More Overtime (cont.)

Spreading the field

• Saturday night's Texas A&M-Louisiana Tech game was every bit a classic late-night WAC shootout -- only an SEC team was involved. In the last two minutes alone, Aggies quarterback Johnny Manziel ran for a seemingly game-clinching 72-yard touchdown, Bulldogs receiver Quinton Patton answered with a 62-yard score and Louisiana Tech recovered an onside kick and scored again with 38 seconds remaining to cut the deficit to 59-57. Tech only succumbed after failing to convert its ensuing two-point conversion and its second onside kick attempt.

Louisiana Tech -- which started the game in a 27-0 hole -- was as good as advertised offensively, with Patton catching a staggering 21 passes for 233 yards and four touchdowns. But the star of the night was A&M redshirt freshman Manziel, who broke his own SEC record with 576 total yards and now leads the SEC in rushing at 112.7 yards per game. He crushed the Bulldogs' BCS dreams. Our own Holly Anderson was there to chronicle the four-and-a-half hour affair.

• Where has Les Miles been hiding Jeremy Hill? The LSU freshman running back had netted a combined three carries over the Tigers' last three games before breaking open a defensive stalemate with South Carolina, as he rushed for 124 yards on 17 carries, including a backbreaking 50-yard touchdown with 5:03 remaining. "That was Death Valley," Miles said after LSU's 23-21 victory. "That was the place where opponents' dreams come to die -- and it was spectacular."

• Are you ready for more cowbell? With its 41-31 win over Tennessee, Mississippi State (6-0) moved one step closer to carrying an undefeated record into Tuscaloosa Oct. 27. (The Bulldogs face Middle Tennessee this week). Quarterback Tyler Russell (23-of-37 for 291 yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions) continues to show dramatic improvement. Meanwhile, Vols coach Derek Dooley -- who coached from the press box following midweek hip surgery -- fell to 4-15 in SEC games.

• In its continuing effort to win the SEC with the least possible passing contribution from quarterback Jeff Driskel, Florida turned to ... Jeff Driskel. The sophomore rushed 11 times for 177 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-17 win at Vanderbilt, breaking a school record for quarterbacks previously held by Tim Tebow. "We kept running really the same play, and they didn't really make adjustments," said Driskel, who did most of his damage on zone read plays.

• Another running quarterback, Kansas State's Collin Klein, has a chance to ascend to the top of the Heisman race if he can outplay Geno Smith this week in Morgantown. In a tough road game Saturday at Iowa State (4-2), Klein carried 25 times for 105 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 187 yards in a 27-21 win. It marked his seventh career game with at least three rushing scores.

• Another week, another In-N-Out run for Oregon State, which is now 5-0 for the first time since 1939. Playing without injured quarterback Sean Mannion, the Beavers scored as many touchdowns (six) as BYU's previously stingy defense had allowed in its first six games combined. Mannion's replacement, Cody Vaz, went 20-of-32 for 332 yards, three touchdowns and no picks with some help from the tandem of Brandin Cooks (eight catches, 173 yards) and Markus Wheaton (two touchdowns).

• Meanwhile, USC's passing game continued to deal with unexpected struggles. In a 24-14 win at Washington, Matt Barkley was just 10-of-20 for 167 yards, and star wideouts Robert Woods and Marqise Lee were held below 10 combined catches for the first time this season. "I continue to remind myself there is one goal and that is to win the game," said Trojans coach Lane Kiffin, whose team improved to 5-1. "Are the numbers what we're used to? No. But we won."

• Ohio State's star-studded defense got all it could handle Saturday from ... Indiana. The Buckeyes (7-0, 3-0 Big Ten) survived the Hoosiers (2-4, 0-3), 52-49, but not before three fourth-quarter touchdowns helped Indiana nearly rally from a 45-27 deficit. "We're not very good in certain areas right now, and spread offenses right now are really exposing us," said coach Urban Meyer. His own spread quarterback, Braxton Miller, tallied another 149 rushing yards.

• It's nice to see Monteé Ball back to being Monteé Ball. Wisconsin's star running back, who ran for 1,923 yards last season to earn an invite to New York for the Heisman ceremony, exploded for a career-high 247 yards on 29 carries in Saturday's 38-14 win at Purdue. He was averaging just 4.0 yards per carry entering the game. Suddenly, the Badgers (5-2, 2-1 Big Ten) are back to being runaway favorites to represent the Leaders Division in Indianapolis. In fact, no other eligible team has a conference win.

• The last remaining undefeated team in ACC play is Maryland, of course. Freshman phenom Stefon Diggs returned the opening kickoff 100 yards and caught four passes for 89 yards in a 27-20 win at struggling Virginia (2-5). The Terps (4-2, 2-0), which went 1-11 in Randy Edsall's first season, could conceivably become bowl-eligible within the next three weeks. After a visit from 4-2 NC State, they face 1-5 Boston College and 2-4 Georgia Tech.

• For a while Saturday, it looked like Duke (5-2, 2-1 ACC) would wrap up its first bowl eligibility in 18 years. The Blue Devils raced to a 20-0 first-half lead at Virginia Tech -- before the Hokies turned around and scored the final 41 points. "Our bubble feels burst," said Duke coach David Cutcliffe. "It hurts today. It hurts a lot." Rival North Carolina (5-2) comes to town next week. Torrid Tar Heels running back Gio Bernard rolled off 177 yards in an 18-14 win over Miami (4-3).

• Big East frontrunners Louisville (6-0), Rutgers (6-0) and Cincinnati (5-0) all kept their perfect records intact Saturday. Unfortunately it's going to be another couple of weeks before one of the three faces each other (Cincinnati at Louisville Oct. 26). Then there's Temple (3-2), which is now 2-0 in the conference after beating Connecticut in overtime. The Owls, which rejoined the league this year after seven years in exile, last won more than two Big East games in 1997.

• Minnesota coach Jerry Kill was released from a local hospital Sunday after suffering a seizure following Saturday's loss to Northwestern. The school said in a statement that Kill, who has a history of seizures, is "in excellent health."

• Ole Miss (4-3) ended a 16-game SEC losing streak Saturday with a 41-20 win over reeling Auburn (1-5). Just two years ago, Auburn went 14-0, while Ole Miss went 4-8.

• Tulane (1-5) ended a 15-game losing streak in dramatic fashion. It beat SMU (2-4), 27-26, on a 16-yard Ryan Griffin touchdown pass with 35 seconds left.

• Tulsa (6-1) has quietly emerged as the class of Conference USA. It moved to 4-0 in league play with a 33-11 win over UTEP (1-6) last Thursday.

• Meanwhile, last year's Conference USA champion, Southern Miss, has inexplicably sunk from 12-2 to 0-6. Saturday, it fell 38-31 in double overtime to UCF (4-2).