BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -LSU’s national title hopes were crushed by a Heisman-worthy performance.
Darren McFadden rushed for three touchdowns and threw for another to lift Arkansas to a 50-48, three-overtime victory over the top-ranked Tigers on Friday.
Peyton Hillis also scored four TDs, the last in the third overtime. Felix Jones ran for the critical 2-point conversion to make it 50-42.
LSU responded when Matt Flynn found Brandon LaFell for a 9-yard TD, but Matterral Richardson intercepted the 2-point conversion attempt, and Arkansas’ bench emptied onto the field in triumph.
McFadden, last year’s Heisman Trophy runner-up, rushed for 206 yards 32 carries and now has 1,725 yards rushing this season. No doubt there are West Virginia and Ohio State fans who’d vote for McFadden for Heisman if they could.
By knocking off LSU, which was in first place in the BCS standings, Arkansas boosted the national championship hopes of West Virginia and Ohio State.
McFadden wasn’t the only running back LSU had trouble wrapping up.
Hillis ran for 89 yards and Jones 85 as Arkansas finished with a 385 yards on the ground against one of the best run defenses in the country.
It’s the second time this season the Tigers have fallen while at No. 1 and it’s probably too late in the season now for them to get another chance.
The winner of tomorrow night’s game between No. 2 Kansas and No. 3 Missouri will likely take over the top spot in the rankings and the BCS standings. No. 4 West Virginia, which was third in the BCS standings, has a chance to sneak up to at least No. 2 in each with a win over Connecticut.
Flynn finished 209 yards passing and three touchdowns. He also ran for another score in the first overtime, when LSU could have emerged victorious with a stop on fourth-and-10.
But Casey Dick found Hillis open for a 12-yard game to keep the Razorbacks alive, then later found Hillis again for a 9-yard tying TD.
M 38, No. 13 Texas 30
M to a 38-30 victory over rival Texas, then resigned after the game.
M’s 95-yard drive with a 5-yard TD run on a fake field goal and the defense forced three turnovers (two fumbles, interception) by Texas quarterback Colt McCoy.
Texas (9-3, 5-3), which after its first 0-2 conference start since 1956 had won five straight games, still has an outside shot of making it to the Big 12 championship game if 10th-ranked Oklahoma loses to Oklahoma State on Saturday.
For Franchione, his satisfaction will have to come from beating Texas twice. There have been no Big 12 titles, and his 32-28 record over the past five seasons is far from what was expected when he took over in Aggieland – especially for the $2 million a year he’s scheduled to make through 2012.
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