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ACC roundup
ACC Game of the Week
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No. 1 Florida State 30, No. 3 Florida 23 |
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A little bit of Warrick and Weinke, a little bit of Janikowski and a whole lot of Florida State defense has the top-ranked Seminoles poised to play for the national championship. Peter Warrick ran for one touchdown and set up another with a 38-yard catch, and Sebastian Janikowski kicked three field goals -- one from 54 yards -- as Florida State beat No. 3 Florida 30-23 on Saturday to complete its third perfect regular season.
The win essentially clinched a spot for coach Bobby Bowden and the Seminoles (11-0) in the Sugar Bowl, the site of the Bowl Championship Series' national title game. The Gators (9-2), who lost for just the fourth time at home in 10 years under coach Steve Spurrier, will play in the SEC title game on Dec. 4, needing a win to qualify for either the Orange or Fiesta bowls.
Chris Weinke, playing in his first national-title caliber game after missing last year's games against Florida and Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl, was 24-of-36 for 263 yards and a touchdown -- a 30-yarder to Marvin Minnis with 6:03 remaining that put the Seminoles ahead 30-16. On the previous play, Weinke hit Warrick for 38 yards.
Florida State needed to pull out all stops against its bitter rival in a game that wasn't decided until the final play. For the past seven years, this series has turned into a sort of playoff-elimination game, and the Gators weren't knocked out until the very end. With the Gators on the FSU 40, Jesse Palmer threw a desperation pass into the end zone, where a half-dozen players were waiting for the ball. It was tipped by several Florida State defenders and fell to the ground before Brian Haugabrook had a chance to grab it.
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Other ACC action
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No. 23 East Carolina 23, N. Carolina St. 6 |
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David Garrard ran for three touchdowns, and Steve Logan became the winningest coach in East Carolina history as the Pirates proved they were the best team in the state of North Carolina this season. Garrard, who lost a fumble in the end zone on East Carolina's first possession, more than made up for it, sealing the triumph with a 46-yard dash off the option with 4:51 left. Logan earned his 51st victory in his eighth year at East Carolina (9-2), breaking the mark held by Clarence Stasavich, before a Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium record crowd of 50,092.
N.C. State (6-6) needed a victory to get to seven wins and qualify for a postseason invitation … but fell to its sixth loss in nine games since then. |
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North Carolina 38, Duke 0 |
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Josh McGee set a school record with six field goals as North Carolina beat Duke for the 10th straight time, giving coach Carl Torbush a victorious, emotional sendoff in his final game. McGee made kicks of 41, 50, 23, 22, 41 and 40 yards to tie the ACC single-game mark first set by Vince Fusco of Duke in 1976 as the Tar Heels (3-7, 2-6) closed their worst season in a decade with two straight wins.
Word got out this week that Torbush and school officials were in the process of buying out the final three years of his five-year contract. Torbush, who finishes his North Carolina career 11-13, was raised on the shoulders of his players after the game in an emotional scene. Duke (3-7, 3-5) turned the ball over six times. |
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Virginia 34, Maryland 30 |
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Dan Ellis threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Billy McMullen with 26 seconds left as Virginia overcame a school-record 306-yard rushing performance by Maryland's LaMont Jordan. McMullen's catch on the left side of the end zone in front of cornerback Tony Okanlawon capped an improbable 76-yard drive for the Cavaliers, who got the ball on their own 24 with no timeouts left and down by three points. Led by Ellis, Virginia covered the distance in nine plays and just 46 seconds.
Virginia (7-4, 5-3 ACC) clinched its 13th straight season with at least seven wins and crushed the bowl hopes of the Terrapins (5-6, 2-6), who were poised to make their first trip to the postseason since 1990. Ellis went 21-for-34 for 276 yards and four touchdowns for Virginia, and the Cavs' Thomas Jones ran for 91 yards and finished with 1,798 yards, breaking the ACC single-season record set in 1970 by Don McCauley. |
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Clemson 31, South Carolina 21 |
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New coaches and an exciting finish couldn't change the same old story -- Clemson is back in a bowl and South Carolina is left looking for answers. Travis Zachery rushed for two touchdowns and Woody Dantzler threw a 29-yard scoring pass to Rod Gardner on 4th-and-10 with six minutes left as the Tigers handed Lou Holtz's South Carolina team its 11th defeat without a victory this season.
Clemson heads probably to the Peach Bowl, while South Carolina's national-longest losing streak will start next season at 21 games. |
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Wake Forest 26, No. 14 Georgia Tech 23 |
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Morgan Kane rushed for 224 yards and a touchdown as Wake Forest posted its first winning record in seven years, holding off Joe Hamilton and the Yellow Jackets. Wake Forest (6-5, 3-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) qualified for its first postseason appearance since 1992. The ACC has tie-ins with five bowl games, with the Deacons apparently headed for the Aloha Bowl on Christmas Day as the fifth pick from the league.
Hamilton, who came in as the top-rated passer in Division I-A, was intercepted twice as Georgia Tech (7-3, 5-3) lost for the second time in three games. Hamilton wound up completing 23 of 40 passes for 281 yards (and finished with 317 yards of total offense, making him the first ACC player ever to top 10,000 in a career), but he did most of his damage in the second half after Wake Forest built a 20-point lead. Georgia Tech scored 16 points in the final 4:36, but Wake Forest's Adrian Duncan recovered an onsides kick with 2:22 remaining, and the Yellow Jackets were unable to threaten again. |
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