Baton Rouge, La. ? Florida quarterback Chris Leak took a pounding Saturday at LSU.

He administered one, too.

Leak shrugged off six sacks, the Tiger Stadium noise and a pressing defense to lead the Gators to a 19-7 victory over No. 6 LSU.

“This was a great win,” Leak said. “We came in here to win. LSU is a great team, an awesome team, but we just came in here and played our hearts out.”

The loss not only spoiled LSU’s best start since 1973, but also it dropped the Tigers out of first place in the Southeastern Conference West. Auburn (4-2, 3-0), the preseason favorite to win the division, moved into the top spot with a 10-3 victory at No. 7 Arkansas.

Coming off its second loss in the last three games, Florida (4-3, 2-2) made it look easy against the Tigers (5-1, 2-1).

Leak, a freshman making his third start, was 18-of-30 for 229 yards and two touchdowns as Florida outgained LSU 310-287.

“That defense was tough, but I just had to keep playing and keep my composure and keep going,” Leak said. “You just have to try to keep trying to make positive plays.”

The victory came after a tough week for the Gators, who fell out of the Top 25 after last week’s 20-17 loss to Mississippi.

Florida's Keiwan Ratlif (1) begins to celebrate on the sidelines near the end of the game against Louisiana State. The Gators upended the sixth-ranked Tigers, 19-7, Saturday in Baton Rouge, La. Joining Ratlif is Jermaine McCollum (26).

“I have been saying all along, we are a good football team,” Florida coach Ron Zook said. “We made some mistakes today, but I think we will continue to improve and continue to believe. We just happened to beat a good football team today.”

The Tigers were off last week, and coach Nick Saban had worried about his team’s ability to refocus. He was right.

“I kept preaching it,” Saban said. “I felt like some carnival preacher going around warning everyone this could happen.”

No. 2 Miami 22,

No. 5 Florida State 14

Tallahassee, Fla. — Sean Taylor returned an interception 50 yards for a touchdown, and Miami forced quarterback Chris Rix into four turnovers.

After nine losses the previous two years, the Seminoles (5-1) hoped to re-establish themselves as a national power with their first win against the Hurricanes since 1999.

Instead, Miami (6-0) proved once again to be the best team in the state — having beaten Florida, 38-33, last month — and showed it remains a major player for the national title after winning for the 40th time in 41 games.

Jon Peattie kicked three field goals, and Jarrett Payton scored on a 14-yard pass from Brock Berlin.

Each team turned the ball over five times in the rain and the offenses struggled to move the ball on a field full of puddles.

While Miami built a 22-0 lead by harassing Rix, the Hurricanes made their share of mistakes.

Miami lost two fumbles, and Berlin threw three interceptions, including one that set up Willie Reid’s leaping 18-yard touchdown grab in the third quarter that made it 22-7.

No. 23 Wisconsin 17,

No. 3 Ohio State 10

Madison, Wis. — Backup quarterback Matt Schabert hit Lee Evans with a 79-yard touchdown pass with 5:20 left as No. 23 Wisconsin ended third-ranked Ohio State’s 19-game winning streak.

The defending national champion Buckeyes had just tied the game on Michael Jenkins’ six-yard catch from Craig Krenzel with 6:09 remaining.

Evans, the Big Ten’s leading receiver, had been blanketed by cornerback Chris Gamble so well all night that he hadn’t had a single pass thrown his way.

But on second and nine from the 21, Evans beat Gamble off the line, and safety Will Allen was slow getting over. Schabert hit Evans in stride at the Ohio State 48, and Evans raced into the end zone.

Booker Stanley carried 31 times for 125 yards, including a 24-yard run that sealed it in the closing minute after Schabert’s six-yard naked bootleg on third-and-two off a great fake to Stanley.

The Badgers improved to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in the Big Ten. The Buckeyes fell to 5-1 and 1-1.

No. 4 Virginia Tech 51, Syracuse 7

Blacksburg, Va. — DeAngelo Hall scored on 58- and 60-yard punt returns in the first quarter and ran 24 yards with a reverse for another touchdown for Virginia Tech.

