown pass, a 25-yarder to Josh Morgan midway through the third quarter.

The play gave the Hokies a 30-0 lead, and the Blue Devils (0-3) had 25 yards.

No. 18 Oregon 34, No. 15 Oklahoma 33

EUGENE, Ore. – Dennis Dixon rallied Oregon for two touchdowns in the final 72 seconds – with help from a disputed onside kick – and the Ducks blocked a field goal on the final play in the wild win.

Dixon’s 16-yard keeper with 1:12 left brought the Ducks within 33-27 and set up the onside kick attempt.

The Ducks (3-0) recovered the kick on their own 48, but Oklahoma (2-1) argued that an Oregon player touched the ball before it went the required 10 yards, which would have given the Sooners possession. Officials delayed play for an instant replay review, but the call stood and Dixon went to work.

After a pass interference call on Oklahoma again had Sooners coach Bob Stoops shaking his head on the sideline, Dixon threw a 23-yard TD pass to Brian Paysinger with 46 seconds to give Oregon the lead.

Oklahoma wasn’t done, though, as Reggie Smith returned a squib kick 55 yards to the Ducks’ 27.

With no timeouts, the Sooners ran one play before Garrett Hartley’s 44-yard field-goal attempt wasn’t high enough to clear the line and the Ducks celebrated.

No. 16 Iowa 27, Iowa State 17

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Drew Tate threw for 274 yards and three touchdowns as Iowa against in-state rival Iowa State.

The Cyclones (2-1) had taken six of the last eight from Iowa – including a 23-3 thumping last season – and looked poised to make it seven of nine. But Tate, who missed last week’s game with an abdominal strain, led Iowa (3-0) back by throwing a pair of touchdown passes in the second half.

Tate threw for 93 yards on consecutive scoring drives that put Iowa ahead 24-17 early in the fourth quarter. He found Tony Moeaki for a 19-yard touchdown with 3:32 left in the third quarter to tie the game at 17, then hit Tom Busch for a 2-yard scoring strike that proved to be the game-winning score.

No 20 TCU 12, Texas Tech 3

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FORT WORTH, Texas – TCU held Texas Tech’s pass-happy offense without a touchdown – two years after the Red Raiders’ 10-TD assault in the last meeting between the former Southwest Conference rivals.

Chris Manfredini kicked four field goals for TCU (3-0), which won its 13th straight game. His longest kick was 34 yards, and the last was a 23-yarder with 4:19 left.

TCU’s winning streak is the longest in NCAA Division I-A, and one short of the school record. The record streak included the Frogs’ undefeated national championship in 1938, when quarterback Davey O’Brien won their only Heisman Trophy.

The only other time the Red Raiders (2-1) didn’t score a touchdown in Mike Leach’s 79 games over the last seven years was in a 56-3 loss to Nebraska in 2000, the coach’s first season.

No. 21 Cal 42, Portland State 16

BERKELEY, Calif. – Marshawn Lynch ran for 112 yards and a touchdown on just six carries, and California tuned up for its Pac-10 schedule with a victory.

Nate Longshore passed for 225 yards and two scores in the first half for the Golden Bears (2-1), who substituted liberally after rolling to a 32-point lead midway through the second quarter.

Cal’s defense knocked two of the Division I-AA Vikings’ quarterbacks out of the game with injuries on crushing hits in the first quarter.

Cameron Morrah also caught a TD pass for the Bears as they racked up 375 total yards by halftime.

No. 23 Boston College 30 , BYU 23 2OT

BOSTON – Matt Ryan threw a touchdown pass to Tony Gonzalez on the first play of the second overtime, then BC waited for a replay review to confirm a game-ending interception that gave the Eagles the win.

It was the second consecutive double-overtime game for Boston College (3-0). The Eagles beat then-No. 18 Clemson on a blocked extra point, but the victory over BYU (1-2) had an even stranger ending.

After both teams missed field goals in the first OT, Ryan found Gonzalez for a TD.

BYU got a first down at the 14, but on the next play John Beck’s pass was tipped into the air and safety Jamie Silva dove to grab the deflection before it hit the turf. It was ruled an incomplete pass, but after a review officials declared the pass intercepted and the game over.

The victory was the 69th for coach Tom O’Brien at BC, a school record.

No. 25 Penn State 37, Youngstown State 3

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – Tony Hunt ran for 143 yards and a touchdown, A.J. Wallace scored on a 76-yard reverse for Penn State (2-1).

The Nittany Lions were too big and fast for the Division I-AA Penguins most of the afternoon. Penn State had 568 yards of total offense, including 389 on the ground, and held Youngstown State to 184 total yards.


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