Florida State continued to win while Miami lost their second in a row. Pittsburgh knocked off No. 23 Notre Dame and Duke won their seventh of the season. All this and more in the ACC Week 11 review.
Conference Games
No. 2 Florida State – 59
Wake Forest – 3
Florida State eased past Wake Forest to keep them in the driving seat for a national championship berth after Oregon lost to Stanford.
Jameis Winston was far from his best but he didn’t need to be as the Seminoles were up by 42 at the half.
Winston completed 17 of 28 passes for 159 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Running backs Karlos Williams, Devonta Freeman and James Wilder Jr. each scored a touchdown and accumulated for 109 rushing yards.
Wake Forest’s quarterback Tenner Price was pulled from the game after he threw three interceptions on his first four passing attempts – including a pick-six to Nate Andrew. Back-up Tyler Cameron didn’t fare much better, throwing three interceptions of his own.
Virginia Tech – 42
No. 11 Miami – 24
Virginia Tech scuppered Miami’s post-season hopes with a big day from Trey Edmunds.
Freshman running back Edmunds scored four touchdowns as the Hokies took advantage of special teams turnovers from the Hurricanes. Quarterback Logan Thomas had one of his better outings of the season completing 25 of 31 passes for 366 yards and two touchdowns. Receivers Joshua Stanford and Willie Byrn both went over a 100 yards receiving with Stanford nabbing a 32-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter.
The absence of Duke Johnson was evident in Miami’s running game and Dallas Crawford could only manage 37 yards on ten carries which included a long of 35. Quarterback Stephen Morris was turnover-free on the afternoon but costly mistakes elsewhere meant his 324 passing yards went unrewarded.
NC State – 20
Duke – 38
Duke scored three touchdowns in 26 fourth quarter seconds to come from behind and beat NC State to record their seventh win of the season.
Quintin Payton hauled in an 80-yard touchdown pass midway through the fourth quarter to give NC State a 20-17 lead, however, the Blue Devils bounced straight back with a five-yard touchdown run from quarterback Brandon Connette.
Wolfpack quarterback Brandon Mitchell then threw back-to-back pick-sixs to freshman cornerback DeVon Edwards who also had a 100-yard kick return for a touchdown in the third quarter.
Duke wide receiver Jamison Crowder had a big day with seven catches for 134 yards. Duke quarterbacks Connette and Anthony Boone combined for 198 yards with Boone throwing three interceptions.
Virginia – 14
North Carolina – 45
North Carolina made it three wins in a row against Virginia who fall to 2-8.
Senior quarterback Bryn Renner missed the game so it was up to sophomore Marquise Williams to call the shots. The sophomore completed just over 50% of his passes for 185 yards, two touchdowns and an interception as well as running for 46 yards and a score. Williams tossed a touchdown pass to Quinshad Davis to open the games scoring before the receiver returned the favour on a reverse.
David Watford threw two interceptions for Virginia including one that was returned 62 yards for an interception by Dominique Green. Running back Kevin Parks had 100 yards and a score on 24 carries.
Syracuse – 20
Maryland – 3
Maryland slumped to their third straight defeat while Syracuse improved above .500 for the first time this season.
Jerome Smith rushed for 118 yards and two scores and Ryan Norton split the posts with two kicks to score off of the Orange’s points. Quarterback Terrel Hunt was given the starting nod ahead of Drew Allen and the sophomore responded with 140 yards and an interception.
C.J. Brown threw two interceptions for the Terrapins who struggled offensively all afternoon. Freshman wide receiver Amba Etta-Tawo the lone bright spot with six receptions for 109 yards.
Non-Conference Games
No. 23 Notre Dame – 21
Pittsburgh – 28
I hate to gloat and say I predicted this, but, I kind of did. Pittsburgh knocked off No. 23 Notre Dame with a turnover-free, clock-controlling performance.
Quarterback Tom Savage threw two touchdown passes to senior wide receiver Devin Street in a 243-yard performance.
Half back James Conner ran in two scores including the game winner with just under ten minutes left.
Junior defensive back Ray Vinopal picked off Tommy Rees twice as the senior quarterback was held to just 18 completions.
Boston College – 41
New Mexico State – 34
An astounding performance from Andre Williams helped improve Boston College to 5-4 with a hard earned win over New Mexico State.
The Senior running back could not be stopped as he amassed 295 rushing yards on the day. Chase Rettig threw three touchdowns for the Eagles who found themselves tied with the Aggies 34-34 midway through the fourth quarter. However, Williams found something special and broke off touchdowns runs of 80 and 47 yards to close out the game. Wide receiver Alex Amidon had himself another impressive afternoon with eight receptions for 88 yards and a touchdown. Freshman running back Myles Willis returned a kick-off 98 yards for a touchdown early in the fourth period.