Boston College backups help beat Louisville
Backup quarterback Dennis Grosel threw for two touchdowns after starter Phil Jurkovec was hurt, and David Bailey ran for two scores before he left with an injury on Saturday as Boston College beat visting Louisville 34-27.
Jurkovec completed 15 of 19 passes for 203 yards before the pocket collapsed around him in the third quarter and knocked him out of the game. The Notre Dame transfer spent the rest of the game with his left knee wrapped on the sideline, joining Bailey, who had an unspecified injury.
Grosel completed 4 of 7 passes for 44 yards for BC (6-4, 5-4 Atlantic Coast Conference). He also broke free for a 44-yard run that set up an 11-yard touchdown pass to CJ Lewis that made it 27-13 early in the fourth quarter.
Bailey ran 10 times for 53 yards, and Zay Flowers caught seven passes for 87 yards for the Eagles.
Malik Cunningham threw for 294 yards and ran for 133 more for Louisville (3-7, 2-7). After Grosel hit Jehlani Galloway from 21 yards out to make it 34-20 with just under five minutes remaining, Cunningham connected with Dez Fitzpatrick on a short pass-and-run for a 69-yard score.
Boston College went three and out, and Cunningham was moving the Cardinals before Jahmin Muse tipped a pass at the line of scrimmage and defensive lineman Shita Sillah intercepted it at the Louisville 47.
Cunningham finished 19 for 31, with two touchdowns
and an interception, hitting Fitzpatrick eight times for 182 yards.
NC State 36, Syracuse 29: Four quarterback sacks. Six tackles for loss. One safety. An interception. A 98-yard kickoff return. Trailing 22-14 at the half against a one-win Syracuse team.
North Carolina State head coach Dave Doeren was not a happy camper.
“I was far from calm. I was very upset, and I let them know it,” Doeren said. “(I) Demanded that we play the way we’re supposed to play the game. Called on every position group to step up and give us what they’re supposed to.”
Me s s a g e d e l i v e r e d . Message received.
Bailey Hockman hit Emeka Emezie with a 26-yard go-ahead score early in the fourth quarter
and connected with Thayer Thomas for three more scores through the air and North Carolina rallied to defeat Syracuse 36-29 Saturday.
The win was the third straight for the Wolfpack (7-3, 6-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) and the seventh consecutive loss for the Orange (1-9, 1-8). Linebacker Payton Wilson sacked Syracuse quarterback Rex Culpepper for an 11-yard loss on third-andseven from the Wolfpack 7-yard line with 24 seconds remaining to preserve the win.
Syracuse still had a chance for the upset, but Culpepper spiked the ball on fourth down with one second left instead of going for a score.
“I thought in the second half, offensively, we really threw and caught the ball
well, our offensive line picked up their stuff and adjusted to the different stunts and blitzes they were giving us in the first half when we weren’t blocking well,” Doeren added. “Defensively, we kept it in front, we stopped the run.
“I’m happy to win a game. Winning ugly’s okay. It’s a lot better than losing I can tell you that, so we’ll take it.”
The Syracuse defense came out strong and the Orange held their first halftime advantage since the third game of the year, a win over Georgia Tech. The Orange clung to a 29-27 lead after three but was held scoreless the rest of the way. Emezie’s score with 14:14 to go gave the Wolfpack the lead for good as N.C. State scored 16 unanswered points to go from a 29-20 deficit to the final margin.