ATHENS, Ga. — Knowshon Moreno had his best game of the season. A.J. Green came up huge. Still, Georgia struggled to put another opponent away.
Moreno rushed for a season-high 172 yards and Green, a freshman, had 132 yards receiving, but 10th-ranked Georgia struggled for a 24-14 victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday.
Matthew Stafford threw two touchdown passes for the Bulldogs, who twice built 14-point leads and held a commanding 425-245 lead in total yards. The No. 22 Commodores still had a chance, though, until Blair Walsh kicked a 39-yard field goal with 17 seconds remaining.
Two pass interference penalties by the most flagged team in the country set up Vanderbilt’s first touchdown. Walsh missed a couple of field-goal attempts before finally making his third. Stafford was intercepted twice.
“You really can’t shoot yourself in the foot, especially down there in the red zone,” Moreno said.
Mackenzi Adams, who replaced Chris Nickson as Vandy’s starting quarterback this week, threw a pair of touchdown pass to Jamie Graham.
The Commodores (5-2, 3-2) lost their second game in a row, again missing a chance to become bowl-eligible for the first time since 1982. They have five more chances.
“Our guys don’t quit,” Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson said. “I don’t even have to worry about them.”
No. 3 Penn State 46, Michigan 17
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Behind the running of Evan Royster and a few momentum-shifting plays by the defense and special teams, the Nittany Lions withstood the Wolverines’ early flurry to earn coach Joe Paterno his 380th win.
No. 6 USC 69, Washington State 0
PULLMAN, Wash. — Mark Sanchez became the first USC quarterback to throw five touchdown passes in a half, and the Trojans secured their largest shutout victory since a 69-0 win over Montana in 1931.
USC’s defense, ranked first in the nation coming in by allowing just 9.4 points per game, ended the Cougars’ streak of scoring at 280 games dating to Sept. 15, 1984, when Ohio State beat Washington State 44-0. That scoring streak was second-longest in the nation to Michigan’s 295 games. The Cougars absorbed their largest margin of defeat since they began playing in 1894.
No. 12 Ohio State 45, No. 20 Michigan St. 7
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor ran for a score and threw for another in the first half, helping the Buckeyes build a four-touchdown lead. Ohio State’s Chris “Beanie” Wells had season highs with 31 carries, 140 yards rushing and two touchdowns.
No. 13 LSU 24, South Carolina 17
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Jarrett Lee went 16-of-26 for 189 yards, and LSU held South Carolina to minus-7 yards in the fourth quarter.
LSU (5-1, 3-1 SEC) took the lead for good on Charles Scott’s 2-yard touchdown run with 4:16 to go. It capped a grinding, 83-yard drive that took more than six minutes off the clock.
Virginia 16, No. 18 North Carolina 13, OT
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Virginia (4-3, 2-1, Atlantic Coast Conference) trailed 10-3 with 2:18 to play, but Cedric Peerman scored on a 2-yard run with 47 seconds left in regulation and Robert Randolph’s conversion was barely good to send the game into overtime.
After a Carolina field goal to start overtime, Virginia’s John Phillips caught a 19-yard pass from Marc Verica, and Peerman followed with the clinching 2-yard scoring run to extend the Cavaliers’ 14-game winning streak at Scott Stadium.
Boston College 28, No. 17 Virginia Tech 23
BOSTON — Rich Gunnell returned a punt 65 yards for a touchdown and Boston College overcame an off night by quarterback Chris Crane, who threw three interceptions — two of them returned for touchdowns — and coughed up a fumble.
No. 19 S. Fla. 45, Syracuse 13
TAMPA, Fla. — Quarterback Matt Grothe threw three touchdown passes and ran for another to help get the Bulls (6-1, 1-1 Big East) back on track after a disappointing loss to Pittsburgh on Oct. 2, which knocked them out of the top 10 in the polls.
Grothe’s second touchdown pass in the third quarter was the 40th of his career, good for second in the history of South Florida.
Maryland 26, No. 21 Wake Forest 0
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Chris Turner threw for 321 yards to back a strong defensive showing by Maryland in the Terrapins’ fifth straight win over a top-25 team.
The Terrapins’ (5-2, 2-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) last shutout of a ranked opponent was Sept. 24, 1955, a 7-0 win over top-ranked UCLA.
No. 23 Pitt 42, Navy 21
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — It was the fifth win in a row for the Panthers, who have started the season at 5-1 for the fourth time since 2000. Navy (4-3) had entered the contest with a three-game winning streak but couldn’t contain the Panthers’ offense, which rolled up 501 yards.
