Associated Press
The ACC roundup …
BOSTON ó Duke had overcome a 19-7 deficit. Its quarterback had tied a school record with 40 completions. But the Blue Devils were just a short field-goal attempt away from losing.
Then Nate Freese knocked his 23-yard kick off the left upright with 43 seconds left and Duke held on for a 20-19 win over Boston College in the ACC opener for both teams on Saturday.
“They feel horrible and we’re all singing and celebrating,” said fourth-year Duke coach David Cutcliffe, “but that’s sport. That’s what you do this for. I want to sing a lot more.”
The Blue Devils scored the go-ahead touchdown with 9:57 left on quarterback Sean Renfree’s 1-yard run. The junior was much busier throwing the ball with 52 attempts for 359 yards and two touchdowns to Conner Vernon. Renfree tied the Duke record of 40 completions set by Thaddeus Lewis in 2009 against North Carolina State.
“I definitely didn’t expect to throw maybe that much,” Renfree said. “We ran it where we needed to and we had success there as well. But I think as much success as we had in the passing game, why not keep going to that?”
Duke (1-2) won for just the second time in its last 11 conference openers. BC (0-3) is off to its worst start since 1991 when it finished 4-7 under Tom Coughlin.
Renfree led the decisive 70-yard drive after the Blue Devils wasted two solid scoring opportunities in the second half ó an interception at the BC 3 and a missed 33-yard field goal attempt.
Wake Forest 48, G-Webb 5
WINSTON-SALEM ó Tanner Price threw for 281 yards and two touchdowns and ran for a third as Wake Forest beat Gardner-Webb 48-5 on Saturday night.
Price completed 21 of 32 passes in less than three quarters for the Demon Deacons (2-1, 1-0 ACC), hitting Terence Davis on a 5-yard TD pass late in the second quarter and Chris Givens on a 19-yard touchdown early in the third. He also scored on a 1-yard keeper in the first quarter.
The Bulldogs (1-2) couldn’t get their offense going against Wake Forest, managing just five first downs and 139 total yards. Their only points came off Trever Austin’s 27-yard field goal in the first quarter and a safety in the second.
The Demon Deacons also got touchdown runs from Brandon Pendergrass, backup quarterback Ted Stachitas and Nick Knott, and field goals of 22 and 25 yards from Jimmy Newman in their highest-scoring game of the season.
Price threw for 238 yards and accounted for two TDs in the first half, as Wake Forest dominated the smaller Bulldogs in building a 27-5 lead at the halftime break.
The two teams traded first-quarter field goals. But Price’s second TD pass, the 19-yarder to Givens, put the Demon Deacons ahead 34-5 with 11:01 remaining in the third quarter, and ended his night.
Georgia Tech 66, Kansas 24
ATLANTA ó For Georgia Tech, it felt like a video game.
The option offense was working to perfection Saturday, and Kansas couldn’t find the off switch.
Led by Orwin Smith, who had more than 100 yards rushing and receiving, the Yellow Jackets piled up a school-record 768 yards in a 66-24 rout of the Jayhawks.
Georgia Tech (3-0) also set a school mark with 604 yards rushing and played with a passion and focus that was missing a year ago in an mistake-plagued loss to Kansas.