COLLEGE FOOTBALL : ATLANTIC COAST ROUNDUP : Tar Heels Surprise Virginia

North Carolina Coach Mack Brown went with his feelings to pull off a 22-17 upset of No. 9 Virginia on Saturday in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at Chapel Hill, N.C.

Leon Johnson raced 19 yards on a key fourth-down play after Brown decided against a field-goal attempt, and then scored on a six-yard run with 6:13 left as North Carolina rallied to end the Cavaliers’ five-game winning streak.

Brown used a pair of halfback option passes in the first half to throw the talented Cavalier secondary off, then cashed in on the fourth-down gamble with Johnson late in the game to come up with the winning touchdown.

“I really felt like it would have sent a negative message to our football team not to go for a six-inch play.” Brown said.

It worked, and the Tar Heels, 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the ACC, avenged losses to the Cavaliers (5-2, 4-1) the last two seasons that knocked them out of major bowls.

Georgia Tech 37, Duke 21--Donnie Davis and C.J. Williams dominated the Blue Devils’ porous defense in leading the Yellow Jackets (3-2, 2-1) to an ACC victory at Durham, N.C.

Davis carried 12 times for 103 yards and completed 12 of 18 passes for 206 yards and one touchdown against Duke (2-4, 0-3). He is the first player in Georgia Tech’s modern era to run and pass for more than 100 yards in a game.

Williams racked up 185 yards in 35 carries and scored two third-quarter touchdowns.

Maryland 9, Wake Forest 6--The quarterback controversy escalated for the Terrapins (5-1, 3-1) when Brian Cummings replaced Scott Milanovich to rally the team past the Deamon Decons (1-5, 0-3) at Winston-Salem, N.C.

Cummings, a sophomore, completed 20 of 30 passes for 223 yards.

Cummings opened the season by leading the Terrapins to their first 4-0 start since 1978, only to be benched in favor of Milanovich, the school’s career passing leader who was serving a four-game suspension because of gambling. The Terrapins, under Milanovich’s direction, lost, 31-3, at Georgia Tech.

Milanovich was pulled after completing only five of 12 passes for 33 yards on the first four possessions

Georgia 19, Clemson 17--Freshman Torin Kirtsey’s 195 yards rushing rekindled his school’s rushing legacy in leading the Bulldogs (3-3) past the Tigers (3-3) at Clemson, S.C.

Kirtsey continually danced through Clemson to set up all four scores and finish with the most yards in a game for Georgia this season in becoming an unlikely star of Georgia’s 60th and final meeting with the Tigers.

Brian Smith, Georgia’s third-string quarterback, threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Juan Daniels that put the Bulldogs up for good in the third quarter.