No. 1 Florida 23, Arkansas 20

Tim Tebow stood on the sideline with his eyes closed. He couldn’t bear to watch, not after seeing so much go wrong all afternoon.

Maybe he should have peeked. After all, he missed what might go down as the most important field goal in Florida history.

Tebow directed a 69-yard drive in the final minutes, setting up Caleb Sturgis’ 27-yard field goal with nine seconds remaining that gave the top-ranked Gators a 23-20 win against Arkansas on Saturday.

“Once I heard everybody cheering and opened my eyes and saw we made the field goal, that was fun,” Tebow said.

The rest of the game wasn’t nearly as enjoyable.

On a day when little went right for the Gators (6-0, 4-0 SEC), Tebow took over down the stretch and helped extend the nation’s longest win streak to 16 games. He threw for 255 yards and a touchdown, ran for 69 more and saved his best plays for when Florida needed him most.

That final drive may have been Tebow’s Heisman moment. It kept Florida unbeaten and likely No. 1. It also may have preserved the team’s chances of repeating as national champion.

“I always knew we had a shot,” Tebow said. “We were just going to keep believing until the last second.”

The 2007 Heisman Trophy winner threw for 30 yards and ran for 22 on the final drive. Three plays stood out: His 12-yard pass to Riley Cooper on third down (Cooper fell down, then caught the ball on one knee) and consecutive runs that gained 16 yards and put Sturgis well within range.

Sturgis overcame an early miss and finished with three field goals, including a 51-yarder in the third. For much of the day, it was Florida’s best play.

Just about everything that could go wrong for the Gators did. They had four turnovers, three dropped passes, were gashed against the run and gave up more big plays in one game than they had all season. They missed a field goal and scored once in their first four trips inside the 20-yard line.

“You usually don’t win that kind of game,” coach Urban Meyer said.

But after struggling to move the ball, Tebow led the Gators to scores on three of their final four possessions.

He hooked up with Deonte Thompson on a 77-yard TD that gave Florida its first lead of the game, 13-10, with 2:59 to play in the third. Another deep pass to Thompson drew a pass-interference penalty and set up Jeff Demps’ 10-yard TD run that tied the game at 20 in the fourth.

Tebow put UF in position for the game-winner with a 14-play drive that took almost all the time off the clock.

The Razorbacks (3-3, 1-3) entered the game with the league’s worst-rated defense. But they stuffed Florida’s high-powered running game and sacked Tebow six times.

“I think somebody held onto the ball too long,” Meyer said, putting much of the blame on his star player. “Six sacks and four turnovers? I’m going to get him in here and start yelling at him. We’ve got to get that fixed immediately.”

No. 6 USC 34, No. 25 Notre Dame 27

South Bend, Ind. — Jimmy Clausen threw three incomplete passes into the end zone in the closing seconds as Southern California held on for a victory and its eighth straight win against Notre Dame on Saturday.

USC quarterback Matt Barkley was 19 for 29 for 380 yards and two touchdowns to Damian Williams.

No. 2 Alabama 20, No. 22 South Carolina 6

Tuscaloosa, Ala. — Mark Ingram rushed for a career-high 246 yards and a game-clinching touchdown. Alabama (7-0 overall, 4-0 SEC) overcome four turnovers, doubling its season total.

No. 19 Georgia Tech 28, No. 4 Virginia Tech 23

Atlanta — Virginia Tech might have lost its shot at a national championship on another doomed trip to Atlanta.

Josh Nesbitt rushed for 122 yards and three touchdowns — the last of them tiptoeing down the sideline to finish off the Hokies with 3 minutes left.

Purdue 26, No. 7 Ohio State 18

West Lafayette, Ind. — Joey Elliott and Purdue shocked mistake-prone Ohio State.

Elliott threw for 281 yards and two touchdowns, and the Boilermakers snapped a five-game losing streak by beating Ohio State to effectively end what national-title chances remained for the Buckeyes.

No. 9 Miami 27, Central Florida 7

Orlando, Fla. — Jacory Harris completed 20 of 26 passes for 293 yards and a touchdown, and Javarris James rushed for another score on the way to topping the 2,000-yard mark for his career.

No. 11 Iowa 20, Wisconsin 10

Madison, Wis. — Iowa took the lead on a 10-yard touchdown run by Adam Robinson early in the fourth quarter, and the Hawkeyes’ defense kept the Badgers scoreless in the second half.

No. 12 TCU 44, Colorado State 6

Fort Worth, Texas — Jeremy Kerley returned his second punt return for a touchdown in three games, and TCU remained unbeaten.

No. 14 Penn State 20, Minnesota 0

State College, Pa. — Navorro Bowman led a stifling defense, Evan Royster ran for 137 yards and Derek Moye had a disputed touchdown catch in Penn State’s easy win.

Moye’s 12-yard reception in the end zone was initially ruled incomplete, then overturned after an official review for a TD.

No. 18 Brigham Young 38, San Diego State 28

San Diego — Max Hall threw for 346 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for another score to lead Brigham Young to the 500th victory in school history.

BYU (6-1, 3-0 Mountain West Conference) beat SDSU (2-4, 0-2) for the eighth time in the last nine games.

No. 23 Houston 44, Tulane 16

New Orleans — Case Keenum’s lowest passing total of the season was still pretty good, and more than enough to help Houston win its first conference game of the season.

Keenum was 30 of 43 for 334 yards and two touchdowns, and the Cougars defeated Tulane.

No. 24 Utah 35, UNLV 15

Las Vegas — Terrance Cain threw two touchdown passes and rushed for another score to lead Utah over UNLV, the 600th victory in school history.

Eddie Wide rushed for 111 yards on 17 carries, including a 37-yard touchdown run for the Utes.

Southern California’s Joe McKnight, right, stiff-arms Notre Dame safety Kyle McCarthy. USC defeated Notre Dame, 34-27, on Saturday in South Bend, Ind.