Saturday, November 15

North Carolina (2-8, 1-5 ACC) at Georgia Tech (5-4, 3-3 ACC)
JP; 12:00 noon
Bobby Dodd Stadium (55,000)

THE GAME: Georgia Tech has held the upper hand in this series since the two teams first met on the gridiron in 1915 ... the Yellow Jackets have won five in a row and lead the series 19-16-3 ... Tech has won the last two meetings in Atlanta ... North Carolina's last victory over the Jackets was at Tech in 1997... six of the last seven meetings have been decided by seven points or less.

LAST YEAR: GaT scored with just under five minutes to play in the third quarter to give the Yellow Jackets a 21-13 lead they would not reliquinsh ... Tech RB Ajenavi Eziemefe ran for 136 yards on 32 carries and a TD to lead all rushers ... North Carolina QB Darian Durant was 14 for 25 with 231 yards and a TD.

THE COACHES: Chan Gailey is 12-10 in his second year at Georgia Tech and 36-21 in five years overall ... John Bunting is 13-22 in his third season at North Carolina and 51-36-2 in eight years overall.

Fast Facts:

Duke (3-7, 1-5 ACC) at Clemson (6-4, 4-3 ACC)
1:00 p.m.
Memorial Stadium (81,474)

THE GAME: Clemson has held the upper hand in this long-time rivalry that was first contested in 1934 ... the Tigers have won the last four meetings between the two teams (by a 203-to-91 margin), and 22 of the last 26, to take a 31-15-1 lead in the series ... when playing at home, Clemson has won 11 straight against Duke ... the Blue Devils have not won at Clemson since 1980.

LAST YEAR: Clemson's Aaron Hunt connected on a 21-yard field goal with eight seconds left to seal a 34-31 Tiger victory ... Clemson QB Charlie Whitehurst threw for 420 yards on 34 for 52 passing and four TDs ... Duke QB Adam Smith was 23 for 44 and recorded 290 passing yards and three TDs.

THE COACHES: Tommy Bowden is 53-28 in seven years as a head coach, including a 35-24 mark in five seasons at Clemson ... Duke interim head coach Ted Roof is 1-2 entering his fourth ball game.

Fast Facts:

Connecticut (8-3) at Wake Forest (5-5, 3-4 ACC)
3:30 p.m.
Groves Stadium (31,500)

THE GAME: This will mark the first meeting between Wake Forest and Connecticut ... the Demon Deacons are 23-33-3 against the current members of the Big East with 32 of the contests coming against Virginia Tech ... this season, the Deacs and Huskies share two common opponents in Boston College and NC State.

THE COACHES: Jim Grobe is 18-16 in his third season at Wake Forest and 51-49-1 in his nine years overall ... UConn head coach Randy Edsall is 23-33 in five seasons as a head coach.

Fast Facts:

NC State (7-3, 4-2 ACC) at #13 Florida State (8-2, 6-1 ACC)
ABC; 3:30 p.m.
Doak S. Campbell Stadium (82,000)

THE GAME: Florida State returns home for its final home contest of the 2003 season when it plays host to NC State ... the Seminoles own a 16-7 lead in a rivalry that began in 1952 with a 13-7 Wolfpack win ... the two teams have split the last four meetings with NC State winning the two contests ... Florida State holds a 9-3 lead against the Pack in Tallahassee.

LAST YEAR: NC State defeated Florida State 17-7 in Raleigh to close out its regular-season ... the Wolfpack special teams blocked three punts while T.A. McLendon rushed for 114 yards on 27 carries ... NC State's Philip Rivers threw for 171 yards and was 18 for 27 passing ... Seminole QB Chris Rix split time with Adrian McPherson and had 63 yards on 5 for 7 passing.

THE COACHES: NC State's Chuck Amato is 32-15 in his fourth season as a head coach ... Bobby Bowden is 267-67-4 in 28 years at FSU and 340-98-4 in 38 seasons overall.

