![]() | |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities ![]()
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |
TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Ticker) -- Ray Robinson made sure North Carolina State coach Chuck Amato enjoyed his own form of homecoming. Robinson ran for 106 yards and two touchdowns as the Wolfpack upset No. 10 Florida State, 34-28, in Amato's first game in Tallahassee since the former Seminole assistant took over at North Carolina State two years ago. It was the Seminoles' first home loss in ACC play since they joined the conference in 1992, a span of 40 games. North Carolina State, which defeated Florida State in 1998, is the first team to beat the Seminoles twice in ACC play. Florida State's ACC record now stands at 75-4. Florida State (6-3, 5-2 ACC) also has lost three games in a season for the first time since 1986, when it went 7-4-1. The Seminoles fell one game behind Maryland atop the ACC after the Terps defeated Clemson, 37-20, on Saturday night. Freshman Chris Rix took the Seminoles from their own 22-yard line to the Wolfpack 15 in the final two minutes, and had a couple of chances to win the game. After spiking the ball with seven seconds left, Rix threw a pass to B.J. Ward in the end zone, but Ward dropped the ball. With three seconds remaining, Rix threw to the left corner of the end zone, but the pass sailed over Talman Garnder's hands and fell incomplete. "They made one more catch than we did," Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said. "All we needed was one of them and we win. But they deserved it. They played hard. This is what we face every week in the ACC. We're favored to win big and the other team comes in inspired. Sometimes they get you, but it hasn't happened around here very often." The loss was also the Seminoles' first homecoming defeat since Bowden became coach in 1976. The last time North Carolina State won here was in 1967, when Amato played for the Wolfpack. Robinson broke a tackle and ran up the middle for a 24-yard TD with 11:37 remaining to give the Wolfpack a 31-21 lead. Rix, who finished 20-of-35 for 302 yards with three TDs and an interception, scored on a three-yard run with 10:05 left to cut the Seminoles' deficit to 31-28, but the Wolfpack marched back down the field and Adam Kiker kicked a 32-yard field with 2:11 left. "That last drive killed us," Bowden said. "We had them backed up and they drove all the way and ate up an hour and a half on the clock, then they kicked the field goal." In a back-and-forth first half that saw a combined 530 yards of offense, North Carolina State struck first. Center Derek Green recovered a fumble in Florida State's end zone 2:10 into the contest to give the Wolfpack a 7-0 lead. Florida State produced the next two scores as Rix threw 33-yard TD pass to Gardner and a 63-yarder to Javon Walker. The Wolfpack dominated the second quarter. Jerricho Cotchery scored on a 12-yard run less than a minute into the quarter, and Robinson ran it in from three yards out with 9:04 remaining to give North Carolina State its second lead at 21-14. Kiker added a 25-yard field goal just before the half to give the Wolfpack a 10-point advantage. "Chuck knew us like a book and knew just how to hurt us," Bowden said. "He did it in the first half. All that jumping around on offense. He knew how to confuse us. They ran the ball great. It looked like we were out of position a lot on defense." Wolfpack quarterback Philip Rivers was 26-of-33 for 245 yards with one interception.
|