Clemson a Winner by Ground; Florida State Does It by Air

Two Atlantic Coast Conference powers on a collision course, No. 5-ranked Clemson and No. 7 Florida State, took different routes to victory Saturday.

Clemson ran for all five of its touchdowns in a 35-14 victory over Maryland at Clemson, S.C., while Chris Weinke threw for a school-record 536 yards and five touchdowns in Florida State’s 63-14 victory over Duke at Tallahassee, Fla.

Clemson, 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the ACC, and Florida State (6-1, 4-0) figure to be unbeaten in conference when they meet Nov. 4 in Tallahassee. And with two more unbeaten teams, No. 2 Kansas State and No. 6 Ohio State, losing Saturday, the two Bowden-coached teams--Tommy for Clemson and father Bobby for Florida State--could be playing for higher national stakes.

Clemson had a season-low 464 yards against Maryland (2-4, 0-3). The Terrapins keyed on quarterback Woody Dantzler, who had a modest 87 yards rushing and 186 passing, but that allowed tailback Travis Zachery to run for a career-high 151 yards.

Meanwhile, Florida State--bouncing back from last week’s loss to Miami--rode the arm of Weinke, who threw to 10 receivers for 446 yards in a 42-0 first-half dismantling of Duke (0-6, 0-3). Weinke went on to surpass Florida State’s former record for yards passing in a game, 508 by Bill Cappleman in 1969, and moved past Georgia Tech’s Joe Hamilton as the ACC’s all-time leader in touchdown passes at 66.

*

In other ACC games: Tailback Cotra Jackson, playing in place of injured starter Ray Robinson, scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter as North Carolina State (5-1, 2-1) ended a losing streak against North Carolina (3-3, 1-3) at seven with a 38-20 victory at Chapel Hill, N.C. . . . George Godsey completed 16 of 21 passes for 333 yards and four touchdowns, and Georgia Tech (4-2, 2-2) scored on its first four possessions in a 52-20 victory over Wake Forest (0-6, 0-4) at Atlanta.

In Conference USA games: Dawayne Woods had 143 yards and three touchdowns in 20 carries and No. 16 Southern Mississippi (5-1, 2-0) had fumble and interception returns for touchdowns in a 56-24 victory over Tulane (3-3, 1-2) at New Orleans. . . . Tony Stallings rushed for 122 yards and caught two touchdown passes to lead Louisville (5-1, 2-0) to a 38-24 victory over Cincinnati (3-4, 2-2) at Louisville, Ky. . . . Jegil Dugger’s 24-yard touchdown run with 8:41 left was decisive for Alabama Birmingham (4-2, 1-2) in a 13-9 victory over Memphis (4-3, 2-3) at Birmingham, Ala. . . . Leonard Henry had 134 yards and two touchdowns in 10 carries for East Carolina (4-2, 2-1) in a 42-21 victory over Army (0-6, 0-4) at Greenville, N.C.

EAST

Boston College (4-2, 1-2 in the Big East) had four interceptions, including one that was returned for a touchdown by Lenny Walls, in a 20-13 victory over Syracuse (3-3, 1-1) at Chestnut Hill, Mass. . . . Tanardo Sharps ran for 168 yards and three touchdowns for Temple (4-3, 1-2) in a 48-14 victory over Rutgers (2-4, 0-4) at Piscataway, N.J.

WEST

In Mountain West Conference games: Rhett Nelson blocked an extra-point attempt with 34 seconds to play to give Colorado State (5-1, 2-0 in the Mountain West) a 20-19 victory over Nevada Las Vegas (3-3, 1-2) at Fort Collins, Colo. Nevada Las Vegas had driven 86 yards in seven plays pulling within a point on backup quarterback Jason Vaughan’s 11-yard touchdown pass to Nate Turner. Colorado State recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock. Nevada Las Vegas starting quarterback Jason Thomas--third in the nation in passing efficiency--suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter and didn’t return. . . . Quarterback Mike Thiessen rushed for four touchdowns and threw for another and Air Force (5-1, 3-1) ran for 432 yards in a 51-34 victory over Wyoming (1-6, 0-3) at Laramie, Wyo. . . . Darnell Arceneaux had three touchdown passes and Utah (2-4, 1-1) held San Diego State (1-5, 1-1) to 250 yards in a 21-7 victory at San Diego.

In Western Athletic Conference games: Deonce Whitaker rushed for 209 yards and tied a school record with four touchdowns for San Jose State (4-3, 2-1) in a 47-30 loss to Texas El Paso (5-2, 4-0) at San Jose. It was the third career 200-yard rushing game for Whitaker, a senior. . . . Derrick Ward scored two touchdowns and blocked a punt as Fresno State (3-2, 2-0) defeated Nevada (1-5, 0-2) at Fresno, 58-21.

SOUTHLAND

Luke Winslow’s nine-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Carlsen with no time remaining gave Azusa Pacific (5-2) a come-from-behind 54-51 win over Cal Lutheran (2-3) in a nonconference game in Thousand Oaks. Cal Lutheran led, 44-34, at halftime.