Fast Facts:

By The Numbers:

4 - Wake Forest sophomore Chris Barclay has rushed for 120 yards or more in four of his last five games and is second in the ACC and 36th nationally in rushing (90.8).

6 - Overtime games played by ACC teams this season - a league record ... ACC teams are 2-3 in non-league overtime games in 2003 and 6-9 all-time.

9 - Florida State WR Craphonso Thorpe leads the ACC with nine touchdown catches ... Thorpe is averaging 96.1 receiving yards per game and an even 20.0 yards per catch.

10 - Yards needed by Florida State QB Chris Rix to become only the 13th player in ACC history to throw for 7,000 yards or more in his career.

11 - Yards needed by Duke's Chris Douglas to become the school's all-time leading rusher ... following his career-best 218 yards against Georgia Tech Saturday, Douglas moved into second among school career leaders with 2,941 yards ... Steve Jones (1970-72) is Duke's all-time rushing leader with 2,951 yards.

13 - Clemson's Kevin Youngblood has 13 straight games with three or more receptions.

18 - Maryland is 18-1 at home in Ralph Friedgen's three years as the Terps' head coach.

28 - Florida State junior quarterback Chris Rix has thrown at least one touchdown pass in 28 of his 32 career games.

30 - Thirty different players have led their teams in rushing during the 2003 season ... Georgia Tech's P.J. Daniels is the only player to have led his team in rushing every game (9) this season.

36 - Consecutive games with at least one reception by NC State's Jerricho Cotchery.

53 - Maryland's Nick Novak has made 53 of his last 62 field goal attempts ... four of the nine misses have been from 50 yards or more ... needs only seven more points to become only the seventh player in ACC history to score 300 or more points in his career.

72.16% - NCAA-best completion percentage of NC State's Philip Rivers (72.16) ... Virginia's Matt Schaub (71.70) and Toledo's Bruce Gradowski (71.24) are the only three Division One quarterbacks with a completion percentage over 70 percent.

76.0% - ACC field goal kickers have made good on 111 of 146 field goal attempts (.760) in the first 10 weeks of the season.

86 - Career touchdown passes by NC State's Philip Rivers ... Rivers' 86 scoring passes rank 1st all-time in ACC history and 10th in NCAA annals.

92 - Yards needed by Wake Forest tailback Chris Barclay to become the school's ninth 1,000-yard rusher.

194 - Florida State has scored in 195 consecutive games, dating back to the season opener of the 1988 season.

200 - ACC teams are 18-4 in 2003 when they rush for 200 or more yards.

297.3 - Maryland leads the ACC and is 13th nationally in total defense, allowing 297.3 yards per game ... the Terps last led the ACC in total defense in 1985.

244 - True freshman tailback Ronnie McGill rushed for 244 yards and three TDs in North Carolina's 42-34 victory over Wake Forest Saturday ... the 244 yards are the sixth-highest single-game total in the country this season and the most by any player in the ACC this year.

285 - All-purpose yards need by Duke's Chris Douglas over the final two games to become the ACC's all-time leader in that category ... Douglas is currently third among ACC career all-purpose yardage leaders with 5,544 yards.

300 - Seven of the nine starting quarterbacks in the ACC have thrown for 300 yards or more a total of 20 times this season ... NC State's Philip Rivers leads all ACC QBs with seven 300-yard games ... a year ago the ACC had only ten 300-yard passing games.

340 - Career victories by Florida State's Bobby Bowden making him the all-time winningest Division I-A head coach.

2,000 - With 147 yards passing against Wake Forest Saturday, North Carolina junior QB Darian Durant became the first Tar Heel to throw for over 2,000 yards in two seasons.

2,711 - NC State's Jerricho Cotchery is 10th on the ACC's all-time receiving yardage list with 2,711 yards ... Cotchery has 12 career 100-yard receiving yardage games.

