No. 2 Florida 29, Mississippi State 19

Starkville, Miss. — Florida’s offense got just what it needed: help from Mississippi State.

Chris Rainey scored from eight yards out after the Bulldogs stumbled on a fake punt, and Dustin Doe may have slipped a fumble on an interception return for a touchdown past the referees as the second-ranked Gators came away with a tough victory on Saturday night.

No. 4 USC 42, Oregon State 36

Los Angeles — Allen Bradford rushed for a career-high 147 yards and two touchdowns, and Southern California avenged its only loss of last season with a victory over Oregon State.

No. 5 Cincinnati 41, Louisville 10

Cincinnati — Sophomore backup Zach Collaros threw only two incompletions while passing for 253 yards and three touchdowns.

No. 7 Iowa 15, Michigan State 13

East Lansing, Mich. — Ricky Stanzi connected with Marvin McNutt for a seven-yard touchdown pass as time expired to remain undefeated.

Iowa is 8-0 for the first time in school history.

Clemson 40, No. 8 Miami 37, OT

Miami — Kyle Parker threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Ford in overtime after Matt Bosher kicked a 22-yard field goal on Miami’s overtime possession.

No. 9 LSU 31, Auburn 10

Baton Rouge, La. — Jordan Jefferson followed the worst game of his young career with his best.

After passing for 96 yards against Florida, Jefferson threw for a career-high 242 yards, including two touchdown passes, and scrambled for another score to spark LSU.

No. 10 TCU 38, No. 16 BYU 7

Provo, Utah — Andy Dalton passed for 241 yards and three touchdowns and TCU remained unbeaten. The Horned Frogs continued their march to what they hope is a BCS berth with their eighth straight victory.

No. 11 Georgia Tech 24, Virginia 9

Charlottesville, Va. — Georgia Tech beat the last team with an unbeaten record in ACC play, rushing for 362 yards and taking charge of the Coastal Division.

Josh Nesbitt ran for 82 yards and threw for 85, despite attempting only two passes in Georgia Tech’s four touchdown drives.

No. 12 Oregon 43, Washington 19

Seattle — Jeremiah Masoli returned from a knee injury to run for two scores, and Oregon blocked a punt for a touchdown and used a fake field goal to set up another TD.

No. 13 Penn St. 35, Michigan 10

Ann Arbor, Mich. — Daryll Clark threw three of his four touchdown passes to Graham Zug, helping the Nittany Lions to their first win at the Big House since 1996.

Michigan struggled to move the ball and had four turnovers. Clark was 16-of-27 for 230 yards and tied his record for TD passes.

No. 17 Houston 38, SMU 15

Houston — Charles Sims ran for 105 yards and two touchdowns and Houston took advantage of turnover-prone SMU.

The Cougars (6-1, 2-1 Conference USA) jumped out to a 14-0 lead after taking advantage of two SMU turnovers.

No. 18 Ohio State 38, Minnesota 7

Columbus, Ohio — Terrelle Pryor threw two touchdown passes and ran for another.

Pryor hit on 13 of 25 passes for 239 yards with one interception and also ran for 104 yards on 15 carries for the Buckeyes.

No. 19 Utah 23, Air Force 16, OT

Salt Lake City — Stevenson Sylvester stuffed Connor Dietz on a fourth-down quarterback keeper in overtime.

On fourth-and-two at the seven, Dietz pulled the ball from the fullback and tried the same play that had worked all game long. This time, Sylvester filled the running lane and brought Dietz down.

No. 20 Pittsburgh 41, South Florida 14

Pittsburgh — Bill Stull threw for two touchdowns, and the Panthers (7-1, 4-0 Big East) are off to their best start to a season in 27 years.

No. 22 West Virginia 28, Connecticut 24

Morgantown, W.Va. — Connecticut nearly pulled out a win for Jasper Howard.

Noel Devine’s 56-yard touchdown run in the closing minutes lifted West Virginia past the Huskies in their first game since UConn’s starting cornerback was fatally stabbed outside a university-sponsored dance a week ago.

No. 23 South Carolina 14, Vanderbilt 10

Columbia, S.C. — Stephen Garcia threw two touchdown passes and South Carolina ended Vanderbilt’s two-game series win streak. Garcia connected with Alshon Jeffery on a 43-yard TD pass with 12:51 left for the winning score.