TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — EJ Manuel threw for a career-high 380 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another 102 yards as fourthranked Florida State rallied from a two-touchdown deficit to defeat No. 10 Clemson 49-37 on Saturday night.
The biggest Atlantic Coast Conference game in years was a wild one for a while. Then it was Florida State’s offense pulling away from Clemson and it’s fast-paced attack.
Chris Thompson ran for 103 yards and two scores and James Wilder Jr. added two touchdown runs for the Seminoles, who broke open a close game with 35 secondhalf points. Thompson, who has 300 yards rushing in two ACC games, also caught eight passes for 79 yards.
Florida State (4-0, 2-0) trailed until late in the third quarter, taking its first lead at 35-31 on Manuel’s 29-yard touchdown pass to Rodney Smith. The Seminoles, who finished with 667 yards, built a 49-31 lead before Clemson scored late. Florida State is now the only remaining unbeaten team in the ACC.
Florida State is averaging 56.2 points and 574.5 yards offense a game as it prepares to play next weekend at South Florida.
Clemson (3-1, 0-1) built a 28-14 lead early in the third quarter on a 52-yard pass from All-America receiver Sammy Watkins to Andre Ellington.
Tajh Boyd completed 20 of 36 passes for 237 yards and 3 touchdowns for Clemson.
In other games involving ACC teams, Logan Thomas helped Virginia Tech (3-1) bounce back from a humbling loss a week ago with a 37-0 victory against Bowling Green (1-3) in Blacksburg, Va. ... Michael Campanaro scored a career-best three touchdowns, and Wake Forest (3-1) came up with a key fourth-quarter defensive stop to beat Army (0-3) 49-37 in Winston-Salem, N.C. ... Gio Bernard scored two touchdowns in his return from a knee injury and North Carolina (2-2) took over after halftime to beat East Carolina (2-2) 27-6 in Chapel Hill, N.C.
PACIFIC-12
Southern Cal rebounds
LOS ANGELES — Matt Barkley knew he wasn’t exactly polishing his personal credentials while Southern California grinded out a victory with its dominant defense and a steady running game.
Barkley passed for 192 yards and threw two touchdown passes to Marqise Lee as No. 13 USC bounced back from its first defeat with a 27-9 victory over California on Saturday.
Lee had 11 catches for 94 yards and Silas Redd rushed for 158 yards and a score as the Trojans (3-1, 1-1) methodically rolled to their ninth consecutive victory over the Golden Bears (1-3, 0-1) in the schools’ 100th meeting.
Curtis McNeal rushed 115 yards for the Trojans, giving them two 100-yard rushers in a game for the first time since 2008. USC held Cal to 250 total yards and sacked Zach Maynard seven times.
In another game involving Pac-12 teams, Jordan Webb scored on a 4-yard run in the final seconds, the last of three Colorado (1-3, 1-0) touchdowns in the final seven minutes, to beat Washington State (2-2, 0-1) 35-34 in Pullman, Wash.
Sports, Pages 36 on 09/23/2012