Florida State Works to Win ACC Title

Leon Washington’s 12-yard touchdown run gave No. 13 Florida State a 50-44 double-overtime victory over North Carolina State on Saturday at Tallahassee, Fla., wrapping up the Seminoles’ 11th Atlantic Coast Conference title in 12 years.

Florida State, which improved to 9-2 overall and 7-1 in the conference, also locked up its fourth bowl championship series game in five years after surviving a brilliant performance by North Carolina State’s Philip Rivers.

The ACC’s career passing leader, Rivers completed 28 of 38 passes for 422 yards and four touchdowns and ran for another score.

But North Carolina State (7-4, 4-3) gambled and lost in the second overtime. Instead of trying a field goal, the Wolfpack went for it on fourth and one at the Florida State 16-yard line and Rivers’ pass for Jerricho Cotchery was broken up by Allen Augustin at the five.

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In other games involving teams from the South: P.J. Daniels ran for a career-high 240 yards and Georgia Tech (6-4, 4-3) became bowl eligible with a 41-24 victory over North Carolina (2-9, 1-6) in an ACC game at Atlanta.... Charlie Whitehurst completed 27 of 40 passes for 331 yards to lead Clemson (7-4, 5-3) to a 40-7 victory over Duke (3-8, 1-6) in an ACC game at Clemson, S.C.... Cornell Brockington ran for 182 yards and four touchdowns to lift Connecticut (9-3) to a 51-17 victory over Wake Forest (5-6) at Winston-Salem, N.C.... Danny Wimprine threw a touchdown pass and ran for another score as Memphis (7-3, 3-2) rolled to a 37-7 victory over Louisville (7-3, 3-3) in a Conference USA game at Louisville, Ky.... Dustin Almond threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to Alan Whitney off a fake field goal with less than two minutes left and Southern Mississippi (7-3, 6-0) pulled away for 28-14 victory over Tulane (4-7, 2-5) in a Conference USA game at Hattiesburg, Miss.

EAST

Jamaal Branch rushed for 131 yards and scored twice to lead Colgate (11-0, 6-0) to a 14-3 victory over Fordham (8-3, 3-3) in a Patriot League game at Hamilton, N.Y.... Mike Mitchell threw three touchdown passes to lead Pennsylvania (9-0, 6-0) to a 32-24 victory over Harvard (6-3, 3-3) at Boston, clinching its second consecutive Ivy League title.

MIDWEST

Julius Jones ran for 161 yards and three touchdowns, D.J. Fitzpatrick kicked four field goals and Notre Dame (4-6) rolled to a 33-14 victory over Brigham Young (4-7) at South Bend, Ind.... Bruce Gradkowski threw for 301 yards and three touchdowns to lead Toledo (7-3, 5-1) to a 49-30 victory over No. 21 Northern Illinois (9-2, 5-2) in a Mid-American Conference game at Toledo, Ohio.... Josh Harris threw for 324 yards and three touchdowns to lead No. 25 Bowling Green (8-2, 5-1) to a 42-33 victory over Kent State (4-7, 3-4) in a MAC game at Bowling Green, Ohio.

SOUTHWEST

Patrick Cobbs rushed for 228 yards and scored four touchdowns to lead North Texas (8-3, 6-0) to a 58-14 victory over Arkansas State (5-6, 3-3) at Denton, Texas. North Texas won the Sun Belt Conference title and a New Orleans Bowl berth for the third consecutive season.

WEST

Ryan Dinwiddie threw two touchdown passes to lead No. 24 Boise State (9-1, 5-0) to a 51-21 victory over Texas El Paso (2-9, 1-5) in a Western Athletic Conference game at Boise, Idaho.... Bradlee Van Pelt threw a 67-yard touchdown pass to Eric Hill with 9:06 left, and Colorado State (6-5, 3-3) pulled away for a 21-6 victory over San Diego State (5-6, 2-4) in a Mountain West Conference game at Fort Collins, Colo.... Derek Kennard Jr. returned an interception 11 yards for a touchdown to lead Nevada (6-5, 4-3) to a 24-14 victory over Hawaii (6-4, 5-2) in a WAC game at Reno, Nev.... DonTrell Moore rushed for two touchdowns and 188 yards as New Mexico (7-4, 4-2) rolled to a 24-12 victory over Air Force (7-4, 3-3) in a Mountain West game at Albuquerque.... Alex Smith passed for 296 yards and ran for three scores to lead Utah (8-2, 5-1) to a 47-17 victory over Wyoming (4-6, 2-3) in a Mountain West game at Salt Lake City.... Bernard Berrian and Adam Jennings each scored two touchdowns to lead Fresno State (7-4, 5-1) to a 41-7 victory over visiting San Jose State (3-7, 2-5) in a WAC game.

SOUTHLAND

Spencer Schomer rushed for 131 yards and Teo Bennett had two touchdowns to lead Claremont-Mudd (6-2, 4-1) to a 20-6 SCIAC victory over visiting Redlands (6-3, 5-1).... Jimmy Fox caught 10 passes to break the career school record in leading Cal Lutheran (5-4, 4-2) to a 70-13 SCIAC victory over visiting Whittier (1-8, 1-5).