SOUTH ROUNDUP : Florida State Breezes Past South Carolina

Top-ranked Florida State couldn’t help looking ahead to next week when the Seminoles will meet No. 2 Miami.

However, Florida State still had more than enough concentration Saturday in a 38-10 victory over South Carolina at Tallahassee, Fla.

After impressive early-season victories over Brigham Young, Michigan and Syracuse, Florida State (10-0) has appeared lackluster in recent weeks while defeating Virginia Tech, Middle Tennessee State, Louisiana State, Louisville and South Carolina.

“I’ll be honest with you,” Coach Bobby Bowden said, “the last five weeks, if we’d have played Miami every week, we’d have lost five straight games.”

With the victory over South Carolina, Bowden joined Alabama’s Bear Bryant and Oklahoma’s Bud Wilkinson as the only Division I-A coaches to guide teams to 10 or more victories for five consecutive seasons.

Quarterback Casey Weldon returned to the Florida State lineup against South Carolina and passed for three touchdowns. Weldon, who missed the previous week’s game against Louisville with strained ligaments in his left knee, completed 19 of 28 passes for 184 yards before leaving early in the final quarter.

Florida State was ahead 17-10 at halftime.

The Seminole defense dominated the second half, allowing South Carolina onto its side of the field just twice and never deeper than the Florida State 38.

The Seminoles opened the third quarter with a 79-yard scoring drive that Amp Lee capped with a one-yard run.

Lee’s backup, sophomore Sean Jackson, scored on a one-yard run late in the quarter and Weldon finished his day with a 20-yard scoring pass to William Floyd for a 38-10 lead with about 14 minutes left in the game.

South Carolina (3-4-2) scored its only touchdown when Bobby Fuller teamed with Eddie Miller on a 79-yard pass play to pull the Gamecocks to within 17-7 with 11:59 left in the first half. Marty Simpson’s 21-yard field goal as time ran out in the half cut Florida State’s lead to 17-10.

No. 15 Clemson 21, North Carolina 6--DeChane Cameron rushed for 117 yards in 18 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead the Tigers to victory in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Cameron became the first Clemson quarterback to run for 100 yards since Homer Jordan gained 104 against North Carolina State in 1981.

Clemson (6-1-1, 4-0-1) remained on track to win its first ACC title since 1988 and 13th overall with its sixth consecutive victory over the Tar Heels, who have not scored a touchdown against the Tigers since 1988.

The victory moved the Tigers closer to a berth in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Day.

No. 24 Virginia 42, No. 18 North Carolina State 10--Virginia quarterback Matt Blundin completed 13 of 17 passes for 230 yards and two touchdowns in an ACC game at Raleigh, N.C..

Virginia (7-2-1, 4-2-1) beat the Wolfpack (7-2, 3-2) for the sixth consecutive time and knocked them out of the race for the ACC title.

Blundin, who entered the game with 184 attempts without an interception, completed eight of 10 passes for 192 yards and no interceptions in the first half.

Virginia took a 35-3 lead at intermission with 320 yards of total offense.

Blundin, who finished 13 of 17 for 230 yards, is 14 attempts short of Jack Trudeau’s NCAA mark of 215 consecutive attempts without an interception set at Illinois in 1985.

No. 16 East Carolina 48, Southern Mississippi 20--Jeff Blake passed for school records of 361 yards and five touchdowns to lead the Pirates at Hattiesburg, Miss.

Blake, who also set school records by completing 27 of 47 passes, accounted for 402 yards. He threw three touchdown passes in the second quarter as East Carolina (8-1) won its eighth consecutive game.

East Carolina had a season-high 551 yards. The Pirates broke a seven-game losing streak against Southern Mississippi (4-6), having last beaten the Golden Eagles, 10-6, in 1983.

Tony Smith gained 117 yards in 28 carries for Southern Mississippi (4-6).

Memphis State 35, Louisville 7--Freshman running back Marcus Holliday rushed for 106 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Tigers to a nonconference victory at Memphis.

Holliday scored on runs of two and five yards as he broke the 100-yard mark for the second consecutive game.

Three weeks ago, Memphis State (5-5) planned to redshirt Holliday, but had to play him because of injuries.

Louisville (2-8) managed only 101 yards in total offense, including only eight yards rushing in 28 carries. The Cardinals netted only two yards on the ground in the second half.

Louisville’s only score came on an errant pitch by Memphis State quarterback Keith Benton that was covered by defensive end Mel Mills in the end zone with just under four minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Georgia Tech 19, Furman 17--For the fifth time in his career, Scott Sisson kicked Georgia Tech to victory in the final minute, this time on a 37-yard field goal with 21 seconds left at Atlanta.

Georgia Tech is 6-4; Furman is 6-3.

Before Saturday, Sisson had kicked field goals in the final minute in two victories over Virginia and also to beat Virginia Tech and Boston College.

Wake Forest 31, Duke 14--John Leach ran for one touchdown and threw for another as the Demon Deacons ended a 17-game ACC losing streak with the victory at Winston-Salem, N.C.

A loss for Wake Forest (2-7, 1-5) would have tied the ACC record of 18 set by Virginia in 1958-61.

Quarterback Dave Brown completed 15 of 32 passes for 154 yards for Duke (4-3-1, 1-3), but he had three passes intercepted.