ATLANTIC COAST/BIG EAST N.C.: State can’t slow O’Brien, Smith

— Danny O’Brien threw for a career-high 417 yards and four touchdowns, all to Torrey Smith, and Maryland denied No. 23 North Carolina State a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference title game by defeating the Wolfpack 38-31 Saturday.

Needing a victory to win the league’s Atlantic Division, North Carolina State (8-4, 5-3) scored touchdowns on its first two possessions to take a 14-0 lead. But the Terrapins (8-4, 5-3) rallied behind O’Brien, who made up for a running game that finished with negative yardage.

North Carolina State ended up in a second-place tie with Maryland behind Florida State, which will face Virginia Tech in the championship game Dec. 5.

O’Brien, a redshirt freshman, completed 33 of 47 passes in the first 400-yard gameby a Terps quarterback since Scott Milanovich in 1993.

Smith had a career-high 14 catches for 224 yards and became the first Maryland player with four touchdown receptions in a single game.

Smith scored on passes of 11, 10, 12 and 71 yards. The last touchdown came with 6:26 left after Maryland’s Drew Gloster sacked Russell Wilson on a fourth-down play from the Maryland 8 with the Terrapins ahead 31-17.

Wilson scored on a 1-yard run with 2:39 remaining. The Wolfpack recovered the onside kick and Wilson threw a touchdown pass with 1:16 left, but Maryland pounced on the ensuing onside kick.

Wilson went 31 of 60 for 311 yards and a touchdown, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the Wolfpack from absorbing their third consecutive defeat at Maryland since 2004. The Terrapins finished 5-1 at homeand can expect to play in a quality bowl game after going 2-10 last year.

In other games involving ACC teams, Ryan Williams ran for two touchdowns and No. 16 Virginia Tech (10-2, 8-0) won its 10th consecutive game and seventh in a row over Virginia (4-8, 1-7), 37-7 in Blacksburg, Va. Tyrod Taylor threw for 176 yards and a touchdown and became the career passing yardage leader for the Hokies. ... Demetris Murray had a 1-yard touchdown run in overtime and South Florida (7-4) stunned host Miami (7-5) 23-20. Bobby Eveld tied the game with a 1-yard run with two minutes left in regulation, then got the Bulls back to the 1 with a 9-yard catch in overtime. Murray went over the top of the pile one play later, and the Bulls rushed the field wildly. ... T.J. Yates threw for 264 yards and a touchdown, and North Carolina (7-5, 4-4) continued its dominance of Duke (3-9, 1-7) by holding off the Blue Devils 24-19 in Durham, N.C.

BIG EAST

UConn tops Cincinnati

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. - Connecticut’s Jordan Todman ran for 175 yards and three touchdowns and the Huskies (7-4, 4-2) moved a step closerto a BCS bowl berth Saturday with a 38-17 victory over Cincinnati (4-7, 2-4).

UConn defensive lineman Kendall Reyes had a key interception deep in Huskies territory just before halftime, setting up a 1-yard Todman touchdown run that made it 24-10 UConn.

Todman, who carried the ball 31 times, scored twice more in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

The Huskies have won four consecutive conference games and a victory next week at South Florida would give UConn at least a share of the Big East championship, and their first ever BCS bowl berth. The Huskies hold tiebreakers over both Pittsburgh and West Virginia.

In another game involving a Big East team, freshman tailback Andre Williams rushed for 185 yards on a school-record 42 carries and scored 1 touchdown in place of injured star Montel Harris, Nate Freese kicked three field goals, and Boston College (7-5) beat host Syracuse (7-5) 16-7.

Sports, Pages 38 on 11/28/2010

Upcoming Events