College Football

Week 12 college football final scores: USC upsets No. 4 Stanford, Auburn survives

Auburn’s amazing win against Georgia set a pretty high bar, but USC’s last-minute upset of Stanford in primetime did not disappoint.

by Connor Tapp

Nov 17, 2013, 4:42 AM UTC

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

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College football Saturday, Week 12: Down goes Stanford, Auburn survives

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Adam Jacobi also contributed to this story.

Ranked games

No. 1 Alabama 20, Mississippi State 7 | Full Recap

That Alabama winning by just 13 points causes eyebrows to be raised says a lot about what Nick Saban has built at Alabama. Yes, the Mississippi State gave the Crimson Tide a scare -- to the extent that being up just 10-7 at one point is a scare -- mostly due to Alabama's four turnovers. But when the Tide got in trouble, they leaned on T.J. Yeldon to keep the chains moving, and that's a pretty good safety net to have.

No. 2 Florida State 59, Syracuse 3 | Full Recap

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Florida State beat the living daylights out of an inferior opponent. The deer in the highway that walked in front of the Seminole semi this week was Syracuse, and this one was over in a hurry.

USC 20, No. 4 Stanford 17 | Full Recap

Andre Heidari’s 47-yard field goal with 19 seconds left in the game gave Southern Cal a stunning 20-17 upset win over the mighty Stanford Cardinal, putting the Trojans right in the thick of the Pac-12 South race and knocking the Cardinal off of their briefly held perch in the North. Ed Orgeron now has a signature win, which might give athletic director Pat Haden something to think about when it comes to deciding what to do with his interim head coach.

No. 3 Ohio State 60, Illinois 35 | Full Recap

Ohio State didn’t look like a world-beater in this surprisingly competitive game, especially after the Buckeyes rolled up a 28-0 lead 20 minutes into the game. Still, a win’s a win, and that’s all Ohio State needs at this point.

No. 5 Baylor 63, Texas Tech 34 | Full Recap

Baylor found itself down 14-0 early against Texas Tech, but that’s a deficit that Baylor can -- and did -- overcome in the blink of an eye. The Bears scorched the Red Raiders for 675 yards of total offense, and it’s getting difficult to find new ways to gush over the way Art Briles’ team is destroying teams Saturday after Saturday.

No. 6 Oregon 44, Utah 21 | Full Recap

If Oregon was suffering from a post-Stanford hangover, it showed; the Ducks only led 17-14 after the first drive of the second half. Luckily, hangovers wear off, and the Ducks hit the afterburners down the stretch to win with ease.

No. 7 Auburn 43, No. 25 Georgia 38 | Full Recap

Game of the year? It really, really might have been. Play of the year? Absolutely. After Georgia pulled off a massive comeback and forced Auburn into a 4th and forever, Nick Marshall found Ricardo Louis on the most improbable of tipped Hail Marys for the go-ahead score with 25 seconds left. Georgia got within 20 yards for one final play, but Aaron Murray was hit as he threw and Auburn preserved the win. Everything exploded. It was beautiful.

No. 8 Clemson 55, Georgia Tech 31 (Thurs.) | Full Recap

Clemson QB Tajh Boyd thrashed an overmatched Yellow Jacket defense to the tune of 20-for-26 for 340 yards and four touchdowns as Clemson moved to 9-1 on the season.

No. 10 South Carolina 19, Florida 14 | Full Recap

For the majority of this game, it looked like Will Muschamp and Brent Pease had figured out a way to beat the Gamecocks: concede that passing the ball with third-stringer Skyler Mornhinweg was not a winning strategy and just run the ball all night long. But the Gators run-only offense could only get them so far. After Florida jumped out to a 14-6 halftime lead, the Gamecocks steadily chipped into the lead with field goal after field goal after field goal, eventually overtaking the Gators late in the fourth quarter.

No. 12 Oklahoma State 38, No. 24 Texas 13 | Full Recap

Special SB Nation correspondent Mack Brown, could you please take care of this blurb?

No. 13 UCLA 41, Washington 31 (Fri.) | Full Recap

Linebacker Myles Jack ran for four touchdowns (that is not a typo) as UCLA outpaced Washington. The Huskies lost starting QB Keith Price to a shoulder injury before halftime, but Cyler Miles was decent in relief, as Washington stuck around for most of the game. Still, there was never a sense that UCLA could lose this game.

No. 15 Northern Illinois 48, Ball State 27 (Wed.) | Full Recap

Never mind the final score; Ball State made a game of this until the dying minutes of the fourth quarter, when Northern Illinois scored three quick touchdowns in the last six minutes to capture the win. Huskie QB Jordan Lynch was stellar in the win, rolling up 468 yards and four total scores to keep NIU’s undefeated season alive.

No. 16 Michigan State 41, Nebraska 28 | Full Recap

Michigan State took advantage of five Nebraska turnovers — four deep in Husker territory — to come away with a relatively easy victory. Jeremy Langford punished the Nebraska defense with 151 yards and three scores, but what really killed Nebraska was how many of Michigan State's drives started so close to the Husker end zone.

No. 17 UCF 39, Temple 36 | Full Recap

Temple — that's 1-8, winless in the AAC Temple — took a 36-29 lead with two minutes left in the game, only to watch Blake Bortles torch the Owl secondary in the last two minutes for a tying touchdown and then a 64-yard bomb to set up the game-winning field goal as time expired. UCF escapes with its undefeated record and BCS hopes intact.

No. 18 Oklahoma 48, Iowa State 10 | Full Recap

Iowa State led 10-3 late in the second quarter. That... did not last. Oklahoma’s ground game came alive in the second half, and the Sooners finished with 405 yards on the ground in the easy win. OU is much-maligned, but the Sooners are still 8-2 (5-2) on the year.

No. 19 Arizona State 30, Oregon State 17 | Full Recap

A 20-0 Sun Devils start and a shutdown of the one-time nation’s most prolific passing game made for a leisurely evening for ASU, which turns its attention toward next week’s very big Pac-12 South battle against UCLA. Marion Grice finished with 118 yards rushing and two scores.

No. 20 Louisville 20, Houston 13 | Full Recap

For the second straight week, Louisville's offense wasn't quite the unstoppable force it was expected to be, but Teddy Bridgewater and crew were bailed out by another strong performance from the Cardinals defense. The win keep's Louisville technically alive in the race for the AAC championship, but the Cardinals would need UCF to Rutgers and UCF in order to make that happen.

No. 22 Wisconsin 51, Indiana 3 | Full Recap

The Badgers rolled up 554 yards rushing on the Hoosiers, which is both: 1) completely absurd and 2) less than Wisconsin put on Indiana last year (564 yards). James White was one of three tailbacks with over 100 yards; he finished with 205 yards on 20 carries, including a 93-yard score on the game’s first play from scrimmage. It was that kind of day.

Duke 48, No. 23 Miami 30 | Full Recap

Miami’s defense was utterly helpless against the Duke attack — no, this is not a basketball recap — and the Blue Devils raced ahead to the top position in the crowded ACC Coastal Division with just two weeks to play. Florida State awaits.

Other scores

Kansas 31, West Virginia 19 | Full Recap

Kansas has won a Big 12 game! Kansas has won a Big 12 game! For the first time since 2010! The Jayhawks rushed for 315 yards on a helpless West Virginia defense as the Jayhawks prevailed. Storm that field, KU fans!

Boston College 38, NC State 21 | Full Recap

Andre Williams rushed for 339 yards, breaking a team record that stood all of one week, when he set it with 295 yards against NMSU. Boston College is now bowl-eligible at 6-4 and may be setting its sights on the Music City Bowl come December.