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No. 1 Tigers Fall Again

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The Associated Press

Published: November 24, 2007

BATON ROUGE, La. - 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 2-point conversion to make it 50-42 for the Razorbacks (8-4, 4-4 Southeastern Conference).

LSU (10-2, 6-2) 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, having ending the nation's longest home winning streak at 19 games.

"Hey, we were the best team in the country today," boasted Houston Nutt, rumored to be on his way out as Razorbacks coach. "To come down here in Baton Rouge and win is huge."

McFadden, last year's Heisman Trophy runner-up, rushed for 206 yards 32 carries and now has 1,725 yards rushing this season, breaking the single-season record of 1,647 he set last year.

"Certainly, he had a Heisman performance today," LSU coach Les Miles said. "Right now, there's a goal of our football team taken off the board and it's sad. ... Tonight, we'll be sick."

McFadden often took direct snaps in "Wild Hog" formation. He executed a flawless play-action fake on his 24-yard touchdown pass to Hillis in the fourth quarter. McFadden's second rushing TD, coming after he took the direct snap, was a 73-yard run.

Hillis ran for 89 yards and Jones had 85 as Arkansas finished with a 385 yards on the ground against one of the best run defenses in the country.

TEXAS A&M 38, TEXAS 30: Dennis Franchione's finale at least provided a fun day for the Aggies' faithful, an eight-point victory over the 13th-ranked Longhorns.
Stephen McGee threw for a career-high 362 yards with three TDs and scored on a hard run. Holder T.J. Sanders got his only career TD when he capped A&M's 95-yard drive with a 5-yard TD run on a fake field goal, and the defense forced three turnovers.

Texas (9-3, 5-3) still has an outside shot of making it to the Big 12 Championship Game if 10th-ranked Oklahoma loses to Oklahoma State today.

Franchione stepped down less than an hour after Friday's game, ending a rocky five-year tenure. His 32-28 record the past five seasons is far from what was expected when he took over - especially for the $2 million a year he was scheduled to make through 2012.

Mike Goodson ran 12 times for 72 yards and caught six passes for 82 yards and two touchdowns for the Aggies (7-5, 4-4).

COLORADO 65, NEBRASKA 51: The once-mighty Cornhuskers gave up 34 straight points in the second half en route to another loss, and Colorado has a shot at a bowl bid that could have gone to Nebraska.

Instead, the Huskers (5-7, 2-6 Big 12) will go home with only their second losing record since 1962 - both have come during Coach Bill Callahan's four seasons in Lincoln.

Cody Hawkins threw for 241 yards and Hugh Charles ran for 169 yards and three scores for the Buffaloes (6-6, 4-4).

MISS. ST. 17, OLE MISS 14: Mississippi State (7-5, 4-4 SEC) scored 17 straight points in the fourth quarter, capped by Adam Carlson's 48-yard field goal with 18 seconds left, to beat rival Mississippi (3-9, 0-8) and probably lock up the school's first bowl bid since 2000.

BRENNAN SETS RECORD: Colt Brennan broke the major college career record for touchdown passes, throwing his 122nd in the first quarter of No. 14 Hawaii's late game against No. 17 Boise State.

The senior surpassed the milestone in his 36th game, 10 fewer than BYU's Ty Detmer took to set the record.

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