The Hokies (6-0, 2-0 Big East), who are leaving for the Atlantic Coast Conference next season, also blocked a field goal — the 100th block under coach Frank Beamer.

Auburn 10,

No. 7 Arkansas 3

Fayetteville, Ark. — Carnell Williams ran for 150 yards and a touchdown on 35 carries, and Auburn shut down the Southeastern Conference’s top rushing attack. Arkansas (4-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) had been averaging 247.8 yards on the ground — behind Cedric Cobbs’ 140.5-yard average — but Williams stole the attention as Auburn (4-2, 3-0) remained in contention to win the SEC West.

No. 8 Georgia 41,

No. 13 Tennessee 14

Knoxville, Tenn. — David Greene was 22-of-27 for 228 yards and one touchdown to help Georgia move closer to defending its Southeastern Conference championship. The Bulldogs (5-1, 3-1) moved atop the SEC East division standings by winning their fourth straight game over the Volunteers (4-2, 2-2), who suffered their worst loss home loss since Florida’s 31-0 win in 1994. Greene improved to 3-0 against Tennessee as Georgia led from the beginning and scored 21 points off three turnovers.

Notre Dame 20,

No. 15 Pittsburgh 14

Pittsburgh — Julius Jones broke Notre Dame’s single-game rushing record with 262 yards and scored twice, and the Fighting Irish — the nation’s eighth-worst rushing team — surprised Pittsburgh by switching to a power running game.

The Irish (2-3) turned two Pitt turnovers into scores, again disrupted quarterback Rod Rutherford with their constant pressure and revamped their offense during a bye week to beat Pitt (3-2) for the third straight season.

Jones, a senior who was academically ineligible last season, had only 152 yards on 43 carries this season. Jones, who ran for 718 yards as a junior in 2001, broke the record of 255 yards set by Vagas Ferguson against Georgia Tech in 1978.

No. 16 N. Illinois 40, Cent. Michigan 24

Mount Pleasant, Mich. — Michael Turner ran for a season-high 199 yards and two touchdowns for Northern Illinois. Central Michigan (2-4, 0-3 Mid-American) scored the first 17 points and kept the Huskies out of the end zone in the first half, but the second half was all Northern Illinois (6-0, 2-0), which outscored the Chippewas 28-7 in the third quarter en route to its 13th victory in its last 14 games.

No. 18 Purdue 28,

Penn State 14

West Lafayette, Ind. — Brandon Jones ran for 149 yards and two touchdowns, and Anthony Chambers returned a punt 76 yards for another score for Purdue. It was the fifth straight win for the Boilermakers (5-1, 2-0), while Penn State (2-5, 0-3) lost its third straight Big Ten game. Chambers set the school record for single-game punt return yardage (149) and became just the second player in school history with two career returns for touchdowns. The other is Vinny Sutherland.

No. 21 Mich. State 49, Illinois 14

Champaign, Ill. — Jeff Smoker was 23-of-31 for 317 yards and two touchdowns, and Michigan State converted three Illinois turnovers into TDs. The Spartans (6-1, 3-0 Big Ten) scored twice after intercepting Jon Beutjer’s passes deep in Illini territory. The first, by Eric Smith in the second quarter, led to Tyrell Dortch’s first one-yard TD run that gave Michigan State a 14-7 lead.

Clemson 30,

No. 25 Virginia 27, OT

Clemson, S.C. — Charlie Whitehurst’s four-yard pass to Kevin Youngblood in overtime lifted Clemson. Virginia (4-2, 3-1 ACC) had the ball first in the extra period and settled for Connor Hughes’ 33-yard field goal after linebacker Leroy Hill stopped Alvin Pearman on a third-and-one play. Clemson (4-2, 2-1) then took over, and Whitehurst’s 12-yard pass to Duane Coleman gave the Tigers a first down at the seven. Two plays later, Whitehurst floated a pass into the left corner that Youngblood leaped to catch over defender Jamaine Winborne.