Tavita Pritchard threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradford on fourth-and-goal with 49 seconds remaining Saturday night, giving the 41-point underdog Cardinal a 24-23 victory over No. 2 Southern California.

A leaping Bradford caught the ball over cornerback Mozique McCurtis in the corner of the end zone, leaving the crowd of 85,125 at the Los Angeles Coliseum in stunned silence. Bo McNally’s interception thwarted USC’s final chance.

In a season that started with Appalachian State’s improbable victory over Michigan at the Big House, and a week after half the top 10 went down, the Cardinal are the upset kings – at least for now. The way things have been going, that could change next week.

Making his first career start, Pritchard had to convert on fourth-and-20 four plays before the winning TD, and because he couldn’t hear his coach calling in the play, he was on his own.

“I think it was similar if I heard him right,” Pritchard said. “I saw the coverage I wanted, and Sherm came through.”

Sherm is Richard Sherman, who caught the critical fourth-and-20 pass over the middle before being leveled at the 9 – just past the first-down marker.

No. 1 LSU 28, No. 9 Florida 24

Baton Rouge, La. – Gambling at every opportunity, LSU stayed perfect.

The Tigers barely converted a pair of fourth-down runs before Jacob Hester powered over from the 2-yard line with 1:09 remaining to complete a fourth-quarter comeback.

Tim Tebow shredded the nation’s top-ranked defense for three quarters, giving Florida a 24-14 lead with 15 minutes remaining. Facing a defense that had two shutouts and was allowing fewer than 175 yards per game, Tebow passed for 158 yards and rushed for 75.

No. 4 Ohio State 23, Purdue 7

West Lafayette, Ind. – Todd Boeckman passed for 200 yards and two touchdowns, and Chris Wells ran for 85 yards on 18 carries for the Buckeyes.

Ryan Pretorius made all three of his field goal attempts for Ohio State, which won its 24th consecutive regular-season game.

Illinois 31, No. 5 Wisconsin 26

Champaign, Ill. – Rashard Mendenhall rushed for 160 yards and scored two touchdowns, and Illinois recovered an onside kick to help end the nation’s longest winning streak.

Mendenhall had 100 yards rushing in the first half, leading the Illini (5-1, 3-0 Big Ten) to a 17-6 lead. Illinois quarterback Juice Williams ran for another 92 yards on 14 carries.

The Badgers (5-1, 2-1) hadn’t lost since Sept. 16, 2006, at Michigan.

No. 6 South Florida 35, Florida Atlantic 23

Fort Lauderdale, Fla. – Benjamin Williams ran for 186 yards and four touchdowns, and Matt Grothe added 120 yards rushing and a score for the Bulls.

South Florida (5-0), enjoying the highest ranking in its short-lived history, overcame committing four turnovers for the second straight game.

Williams had a 10-yard scoring run to break a 7-7 tie in the third quarter, and Grothe made it 21-14 with a 32-yard run two possessions later. Williams then scampered 54 yards with about 10 minutes remaining to make it 28-17.

Rusty Smith hooked up with DiIvory Edgecomb for a 47-yard strike, cutting the lead to 28-23 with 6:42 to play. But the Owls (3-3) missed the 2-point conversion and didn’t threaten again.

No. 7 Boston College 55, Bowling Green 24

Boston – Matt Ryan threw four touchdown passes, and Boston College pulled away with four interceptions late in the first half to overwhelm Bowling Green.

The No. 7 Eagles entered the game with their highest ranking in 23 years.

Boston College (6-0) scored 38 straight points after Tyler Sheehan’s 6-yard pass to Freddie Barnes with 8:55 left in the half cut BC’s lead to 14-10.

Tennessee 35, No. 12 Georgia 14

Knoxville, Tenn. – Arian Foster rushed for 98 yards and three touchdowns, and Tennessee put an emphatic end to No. 12 Georgia’s three-game winning streak in Knoxville.

It was Georgia’s worst loss since the 2003 SEC championship, a 34-13 loss to LSU, and coach Mark Richt’s first loss at Tennessee.

No. 13 West Virginia 55, Syracuse 14

Syracuse, N.Y. – Fullback Owen Schmitt scored his first two touchdowns of the season, defensive tackle Keilen Dykes returned an interception 19 yards for another score, and No. 13 West Virginia gave coach Rich Rodriguez his 100th victory.

The maligned Syracuse defense held Steve Slaton to 69 yards rushing on 15 carries.

No. 15 Virginia Tech 41, No. 22 Clemson 23

Clemson, S.C. – Virginia Tech got help from a record-tying 100-yard kickoff return TD by Victor Harris and an 82-yard punt return score from Eddie Royal.

The Hokies (5-1, 2-0 ACC) had never had both a kickoff and punt returned for scores in the same game before this one.

No. 18 Arizona St. 23, Washington St. 20

Pullman, Wash. – Thomas Weber kicked a 37-yard field goal with 50 seconds left to lift No. 18 Arizona State and keep the Sun Devils undefeated under coach Dennis Erickson.

Washington State had a chance to tie with 12 second left, but Romeen Abdollmohammadi’s 46-yard field goal missed left, and Arizona State held on despite scoring its fewest points of the season for Erickson, who coached at Washington State from 1987-88.

No. 20 Cincinnati 28, No. 21 Rutgers 23

Piscataway, N.J. – Ben Mauk threw two of his three touchdowns in a 19-second span late in the third quarter, and Cincinnati forced four turnovers, including a game-saving interception by linebacker Ryan Manalac with 1:19 to play.

Mauk threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Dominick Goodman in the first half and found Marcus Barnett on a 2-yard toss and Marshwan Gilyard on a 27-yard pass in the lightning quick third-quarter spree that helped Cincinnati (6-0, 1-0 Big East) send Rutgers (3-2, 0-1) to its second straight defeat.

Ray Rice struggled for a second consecutive game.