3,318 - Passing yards by NC State's Philip Rivers in 2003 ... Rivers is the first quarterback in ACC history to pass for 3,000 or more yards in a single-season three times.

3,370 - NC State's Philip Rivers leads the ACC in total offense averaging 337.0 yards per game ... Rivers' 3,370 yards is already the seventh-best single season total in ACC annals.

4,059 - Yards passing by Clemson's Charlie Whitehurst in his 15 career starts - a 270.6 yards per game average.

Around the ACC:

Duke snapped a 30-game ACC losing streak with its' 41-17 win over Georgia Tech Saturday ... the Blue Devils' last league victory was a 48-35 triumph over Wake Forest on Nov. 13, 1999 ... Georgia Tech alumnus Ted Roof ('87), who replaced Carl Franks on Oct. 19, picked up his first head coaching victory with the win.

North Carolina ended a school-record 10-game home losing streak with Saturday's 42-34 win over Wake Forest ... the win was the first at home for the Tar Heels since a 19-10 win over SMU on Dec. 1, 2001.

QB Charlie Whitehurst threw for one touchdown and ran for another as Clemson snapped an 11-game losing streak to Florida State as the Tigers posted their first-ever win over a top three team, defeating the Seminoles 26-10 Saturday.

With 233 all-purpose yards in Saturday's 41-17 win over Georgia Tech, Duke senior tailback RB Chris Douglas moved into third place among the ACC's all-time all-purpose yardage leaders with 5,544 yards ... Douglas needs 285 all-purpose yards over his final two games of the season to become the ACC's all-time leader in that category ... with a career-best 218 rushing yards against the Yellow Jackets, Douglas is now second among Duke career rushing leaders and 26th on ACC career charts with 2,941 yards.

North Carolina freshman TB Ronnie McGill rushed for 244 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday's win over Wake Forest ... the 244 yards are most by an ACC running back this season and the 16th-best single game total in ACC history ... McGill's rushing total was the most for a Tar Heel since Natrone Means had 249 yards against Maryland in 1992.

NC State's Philip Rivers and Virginia's Matt Schaub are two of seven finalists for the annual Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, presented annually to the nation's top senior collegiate quarterback.

NC State QB Philip Rivers leads the ACC in passing efficiency and total offense and is bidding to become only the second Wolfpack QB to lead the ACC in passing ... NC State's Roman Gabriel led the ACC in passing in 1961.

Wake Forest's Chris Barclay ran for 160 yards on 35 carries in Saturday's 42-34 loss to North Carolina ... it was Barclay's fourth 100-yard game in his last five games ... is 13th on Wake's all-time rushing list with 1,611 yards.

Over his last six games Virginia QB Matt Schaub has completed 185 of 259 passes (.714) for 1,841 yards and 13 touchdowns ... Schaub (.717) is second in the nation to NC State's Philip Rivers (.721) in completion percentage and has thrown at least one TD pass in 20 of his last 21 games.

Wake Forest's Ryan Plackemeier leads the ACC and is ranked second nationally in punting (49.9) ... is bidding to become the first Deacon to lead the ACC in punting since Martin Bailey did so in 1988 ... Plackemeier's punting average is currently the second-best season punting average in ACC history.

ACC Single-Season Punting Average
Brian Schmitz, UNC (1999). 47.81
Ryan Plackemeier, WF (2003) 46.94
Johnny Evans, NCS (1976).. 46.13
Russ Henderson, UVa (1976) 45.91

Over his last three games, Virginia tailback Alvin Pearman has caught 37 passes for 242 yards ... on the year, Pearman is seventh in the ACC in receiving (5.0) and rushing (53.8).

Florida State's Michael Boulware has been named as one of 11 semifinalists for the Butkus Award which is awarded annually to the best linebacker in college football.

With 147 yards passing against Wake Forest Saturday, North Carolina junior QB Darian Durant became the first Tar Heel to throw for over 2,000 yards in two seasons ... Durant is 20th on the ACC career passing yardage list with 6,025 yards.