Virginia Tech Clinches Atlantic Coast Title

Bryan Randall grabbed a set of Mardi Gras beads and waved them aloft, while his teammates exalted in the prospect of a trip to New Orleans.

Virginia Tech beat Miami for the second consecutive season -- and a bowl championship series spot, one that Virginia Tech let slip away by collapsing down the stretch a year ago, is the reward.

Randall threw two touchdown passes, including a 39-yard pass to Eddie Royal that put Virginia Tech ahead to stay in its 16-10 victory over the Hurricanes on Saturday at Miami.

The Hokies capped their first Atlantic Coast Conference season by winning the league title.

No. 10 Virginia Tech (10-2, 7-1) will learn today to which BCS bowl it’s headed, the probable choice being the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 3 in New Orleans. Miami (8-3, 5-3) will play Florida in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Eve.

“To come into this great stadium, against a great football team and to be able to hold on and win the ACC outright is a special feeling for us,” Hokie Coach Frank Beamer said.

No. 7 Louisville 55, Tulane 7 -- Stefan LeFors, who played high school ball in Baton Rouge, threw for one touchdown and ran for another to lead the Cardinals in a Conference USA game at New Orleans.

The nation’s top-rated passer completed 19 of 27 for 247 yards before leaving the game late in the third quarter. LeFors, a senior, was not recruited by a single Louisiana college but has become the leader of one of the most prolific offenses in the country at Louisville.

The Cardinals (10-1, 8-0), ranked first nationally in scoring, were averaging nearly 50 points a game. They reached the 55-point mark for the fifth consecutive game.

No. 19 Pittsburgh 43, South Florida 14 -- Tyler Palko threw for a career-high 411 yards and five touchdowns at Tampa, Fla., as the Panthers virtually assured themselves the Big East spot in the BCS.

Greg Lee scored on receptions of 18, six and seven yards for Pitt (8-3), and Malcolm Postell returned one of his two interceptions 15 yards for a touchdown that gave his team a 13-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.

The victory was the sixth in seven games for Pitt, which hardly resembled a BCS team in stumbling to a 2-2 start that included an overtime victory over Division I-AA Furman and a 12-point loss at Connecticut.