Cowboys rally late; title hopes still alive

AMES, Iowa — One week after letting Oklahoma break its heart, No. 15 Oklahoma State rallied late to stun No. 21 Iowa State — handing the Cyclones one of the most devastating defeats in school history.

Mason Rudolph threw for 376 yards and three touchdowns — including two in the final 5:55 — and Oklahoma State beat Iowa State 49-42 on Saturday to keep its Big 12 title hopes alive.

Justice Hill had 134 yards and three TD runs for the Cowboys (8-2, 5-2 Big 12), who remain in a tie for second place in the league with two games to go.

“We’re very resilient. I knew it was going to be a difficult game,” Oklahoma State Coach Mike Gundy said after last week’s exhausting 62-52 loss to the rival Sooners.

The top two finishers in the Big 12 will meet in the championship game in Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 2.

But even if neither the Cyclones nor Cowboys make it to Jerry World, they still gave the Big 12 a game few in the league will ever forget.

Rudolph found Marcell Ateman for a 30-yard TD pass, and Hill’s two-point conversion run tied the game at 42 with 5:55 left. The Cowboys jumped ahead 49-42 just two minutes later as Rudolph found Dillon Stoner for a 19yard touchdown reception.

“We’ve been down so many times throughout my career. Down 14, down 21, down 17, it doesn’t matter because we know we can bounce back real quick, get points on the board, get back into the game,” Rudolph said.

The Cyclones got inside Oklahoma State’s 3-yard line with 32 seconds left, but Zeb Noland threw an interception to A.J. Green to end the game — a call that both Iowa State fans and receiver Marchie Murdock won’t soon forget.

Iowa State has now lost two in a row after winning four in a row.

“It’s a gut-wrenching loss. It’s not easy. But college football isn’t easy,” Iowa State Coach Matt Campbell said. “It’s a game of inches, and our job is to win the inch. And we came up a little bit short.”

Quarterback-linebacker Joel Lanning had a rushing and passing TD for Iowa State (6-4, 4-3). He connected with Allen Lazard on his only pass attempt of the game, a 22-yard TD strike with 14:13 left — a pass Lazard caught with one hand while falling down.

David Montgomery made it 42-34 on a subsequent 4-yard run, but Iowa State’s highly-rated defense faltered down the stretch.

Montgomery had 105 yards and 3 TDs for the Cyclones.

In other games involving top 25 teams, Travis Etienne ran for 97 yards and two touchdowns, including a 1-yarder with 3:05 left, and No. 4 Clemson (9-1, 7-1) won the ACC Atlantic Division with a 31- 14 victory over Florida State (3-6, 3-5) at Clemson, S.C. … TaQuan Marshall threw two long scoring passes, including an 80-yarder to Ricky Jeune, and Ajani Kerr swatted away a fourth-down pass in the end zone to preserve Georgia Tech’s 28-22 upset of No. 17 Virginia Tech in Atlanta. The Yellow Jackets (5-4, 4-3) rushed for 261 yards against the Hokies (7-3, 3-3), led by KirVonte Benson with 86 yards on 22 carries. ... Receiver Kendric Pryor scored twice, and No. 8 Wisconsin relied on stifling defense to overcome four turnovers and No. 20 Iowa cornerback Josh Jackson’s two touchdowns for a 38-14 victory in Madison, Wis. The victory allowed the Badgers (10-0, 7-0 Big Ten) to clinch a trip to the conference title game as West champions. … J.T. Barrett threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more scores, Mike Weber ran for 162 yards and two scores, and No. 13 Ohio State bounced back from a deflating loss last week to rout No. 12 Michigan State 48-3 at Columbus, Ohio. The Buckeyes (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten) scored on five of their first six possessions, led 35-3 at the half and cruised the rest of the way to claim sole possession of first place in the Big Ten East. ... Trace McSorley accounted for 258 total yards and three touchdowns and No. 14 Penn State (8-2, 5-2 Big Ten) routed Rutgers 35-6 at State College, Pa., after a two-loss stretch. … Otis Anderson ran for 84 yards and two touchdowns, McKenzie Milton passed for 311 yards and No. 18 Central Florida (9-0, 6-0 American Athletic Conference) pulled away from Connecticut 49-24 at Orlando, Fla. … Malik Rosier threw for a touchdown and ran for another, Deejay Dallas ran for a pair of scores and host No. 7 Miami overwhelmed No. 3 Notre Dame 41-8. Travis Homer rushed for 146 yards for the Hurricanes (9-0), who forced four turnovers for the fourth consecutive week, led 27-0 at the half and handed the Irish their second-worst loss in the history of the Miami-Notre Dame series. Only the 58-7 Miami romp in 1985 was worse. … Baker Mayfield threw 3 touchdown passes, Rodney Anderson had 290 yards from scrimmage and 4 touchdowns, and No. 5 Oklahoma rolled past No. 8 TCU 38-20 to take sole possession of first place in the Big 12. Anderson ran for 151 yards and 2 touchdowns and caught 5 passes for 139 yards and 2 scores for the Sooners (9-1, 6-1). They have won 5 consecutive. Mayfield strengthened his Heisman Trophy resume by passing for 333 yards and rushing for 50 against a TCU defense that entered the night ranked sixth in the nation in scoring defense and total defense. Kenny Hill passed for 270 yards for the Horned Frogs (8-2, 5-2), but he completed just 13 of 28 passes. … Sam Darnold tossed two TD passes and ran for another, Ajene Harris intercepted two passes, including one he returned for a score, and No. 11 Southern California beat Colorado 38-24 to wrap up the Pac-12 South title. Darnold threw for 329 yards. Tailback Ronald Jones II had 142 yards to surpass Mike Garrett for sixth place on the Trojans’ all-time rushing list. Southern Cal (9-2, 7-1) led 27-0 in the third quarter, but needed to weather a late Colorado (5-6, 2-6) comeback. … Luke Falk threw for 311 yards and 3 touchdowns as No. 19 Washington State (9-3, 6-2 Pac-12) defeated Utah (5-5, 2-5) 33-25. … Nyheim Hines had a 50-yard scoring run midway through the fourth quarter, and No. 23 North Carolina State rebounded from two tough losses against high-ranked teams with a 17-14 victory over Boston College. Jaylen Samuels added an 8-yard scoring run for the Wolfpack (7-3, 5-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). AJ Dillon carried 36 times for 196 yards, going over 1,000 yards to set a school freshman record for rushing yards for the Eagles (5-5, 3-4). … Clayton Thorson had a pair of touchdowns, Charlie Kuhbander hit all three of his second-half field-goal attempts and No. 25 Northwestern won its fifth consecutive with a 23-13 victory over Purdue. Thorson was 26 of 46 for 296 yards. He had an 11-yard TD pass to Bennett Skowronek and rushed for a 4-yard score. Skowronek had seven receptions for 117 yards. Justin Jackson was held to 46 yards on 25 carries for the Wildcats (7-3, 5-2 Big Ten). Elijah Sindelar was 37 of 60 for 376 yards with 2 TDs and an interception for Purdue (4-6, 2-5).