Florida State Loses to a Familiar Face

Homecoming at Florida State was just like Chuck Amato remembered. A full stadium and a win.

“There is no way you can fathom something like this,” Amato said after his North Carolina State squad upset 10th-ranked Florida State, 34-28, Saturday at Tallahassee, Fla., ending the Seminoles’ 39-0 run at home against Atlantic Coast Conference competition.

And Amato did it in his first visit since spending 18 years as a Florida State assistant, ending Bobby Bowden’s 25-0 homecoming record and possibly the Seminoles’ nine-year ACC title reign.

Aside from a brief time in the first quarter, the Wolfpack, 6-3 overall and 4-3 in the ACC, dominated the game. They accumulated 463 yards and 26 first downs while holding the ball for 34:58, keeping Florida State’s explosive offense on the sideline.

Ray Robinson ran for 106 yards and two touchdowns, including a decisive fourth-quarter scoring run when he spun out of the grasp of Florida State middle linebacker Bradley Jennings and raced 24 yards to the end zone to give the Wolfpack a 31-21 lead with 11:37 left.

Florida State is 6-3, 5-2.

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In other ACC games, Shaun Hill passed for 189 yards and two touchdowns as No. 13 Maryland (9-1, 6-1) ended an eight-game skid against Clemson (5-4, 3-4) and gained sole possession of first place in the conference with a 37-20 victory at College Park, Md.... Alvin Pearman took a lateral from Billy McMullen and ran 27 yards for the winning score with 22 seconds left, completing a crazy 37-yard play that provided a fitting ending to Virginia’s 39-38 win over No. 20 Georgia Tech (6-3, 3-3) at Charlottesville, Va. Virginia (4-6, 3-5) ended its five-game losing streak.... James MacPherson scored with 1:17 left as Wake Forest (5-4, 3-4) rallied from a 24-point halftime deficit to stun North Carolina (5-5, 4-3), 32-31.

Big East

James Mungro scored three times on short runs and Syracuse (8-2, 5-0) forced three costly turnovers as the Orangemen rallied past West Virginia (3-6, 1-4) at Syracuse, N.Y., for their eighth straight win.... Kevin Jones ran for 155 yards and two touchdowns as No. 23 Virginia Tech (7-2, 4-2) beat Temple (2-7, 1-5), 35-0, at Philadelphia.... David Priestley threw four touchdown passes and ran for another score in a first-half surge that led Pittsburgh (4-5, 3-3) to a 42-0 victory over hapless Rutgers (2-7, 0-6) at Piscataway, N.J.

Conference USA

Dave Ragone threw for 246 yards and two touchdowns and No. 25 Louisville (9-1, 5-0) secured its second straight nine-win season with a 34-10 victory over Houston (0-9, 0-6) at Louisville, Ky.... Leonard Henry ran for a career-high 234 yards and scored three touchdowns, and East Carolina (6-3, 5-0) survived another last-minute scare as it held on for a 28-26 victory over Cincinnati (5-4, 4-2) at Cincinnati.... Thomas Cox threw for 223 yards and two touchdowns to lead Alabama Birmingham (5-4, 4-2) to a 38-17 victory over Texas Christian (4-5. 2-3) at Birmingham, Ala.... Patrick Ramsey threw three touchdowns passes to Roydell Williams, and tailback Mewelde Moore had 261 total yards as Tulane (3-8) beat 0-8 Navy, 42-28, in a nonconference game at Annapolis, Md.... Buffalo (3-7) won its second in a row with a 26-19 victory over Army (2-7) at West Point, N.Y.

Mid-American

Running back Brandon Carey passed for two touchdowns to lead Marshall (8-1, 7-0) to a 27-21 win over Miami, Ohio (7-3, 6-1) at Oxford, Ohio. The win gave Marshall the East Division title for the fifth year in a row. Marshall has been the MAC champ every year since joining the conference in 1997.

Mountain West

Adam Tate got most of his 146 yards on a 73-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter and Dameon Hunter ran for another 88 yards as Utah (7-2, 5-1) beat San Diego State (2-8, 1-5), 17-3, at Salt Lake City. The Utes won for the sixth time in seven games and probably secured the sixth bowl berth in 12 seasons under Coach Ron McBride.

Western Athletic

David Carr passed for 292 yards and four touchdowns as Fresno State (8-2, 4-2) beat Southern Methodist (2-6, 2-4), 38-13, at Dallas. Carr passes were intercepted twice in the first quarter and SMU had an early 10-0 lead.... Marcus Arroyo threw a career-high five touchdown passes to lead San Jose State (3-6, 3-3) to a 64-45 victory over Nevada (2-7, 2-4) at San Jose, as the teams set an NCAA record for total offense. San Jose State (849) and Nevada (791) combined for 1,640 yards, eclipsing the previous record of 1,563 yards set by Houston and TCU on Nov. 3, 1990.... Kyle Herm passed for two touchdowns and ran for another as Rice (7-3, 4-2) had a school record 653 yards in a 59-32 victory over Tulsa (1-8, 0-6) at Houston.