The Cornhuskers led No. 18 Texas 20-17 after a 9-yard scoring run by Eric Crouch with just under eight minutes left to play. But Major Applewhite led the Longhorns back with his second second-half touchdowns pass, rallying his team to a their third straight victory over Nebraska.
Applewhite was 17-of-30 on the game for 213 yards, and drove Texas 60 yards on just four plays for the winning score. Tailback Hodges Mitchell added 20 carries for 83 yards and three receptions for 45 yards. For the Cornhuskers. Dan Alexander gained 136 yards on 21 carries, and Crouch threw for 204 yards. The loss all but destroys Nebraska's national title hopes.
But the biggest upset of the week was, without question, the Illinois Fighting Illini's 35-29 victory over the No. 9 Michigan Wolverines. Michigan, off last week after being upset by Michigan State, played a sloppy game and didn't seem to have their head in the game. Illinois took full advantage.
Quarterback Kurt Kittner completed 24-of-33 passes for 280 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions to power the Illini attack, and Rocky Harvey added 17 carries for 106 yards and another score. Michigan had two chances to come back, but Illinois picked off a pair of Tom Brady passes (one resulting in a Wolverine safety) to pull off their first win over Michigan since 1993.
In this week's other top games...
Florida State 17, Clemson 14 -- How many different storylines did this game have? In the first ever college football father vs. son caoching match-up, Tommy Bowden's Tigers came within a heartbeak of upseting the top-ranked Seminoles of Bobby Bowden. But kicker Tony Lazzara's 42-yard field goal attempt fell just short, and Florida State held on and the elder Bowden earned win No. 300.
In his first game back from the now-infamous department store fiasco, Peter Warrick caught 11 passes for 121 yards. But it was three Sebastian Janikowksi field goals, including a tiebreaking 39-yarder with 5:26 left in the game, that powered the Seminoles. Clemson led 14-3 at the half, but pulled even following a field goal and a Travis Minor touchdown run. Chris Weinke was 24-of-49 on the day for 258 yards and a two-point conversion.
Penn State 31, Purdue 25 -- Second-ranked Penn State kept pace with the Seminoles, turning three Boilermaker turnovers into 21 points and getting a spirited effort from their defense in this all-important conference win. Purdue had a last chance and, not surprisingly, that chance rested on the shoulders of junior quarterback Drew Brees. But Brees, who was 31-of-48 on the day for 379 yards, threw four incompletions from the 12 and just didn't have enough to lead his team back.
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