ACC Wrap Up Week 11

  ACC Wrap Up Week 11
 
By Rafael Garcia
Sr. Contributing Writer
Southeast Region
 
Georgia Tech 49 Duke 10
It has been some season in the Coastal division this year and it is ending with the Yellow Jackets as champs and the division representative in the ACC championship game.  They tried to make it interesting when Duke took a 10-0 lead with 1:30 left in the first quarter. On the ensuing kickoff Orwin Smith bobbled the catch, recovered it, and then ran it 83 yards to the Duke 2-yard line. QB Josh Nesbitt ran it in from there and it was 10-7 going into the second quarter. Here the Yellow Jackets would remember what they were playing for and whom they were playing against. It started with a Marcus Wright option run for 16 yards to make it 14-10. Jonathan Dwyer, who ran for 110 yards on 14 carries, ran it in from three and the rout was on. The Yellow Jackets had over 500 yards of offense and the defense held Duke to 25 yards rushing. Nesbitt was just 6-10 passing but had 195 yards including a 75-yard strike to Demarylus Thomas to add insult to injury. Duke has had a promising season but finds itself at 5-5 needing to win their final games to have any hope of making a bowl. Those final two games are at Miami and at home against Wake Forest. Neither will be a push over and the odds are stacked against the Blue Devils.
 
North Carolina 33 Miami 24
The climb back into the national picture has been some climb for Miami. Now they were faced with a determined Tar Heel team playing in front of its home crowd. The game saw them take advantage of a career-high four picks by Hurricane QB Jacory Harris. Three of those were by Kendric Burney deep in Miami territory. He returned one 77 yards for a touchdown and teammate Melvin Williams returned another 44 yards to make it 30-17 with just over nine minutes left in the game. The play had to be reviewed because Burney made the pick originally. As he crossed into Miami territory he appeared to flip the ball forward to Williams and he ran the rest of the way. Replay upheld the call but Miami answered right back when Harris drove them down the field and hit Jimmy Graham from 14 to make it 30-24. They got the ball back, marched down the field again, and were just about to take the lead when Harris was picked off. A field goal sealed it and the hopes of Hurricane fans for a major bowl went down the drain. It’s the second straight year that the Tar Heels have made a bowl. They also won their fifth straight against a top 25 team and are 3-0 with Butch Davis against his former team. On one last note Burney had an ACC single game and school record of 170 interception return yards in one game.
 
Clemson 43 North Carolina State 23
Once again it was the C.J. Spiller show as the back threw a touchdown pass to Xavier Dye from 17 yards out, had a scoring run from 16 and finished the night off by catching a touchdown pass from 34 yards. It was quite the show from a college player that has spent the season on highlight films everywhere. He had help from his quarterback Kyle Parker (12-18 for 183 yards and two touchdowns) and running mate Jamie Harper (4 carries for 86, including a 69-yarder). The offense piled up 454 yards of offense and they will need that and more when they play Virginia next week. A win there and they are in the ACC title game as the Atlantic Division champs against Georgia Tech. The Wolfpack just could not keep up with Spiller and even though they kicked away from him a couple of times. They did manage 377 of offense and were able to put up points but it was always playing catch up. They did not get any help from receivers dropping passes and drives stalling. So it is all set for next week when they host the Cavaliers for the Atlantic. After that they end their season at South Carolina and could get to nine wins when at first it did not look like they could get there.
 
Virginia Tech 36 Maryland 9
 
Florida State 41 Wake Forest 28
 
Boston College 14 Virginia 10