Hurricanes defeat 20thranked Virginia
N’Kosi Perry threw for a touchdown on the opening drive and ran for another with 2:31 remaining, and host Miami knocked off No. 20 Virginia 179 on Friday night.
Deejay Dallas caught the touchdown pass for Miami (33, 12 ACC) and rushed for 63 yards on 13 carries. Pat Bethel blocked a field goal for Miami, and K.J. Osborn caught four passes for 60 yards.
Perry finished 16for27 for 182 yards. The win kept the Hurricanes from falling to 03 in conference play — any conference — for what would have been the first time in history.
Bryce Perkins connected on his first nine passes and finished 24for41 for 244 yards for Virginia (42, 21). The Cavaliers entered ranked, yet were 21⁄2point underdogs at kickoff.
And, apparently, those oddsmakers saw this coming.
Brian Delaney made three field goals for the Cavaliers, who were looking for their first 30 conference start since 2007. They’re now tied with North Carolina for first place in the ACC Coastal Division, and could be joined there by Duke if the Blue Devils beat Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Miami went 78 yards in 11 plays on the game’s first possession, with Dallas taking a short pass from Perry and rumbling the rest of the way for a 17yard score. Perry, who was under pressure, wound up flipping the ball to Dallas — who caught it well behind the line of scrimmage, but darted into the right side of the end zone. USC at Notre Dame: Brian Kelly of No. 9 Notre Dame knows a little how his USC counterpart Clay Helton might feel as their teams prepare for their 91st meeting Saturday night.
“What was the overunder that I’d make 10 USC games?” the Fighting Irish coach joked about whispers of his job security despite two 120 regular seasons, a trip to the national championship game in 2013 and a playoff berth last season.
The coaching seat always seems warm at these two storied programs and, at the moment, it’s Helton’s turn. His Trojans (32) would get a huge boost with a win against Notre Dame (41), which is a 10½point favorite.
Helton, 47, who is 3519 with 12 victories over Top 25 teams since becoming coach in 2015, received a vote of confidence of sorts from interim athletic director Dave Roberts, who told the Los Angeles Times he would leave Helton’s fate in the hands of his successor.
“If he has a successful season,” Roberts said, “I think he’ll be in good stead.”
Helton is 13 against Notre Dame and Kelly is 63 against USC. Top games to watch: No. 7 Florida won one matchup of unbeaten teams last week with a 2413 victory over Auburn that dropped the Tigers from seventh to 12th in the Top 25. Now the Gators (60, 30 SEC) get another undefeated team, this time on the road against No. 5 LSU (50, 10) under the lights in Baton Rouge.
The FloridaLSU showdown headlines a week full of highprofile pairings. Other matchups of Top 25 teams have No. 6 Oklahoma facing No. 11 Texas, Alabama visiting No. 24 Texas A&M and No. 17 Iowa hosting No. 10 Penn State.