Defense Helps Florida State to a Lopsided Win

The Florida State offense wasn’t doing any scoring, so the defense decided to take matters into its own hands.

Lamont Green scored on a 56-yard interception return and Pete Boulware’s blocked punt resulted in another touchdown, igniting a 28-point second quarter that carried the No. 3-ranked Seminoles to a 49-3 victory over Georgia Tech Saturday night at Atlanta.

The Seminoles, long known for their offensive prowess, now rank among the top five nationally in defense. It was the third time they have held an opponent without a touchdown.

Florida State, 7-0 overall and 6-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference, has won 37 of 38 league games since joining the ACC in 1992. The Seminoles should cruise to their fifth straight title with remaining league games against Wake Forest and Maryland.

Georgia Tech is 5-3 and 4-3.

No. 8 North Carolina 52, North Carolina State 20--Leon Johnson scored four times and Chris Keldorf broke a school record for with his 19th and 20th touchdown passes of the season as the Tar Heels won at Chapel Hill, N.C.

The 52 points was the most ever for North Carolina (7-1, 5-1) against North Carolina State (1-6, 1-4).

Keldorf, from Manhattan Beach, completed 16 of 22 passes for 315 yards and three touchdowns. It was his third straight 300-yard game and his fourth straight game with at least three touchdown passes. He has thrown only two interceptions all season.

Clemson 35, Maryland 3--Emory Smith had two touchdowns and the Tiger defense had six sacks in a half at Clemson, S.C.

Clemson (5-3, 4-2) got two one-yard touchdown runs from Smith, the brother of the Dallas Cowboys’ Emmitt, plus a 66-yard interception return score by Peter Ford and some poor execution by Maryland (4-5, 2-4) to win for the fourth time in five games.

No. 16 Virginia 27, Duke 3--Tiki Barber rushed for 125 yards and two touchdowns and the Cavaliers (6-2, 4-2) had a 24-point second quarter at Durham, N.C.

Duke (0-8, 0-5) avoided its first shutout in three seasons by getting a field goal with 1:04 to play.