West Virginia was No. 3 in the Bowl Championship Series standings Sunday, leading a tightly packed group of nine teams trailing Ohio State and Michigan. The Mountaineers replaced USC, which had been in third place before losing 33-31 at Oregon State on Saturday. But unlike the Trojans, West Virginia's hold on third isn't strong enough for the Mountaineers to control their destiny in the national title race.

Until Oregon State's fans descended onto the field in droves, the third-ranked USC Trojans believed they were headed for another victory. Southern California couldn't find a way to win this close game. Oregon State capitalized on four turnovers to upset the Trojans 33-31 on Saturday, snapping USC's 27-game Pac-10 winning streak and breaking the national championship race wide open.

Marshawn Lynch, junior tailback from California, battled two sprained ankles while running 21 times for 150 yards and two scores, including the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter and the game-winner in overtime that gave the Bears a 31-24 victory over Washington. "It was such a gutsy performance by Marshawn today," Cal coach Jeff Tedford said. "He put the offense on his back, and, to make so many plays, is just a phenomenal performance."

Brady Quinn, under pressure all day by a relentless UCLA defense, completed three straight passes in the final 62 seconds, capped by a 45-yard TD pass to Jeff Samardzija, to lead the Irish to a 20-17 come-from-behind victory over the Bruins on Saturday. "Good teams win games like that," Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis said. "Good teams at the end of the game somehow, good teams make a play at the end of the game to win." Samardzija, who had a 2-yard TD pass in the first quarter, finished with eight catches for 118 yards.

Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson wants to play in their bowl game, hoping that his broken collarbone has healed by then. "He's indicated that what he intends to do is play as soon as he's allowed to," Stoops said. "But I'm not going to hold him to that. Let it heal a little bit then (I'll) visit with him and be sure what's in his heart. "But (his playing again this season) would not surprise me, because I know what kind of guy he is."

A sideline-clearing brawl interrupted the third quarter of the Florida International-Miami game Saturday night, prompting the ejection of 13 players in the first meeting between the South Florida rivals. FIU had eight players ejected, Miami had five. It was the first on-field fight in FIU's five-year football history, school officials said.

Arkansas relied on a swarming defense and the rushing tandem of Darren McFadden and Felix Jones to beat No. 2 Auburn 27-10 Saturday, severely damaging the Tigers' national title hopes.

Ohio State tightened its hold on No. 1. Coming off another decisive victory over a ranked opponent, the Buckeyes received a season-high 62 first-place votes in The Associated Press Top 25 on Sunday. Ohio State, No. 1 since the preseason, had 1,622 points in the media poll after beating Iowa 38-17 on Saturday.

The toughest part of Ohio State's schedule is behind the Buckeyes. Troy Smith threw for 186 yards and four touchdowns and No. 1 Ohio State picked up its second road win over a ranked opponent by manhandling No. 13 Iowa 38-17 Saturday night. The Buckeyes (5-0, 2-0 Big Ten) faced three ranked teams in September -- Texas, Penn State and the Hawkeyes -- and beat them all by at least 17 points. Ohio State, which extended the nation's longest winning streak to 12 games, won't face another team currently ranked until their season finale against Michigan Nov. 18.

Paul McCoy ran for 658 yards in a high school football game and, believe it or not, may not have set a national record with his feat. The total tops the National Federation of State High School Association's listed record of 619 yards set by Ronney Jenkins of Oxnard, Calif., in 1995. But high school records historian Doug Huff said Saturday the recognized record is 739 yards by John Giannantonio of Netcong, N.J., in 1950, against Mountain Lakes.