By The Associated Press

PROVO, Utah  – Max Hall threw a 25-yard touchdown pass in overtime to Andrew George to give No. 18 BYU a 26-23 win over 22nd-ranked Utah for the Cougars’ third victory in four years in the in-state rivalry.

Hall found George open for a quick dump-off over the middle and George had nobody between him and the goal line, hugging the ball with both hands as he went for the winning score for the Cougars (10-2, 7-1 Mountain West).

George was mobbed first by his teammates, then by fans who ran down from the stands. A few minutes later the field was covered with blue-clad fans, who were still celebrating a win in another thriller against the Utes (9-3, 6-2).

No. 4 TCU 51, New Mexico 10

FORT WORTH, Texas — Bring on any opponent for TCU. The undefeated Horned Frogs are going to bust into the BCS for the first time. The only question left is where are they headed and who will they play.

“We can play with anybody,” coach Gary Patterson said after TCU wrapped its first undefeated regular season in 71 years. “We’re going to look forward to the challenge, we’ll find out what that’s going to be and we’re going to get ready for it. … This team can play with a lot of people, and not just this year.”

Hard to argue after the fourth-ranked Horned Frogs improved to 12-0 with a 51-10 victory over New Mexico on Saturday – their seventh straight win by at least 27 points, a stretch including BYU and Utah, last year’s BCS buster.

While there should be no question about if TCU (12-0, 8-0 Mountain West Conference) will be part of the Bowl Championship Series, the Frogs have to wait another week to make travel plans.

Representatives from the Fiesta, Orange and Sugar bowls were in attendance.

“They’re sure way up there,” said Alan Young, the Fiesta Bowl board chairman. “It’s an easy sell to our board of directors. … TCU is right in the middle of our mix.”

After some near-misses in the past, including a 10-0 start in 2003 and a one-loss season two years after that, TCU is higher in the BCS standings than any team from a conference without an automatic bid has ever been this late in the season. The Frogs are fourth behind Florida, Alabama and Texas.

Oklahoma 27, No. 11 Oklahoma St. 0. Optional.

NORMAN, Okla. — No. 11 Oklahoma State had everything to play for: the money and exposure of the Bowl Championship Series, another step toward making school history and bragging rights in a rare chance to outshine its traditional in-state rival.

Then Oklahoma snatched all that away in making OSU look anything but BCS-worthy.

DeMarco Murray ran for two touchdowns, Ryan Broyles returned a punt 88 yards for a score and Oklahoma knocked No. 11 Oklahoma State out of contention for its first BCS appearance with a 27-0 win.

“The only good thing about this is it counts as one loss, and I told the team that,” Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said. “To move forward, you have to let go. This team has accomplished a lot. We have an opportunity to go play in a very good bowl game. Where that’ll be, I’m not sure.”

With representatives of the Fiesta and Orange bowls watching, the Cowboys (9-3, 6-2 Big 12) fell completely flat with their worst offensive performance of the decade. Oklahoma State was shut out for the first time since 2005 by an Oklahoma defense coming off its worst outing of the year in a 41-13 loss at Texas Tech last week.

“That’s the way you finish a season,” defensive captain Gerald McCoy said. “We’ve still got a bowl game to play, but that’s the way you come back and finish out.”

Zac Robinson threw for only 44 yards on 9-for-21 passing after missing last week’s game with injuries to his head and shoulder. He was pulled in the fourth quarter with his lowest passing total since taking over as the starting quarterback early in the 2007 season.

No. 14 Virginia Tech 42, Virginia 13.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Ryan Williams ran for 182 yards and four touchdowns and No. 14 Virginia Tech beat Virginia 42-13 in what was likely Al Groh’s last game as Virginia’s coach.

The Hokies (9-3, 6-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their sixth straight in the series and for the 10th time 11 meetings with the Cavaliers (3-9, 2-6). It was their eighth victory in nine games against Groh, and ended Virginia’s worst season since it finished 2-9 in 1982.

Groh, who has a contract clause requiring that the school inform him by Nov. 30 if it plans to add a year, is expected to instead be fired. Virginia has had three losing seasons in the last four and its average attendance has fallen by nearly 14,000 in two years.

The Hokies, conversely, can reach 10 victories for the sixth year in a row if they win their bowl game. Only Texas and Southern California have also won 10 the last five years.

Williams had a lot to do with it on Saturday. He had scoring runs of 5, 20, 4 and 2 yards. He added a 51-yard burst in the fourth quarter that ended when he was stripped of the ball at the 10, but the ball squirted into the end zone and Hokies wide receiver Jarrett Boykin recovered for the touchdown, making it 35-13 with 10:21 to play.

The play also sent Cavaliers fans heading for the exits, turning the largest crowd of the season at Scott Stadium – 58,555 – into a vitual Hokies home game at its rival’s stadium.

The touchdowns also allowed Williams to set a new ACC record for touchdowns by a freshman with 20. He started the day two behind T.A. McClendon of N.C. State, who did it in 2002.

South Carolina 34, No. 15 Clemson 17

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier still has a few of those Heisman Trophy moves.

