ATLANTIC COAST REPORT

* at North Carolina 35, McNeese State 27: Brandon Tate put on a dazzling show, scoring on an 82-yard punt return and putting North Carolina ahead for good with a 57-yard catch to help the Tar Heels hold off McNeese State at Chapel Hill in a game suspended nearly two hours because of weather. Tate finished with a school-record 397 all-purpose yards for the Tar Heels, who showed little else in an unimpressive start to their second season under Butch Davis. The senior started with a 56-yard return on the opening kickoff and had a 54-yard run that helped set up the Tar Heels’ second touchdown. He also had a 38-yard punt return in the first quarter, finishing with 106 yards rushing and 93 yards receiving to break the school record of 339 all-purpose yards set by Derrick Fenner in 1986. The 397 yards were second-most in Atlantic Coast Conference history.

* at Maryland 14, Delaware 7: Da’Rel Scott ran for 197 yards at College Park in his first college start, and the Terrapins missed three field-goal attempts and had trouble pulling away from the Blue Hens, who have 14 starters back from the team that last year advanced to the Football Championship Subdivision title game. Scott carried 26 times and had runs of 40, 37 and 26 yards. The 5-foot-11, 192-pound sophomore totaled 137 yards rushing last season in nine games as a backup.

* Boston College 21, Kent State 0: Quarterback Chris Crane, who waited four years for his chance to run the offense, ran for two touchdowns at Cleveland to lead Boston College, which recorded its first shutout since 2006. Making the second start of his career, Crane, a fifth-year senior who spent last season sitting behind former BC star and Atlanta Falcons starter Matt Ryan, completed 12 of 18 passes for 106 yards. Kent State’s Eugene Jarvis, the nation’s leading returning rusher from last season, finished with 51 yards in 11 carries.

* at Duke 31, James Madison 7: Thaddeus Lewis threw two touchdown passes to Eron Riley, and David Cutcliffe got a victory in his coaching debut with the Blue Devils at Durham, N.C. Lewis completed 17 of 28 passes for 141 yards, with touchdowns covering seven and 20 yards to Riley for the Blue Devils, who shook off a pregame weather delay and scored on four consecutive possessions to secure their first season-opening victory since beating East Carolina in 2002.