North Carolina and Georgia Tech will look back on Week 5 with dismay after both lost winnable games. North Carolina were truly embarrassed by a weaker East Carolina while Georgia Tech will feel unlucky to catch Logan Thomas on his first good day of the season.
Ranked sides Clemson, Florida State and Miami all eased to wins and will quickly turn to Week 6. The Seminoles have the toughest game as they face-off with ACC rivals and No. 25 Maryland.
Conference Games
No. 3 Clemson – 56
Wake Forest – 7
Clemson quarterback Tajh Boyd eclipsed 100 touchdowns – Philip Rivers is the only other ACC player to surpass the landmark - in a Tigers uniform during a comfortable win over Wake Forest. The game as a contest was over within the first eight minutes with Boyd throwing darts to numerous receivers. A ten yard Zac Brooks run was sandwiched by touchdown receptions of 64 and 75 yards by Sammy Watkins and D.J. Howard respectively.
Boyd ran in a score from two yards before throwing his third touchdown pass of the day to Mike Williams to give the Tigers a 35-7 lead at the half. C.J. Davidson punched two touchdowns in while back-up quarterback Cole Stoudt got in on the action with an 18-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Leggett.
No. 8 Florida State – 48
Boston College - 34
Florida State overcame a slow start to rally past a battling Boston College. The upset was on when the Eagles opened up a 14 point lead early in the second quarter after quarterback Chase Rettig found C.J. Parsons and Jake Sinkovec for scores. However, it wasn’t to be a fairy-tale afternoon for the home side as Seminoles quarterback Jameis Winston rallied the troops with four touchdown passes. Florida State’s rushing attack was kept in check for the most part with Devonta Freeman the only back to find reasonable success.
Half-back Andre Williams was the Eagles’ stand-out player, the senior accumulated 149 yards on 28 carries.
Virginia Tech – 17
Georgia Tech – 10
Georgia Tech’s triple-option offense was tamed for the first time this season as Logan Thomas kick-started his campaign. The Yellow Jackets – defending their unbeaten start to the season – were behind from the off thanks to a 21-yard strike by Hokies quarterback Thomas with a little over two minutes gone. Thomas added another score on the ground and finished with 279 total yards.
Georgia Tech couldn’t find anything on offense as quarterback Vad Lee finished the game with just 29.2% of his 24 passing attempts finding receivers.
Virginia – 3
Pittsburgh – 14
The Pittsburgh defense shut down the Virginia offense to record their third straight win as the Panthers continue to build momentum with the business end of the season quickly approaching.
Pittsburgh capitalised on two early Cavaliers turnovers with a six-yard touchdown run from James Conner and a 15-yard touchdown pass from Tom Savage to Devin Street.
With five turnovers and 17 punts between the two teams this ACC clash wasn’t an advertisement for good football. However, Pitt won’t mind how the wins come, as long as they continue.
Non-Conference Games
No. 15 Miami – 49
South Florida – 21
The Hurricanes’ first road game of the season resulted in a comfortable win. No.15 ranked Miami scored on their first three possessions and dominated defensively in a game that was expected to be closer than it was.
Quarterback Stephen Morris was as good as we have seen him this season, the senior completed 11 of 16 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns. Sophmore running back Duke Johnson rushed for 84 yards and a touchdown while receiver Stacy Coley caught two touchdowns.
South Florida scored two garbage-time touchdowns in the fourth quarter to give the scoreboard a more respectable look.
East Carolina – 55
North Carolina – 31
East Carolina recorded their first road win against North Carolina in 38 years as quarterback Shane Carden accounted for six touchdowns.
Carden threw touchdowns of 6, 7 and 48 yards as well as running in three scores all from a yard out. Senior running back Vintavious Cooper ran for a career-high 186 yards and caught eight passes for 70 yards.
North Carolina quarterback Bryn Renner threw his first of three touchdown passes in the third quarter to make the score 35-17. However, any hope of a comeback was quickly ruled out when the Pirates responded with another six points just three minutes later. Renner finished 366 yards and three touchdowns.
Troy – 31
Duke – 38
Duke stopped the rot to get back above.500 with a testing win over the Troy Trojans. Brandon Connette controlled the game from start to finish and was directly involved in all five Duke touchdowns. Connette had 324 passing yards with three touchdowns and 55 rushing yards which included two scores. Running back Josh Snead had 108 yards on the back of a tough outing against Pittsburgh a week ago.
Kicker Ross Martin sealed the win with a 34-yard field-goal after the Trojans had a 56-yard touchdown pass negated for a holding penalty.
Central Michigan – 14
North Carolina State – 48
NC State raced to a 35-0 half-time lead as they strolled past Central Michigan
Offense, defense and special teams all scored points for the Wolfpack who improved to 3-1. Senior linebacker D.J. Green got the ball rolling when he returned an interception 37 yards for the opening score. Rashard Smith returned a punt 67 yards for a touchdown in the highly entertaining second quarter. Quarterback Pete Thomas’ first touchdown pass of the season went 80 yards to Bryan Underwood. Thomas also added a score on the ground along with Shadrach Thornton and Matt Dayes.