Gamecocks captain Moe Brown and fellow senior Garrett Anderson chased an elusive Spurrier, the 1966 Heisman winner at Florida, with a water bucket and eventually doused their coach after beating rival No. 15 Clemson 34-17.

Spurrier’s rule is save such showers for championships. Even the head ball coach had to smile when Brown pointed out the Gamecocks won the Palmetto State title.

“I figured I only got one game left, he can’t be too mad at me,” Brown said. “We said we won the state championship and he gave me a hug.”

“That was a big win,” Brown said. “We needed it.”

Besides short-circuiting another late-season swoon, the Gamecocks (7-5) most likely earned a bid to one of the Southeastern Conference’s mid-tier bowls like the Music City or Chick-fil-A.

“It was a wonderful win,” Spurrier said.

And it came mostly because South Carolina’s defense slowed a Tigers attack that had averaged more than 40 points and 415 yards during its six-game win streak.

Clemson’s run brought it an ACC Atlantic Division crown and a spot in next week’s league title game against Georgia Tech. The Tigers (8-4) had few answers for South Carolina’s rested and raring-to-go defenders.

Clemson star C.J. Spiller had his NCAA record-setting seventh career kickoff return touchdown to start the game. He managed only 18 yards on the ground after that.

No. 19 Miami 31, South Florida 10

TAMPA, Fla. — Javarris James rushed for two touchdowns, Jacory Harris threw for two more, and No. 19 Miami took a big early lead on the way to beating South Florida 31-10.

Dedrick Epps and Leonard Hankerson caught touchdown passes for Miami (9-3), which ran out to a 21-3 halftime lead and capped its first nine-win regular season since 2005. A bowl victory – destination undetermined, but undoubtedly boosted by Saturday’s performance – would give Miami its first 10-win season since 2003.

Damien Berry rushed for 114 yards and Graig Cooper added 83 more for Miami, which played without ill left tackle Jason Fox and still rolled.

A.J. Love caught a 12-yard touchdown pass for South Florida (7-4), which closes its regular season at Connecticut next Saturday. The Bulls fell to 7-28 all-time when allowing at least 31 points and 10-2 against teams from the state of Florida, with both those losses against Miami.

The schools were meeting for just the second time, with plans calling for the teams to play in late November annually until 2013, by which time another true Sunshine State rivalry could be born.

It’s not there yet, and to the chagrin of 66,469 – the second-largest crowd in South Florida history – Miami wasted no time pointing that out.

A 12-play, 81-yard drive on the opening series set the tone, fueled by a gutsy call and Damien Berry’s 6-yard run on 4th-and-1 from the USF 17. On the very next play, Hankerson made a juggling catch in the right side of the end zone, and the Hurricanes were well on their way.

Mississippi State 41, No. 20 Mississippi 27

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Coaches always say they take one game at a time, but the clock in Mississippi State’s locker room tells a different story.

That timepiece had been counting down to the Egg Bowl matchup against No. 20 Mississippi since first-year coach Dan Mullen took over last winter, and when it hit zero the Bulldogs put on quite the show.

Anthony Dixon rushed for 133 yards and set the school single-season rushing mark, Chris Relf rushed for 131 yards and accounted for three touchdowns and the Bulldogs manhandled the Rebels 41-27.

“This program is on the rise,” Mullen said, “maybe to the contrary of what some others are saying around the state.”

It was the most points scored by the Bulldogs (5-7, 3-5 SEC) in the 106-year-old series since a 41-14 victory in 1917, and the most Ole Miss (8-4, 4-4) has given up this season.

The Egg Bowl was supposed to be a victory lap for the Rebels, who appeared on their way to their second straight nine-win season for the first time since 1961-62, second place in the SEC West and a balmy bowl appearance somewhere in central Florida.

N.C. State 28, No. 23 North Carolina 27

RALEIGH, N.C. — Even in a season gone awry, Russell Wilson and North Carolina State still know how to beat North Carolina.

Wilson threw four touchdown passes and Alan-Michael Cash blocked a field goal attempt with about 5 minutes left to help the Wolfpack rally past the 23rd-ranked Tar Heels 28-27, ending a bowl-less season in the jubilant style that only a win against a nationally ranked rival can bring.

Wilson connected twice with Owen Spencer for scores, including the go-ahead 38-yard touchdown two plays into the fourth quarter that gave the Wolfpack (5-7, 2-6 ACC) a third straight win against their next-door neighbors and fiercest football rivals. All three have come since Tom O’Brien took over shortly after the Tar Heels (8-4, 4-4) made their big splash by luring former Miami and NFL coach Butch Davis to Chapel Hill in late 2006.

“It means a tremendous amount to this program,” O’Brien said. “They’re going to ask how (their) senior year was, and they’re going to say, ‘We beat Carolina.’ And that’ll sum up their year.”

That should offer some solace to a program that expected it could contend for an ACC division title only to see everything go wrong. The defense was terrible all year, allowing 30 or more points in seven straight games to undermine an offense that returned an all-ACC quarterback in Wilson and averaged about 31 points.

Much of those troubles began with injuries, starting with losing top linebacker Nate Irving for the season after he was injured in an offseason car wreck. Another 11 players went down with season-ending injuries.

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