Rix Gets Second Chance, Leads Florida State to Win

Chris Rix used his second chance to make a bad week much better for Florida State.

Rix threw two touchdown passes to Anquan Boldin and rushed for 83 yards Saturday night to help No. 23 Florida State defeat No. 15 Florida, 31-14, at Tallahassee, Fla.

Freshman tailback Leon Washington rushed for 134 yards, and all of the sudden, a week of turmoil and a season of disappointments didn’t seem so bad for the Seminoles (9-4).

They did, after all, win the Atlantic Coast Conference. They will play in a major bowl game -- probably the Sugar. And they punctuated the regular season by beating their biggest rival for the fourth time in five years.

Florida Coach Ron Zook had no more luck in his first year than Steve Spurrier did in 12 seasons when it comes to winning at Doak Campbell Stadium. The Gators (8-4) still haven’t won in Tallahassee since 1986.

Rix, who completed 13 of 29 passes for 194 yards, won the starting job by default when Adrian McPherson was kicked off the team last week after a police investigation led to his arrest on a charge of felony grand theft. McPherson’s final game was a dreadful 17-7 loss to North Carolina State on Nov. 23 that had Seminoles fans howling.

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Scott McBrien threw for 257 yards and two touchdowns in the first half, helping 25th-ranked Maryland (10-3, 6-2) to a 32-14 victory over Wake Forest (6-6, 3-5) in an Atlantic Coast Conference game at College Park, Md. With the victory, the Terrapins earned a berth in the Peach Bowl and recorded a second straight 10-win season for the first time in school history.... Micky D’Angelo threw for 208 yards and a touchdown and backup quarterback Dustin Almond ran for a touchdown as Southern Mississippi (7-5, 5-3) finished the regular season with a 24-7 victory over East Carolina (4-7, 4-3) in a Conference USA game at Hattiesburg, Miss.... Ryan Schneider threw four touchdown passes to Doug Gabriel and ran for another score as Central Florida (7-5, 6-2) pulled away for a 42-32 victory over Ohio (4-8, 4-4) in a Mid-American Conference game at Orlando, Fla.... Dwone Hicks rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns to lead Middle Tennessee (4-8) to a 45-28 victory over Utah State (4-7) at Mufreesboro, Tenn.

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EAST

West Virginia (9-3, 6-1) turned two Rod Rutherford turnovers into touchdowns and the visiting No. 24 Mountaineers, possibly headed to the Gator Bowl, held on for a 24-17 victory over No. 17 Pittsburgh (8-4, 5-2) in a Big East Conference game. Rasheed Marshall ran for a touchdown, threw for another and set up a score with a 25-yard reception as West Virginia beat Pitt for the eighth time in 11 years.... Lee Suggs rushed for two touchdowns and No. 22 Virginia Tech (9-3) found its defense, shutting down Matt Schaub and beating rival Virginia (8-5) for the fourth consecutive year, 21-9, in a nonconference game at Blacksburg, Va. The Hokies ended a three-game losing streak by holding the Cavaliers to 203 yards and getting a touchdown from their special teams to go with Suggs’ 51st and 52nd career touchdowns.... Byron Leftwich passed for 401 yards to become the Mid-American Conference’s career offense leader as Marshall (9-2, 7-1) rolled to a 38-14 victory over Ball State (6-6, 4-4) at Huntington, W.Va. Marshall will play host to Toledo in the MAC championship game next Saturday. In a late Heisman Trophy push, Leftwich completed 35 of 42 passes and had his fourth 400-yard game this season. He has 11,408 career yards of total offense, surpassing the 11,081 set by Western Michigan’s Tim Lester from 1996 to ’99.... Derrick Knight rushed for 205 yards and one touchdown and caught a 52-yard pass for another score as Boston College (8-4, 3-4) rolled to a 44-14 victory over Rutgers (1-11, 0-7) at Boston.

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MIDWEST

DeMarco McCleskey caught two touchdown passes and ran for another as Cincinnati (6-6, 5-2) kept its bowl hopes alive with a 31-23 victory over visiting Alabama Birmingham (5-7, 4-4) in a Conference USA game.... Brian Jones threw for three touchdowns and Trinity Dawson ran for three more as Toledo (9-3, 7-1) rolled to a 42-24 victory over Bowling Green (9-3, 6-2) at Toledo, Ohio, to win the Mid-American Conference’s West Division title.

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SOUTHWEST

Freshman Lonta Hobbs rushed for 287 yards and three touchdowns, the last one with 38 seconds left, as Texas Christian (9-2, 6-2) prevailed, 27-20, over Memphis (3-9, 2-6) at Fort Worth to earn a berth in the Liberty Bowl by winning a share of the Conference USA title. Hobbs, who had his fifth consecutive 100-yard game, set TCU freshman records for rushing yards in a game, yards in a season (952) and touchdowns in a season (10).... Joffrey Reynolds rushed for 149 yards to set the Conference USA single-season record (1,545 yards) and caught two touchdown passes to lead Houston (5-7, 3-5) to a 27-10 victory over visiting Louisville (7-5, 5-3). Reynolds recorded his conference-record eighth 100-yard game.

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WEST

Larry Croom rushed for 222 yards and a touchdown, and DeJhown Mandley caught a 29-yard touchdown pass with 46 seconds left as Nevada Las Vegas (5-7, 3-4) came back for a 36-33 upset over No. 16 Colorado State (10-3, 6-1) in a Mountain West Conference game at Fort Collins, Colo. The Rebels had 390 yards rushing to beat Colorado State for the first time since 1982, a span of seven games.... DonTrell Moore scored five touchdowns and became the first New Mexico back in six years to rush for over 1,000 yards as the Lobos (7-6, 5-2) clinched their second bowl bid in 41 years with a 49-20 victory over Wyoming (2-10, 1-6) in a Mountain West Conference game at Albuquerque. New Mexico finished second in the conference and will go to either the Las Vegas Bowl or San Francisco Bowl.