Virginia Rallies Past North Carolina

Things looked bad for Virginia with just over 10 minutes left in the Cavaliers’ Atlantic Coast Conference game against No. 6-ranked North Carolina on Saturday at Charlottesville, Va., a game No. 24 Virginia ended up winning, 20-17.

Trailing, 17-3, the Cavaliers’ defense was backed up on its own nine-yard line and Chris Keldorf, the ACC’s top-rated quarterback from Manhattan Beach, was moving his team in for the kill.

Instead, Keldorf made an ill-advised throw toward Octavus Barner over the middle. Antwan Harris picked it off and raced 95 yards for a touchdown.

It was the game-turning play.

The sellout crowd, silenced after watching the Tar Heels break a 3-3 game open with two touchdowns in a span of 1:07, also came back to life.

And then Tim Sherman took over.

Benched earlier after an interception that Dre’ Bly returned 51 yards for a touchdown, Sherman returned and led Virginia on two drives. He capped the first with a seven-yard touchdown run on fourth and two, then passed to Germane Crowell for 41 yards to set up Rafael Garcia’s 32-yard field goal with 39 seconds left.

Sherman finished 10 for 24 for 136 yards with two interceptions. He also ran six times for 26 yards, including to fourth-down runs on the touchdown drive.

Virginia (7-3, 5-3) beat North Carolina (8-2, 5-2) for the eighth consecutive time at Scott Stadium and avenged a loss last season that cost them the ACC title.

No. 3 Florida State 54, No. 25 Southern Mississippi 14--Warrick Dunn scored three touchdowns, one on a 77-yard pass play, as the Seminoles (9-0) rolled up 548 yards and claimed a nonconference victory over the the Golden Eagles (8-3) at Tallahasee, Fla.

Dunn’s touchdowns give him a school-record 47 at Florida State, which has only next Saturday’s game against Maryland standing between it and a Nov. 30 showdown against top-ranked Florida.

Clemson 40, North Carolina State 17--Raymond Priester ran for 146 yards and went over 1,000 for the second consecutive year and as the Tigers (7-3, 6-2) routed the Wolfpack (2-7, 2-5) at Clemson, S.C., to lock up one of the ACC’s bowl berths, most likely in the Peach on Dec. 28 against a Southeastern Conference opponent.

Wake Forest 17, Duke 16--Duke’s winless season hit its lowest point as the Demon Deacons (3-7, 1-6) scored 14 points in the final 7 1/2 minutes to pull out a one-point victory over the Blue Devils (0-10, 0-7) in an ACC game at Winston-Salem, N.C. Three pass-interference penalties contributed to Wake Forest’s rally.