FSU wakes up to wreck Tech; Bowden vs. Paterno likely

The Florida State Seminoles are conference champions – again.

Willie Reid returned a punt 83 yards for a touchdown, the defense continually harassed Marcus Vick and Florida State upset No. 5 Virginia Tech 27-22 Saturday night in Jacksonville, Fla., in the inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference title game.

The Seminoles (8-4) snapped a three-game losing streak – the program’s first since 1983 – and won the conference title for the 12th time in 14 years. They turned around a disappointing season and earned a Bowl Championship Series berth in the Orange Bowl, where they likely will face No. 4 Penn State. That would be FSU’s Bobby Bowden vs. Penn State’s Joe Paterno – the two winningest coaches in major college football history.

“Does it look like that? I might not show up,” Bowden joked.

Few could have envisioned that matchup. Not after Florida State was outscored 89-36 in losses to North Carolina State, Clemson and Florida.

The Seminoles stunned the Hokies (10-2) with a 24-point third quarter – starting with Reid’s return – that broke a 3-all halftime tie.

Vick led the Hokies (10-2) to consecutive touchdowns in the fourth quarter – a 29-yard pass to Josh Morgan and then a 4-yard run – that cut the lead to 27-15. Vick capped a 93-yard drive with a 1-yard TD run with 1:45 to play that made it 27-22, but it was too little, too late.

(13) Georgia 34, (3) LSU 14

Georgia won at its home away from home for the second week in a row. Now, the Bulldogs will have to make the short trip to Atlanta one more time – for the transplanted Sugar Bowl.

D.J. Shockley threw two touchdown passes to Sean Bailey, Bryan McClendon set up another score with a blocked punt and the Bulldogs (10-2) won their second Southeastern Conference championship in four years with a surprisingly easy victory over the Tigers (10-2).

Cheered on at the supposedly neutral site by a crowd dressed largely in red and black – not surprising, considering the Georgia campus is only about 75 miles east of Atlanta – the Bulldogs earned the SEC’s automatic berth in the Jan. 2 Sugar Bowl.

Normally, that would mean a trip to New Orleans, but this isn’t a normal year. The Sugar Bowl has shifted to the Georgia Dome, forced out of the Big Easy by the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina.

(12) West Virginia 28, South Florida 13

Pat White ran for 177 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Mountaineers (10-1, 7-0 Big East) to a victory over the Bulls (6-5, 4-3) in Tampa, Fla.

Nine days after running for 220 yards against Pittsburgh to break the Big East rushing record for a quarterback, White was just as impressive in helping the Big East champions finish unbeaten in conference play for the first time since 1993.

The redshirt freshman scored on second-half runs of 65 and 76 yards and also completed 5 of 10 passes for 89 yards and a touchdown.

(16) Louisville 30, Connecticut 20

Michael Bush rushed for three touchdowns in his first appearance since missing two games with a sprained foot and Hunter Cantwell threw for another score to lead the Cardinals (9-2, 5-2 Big East) past the Huskies (5-6, 2-5) in East Hartford, Conn.

The Big East rushing leader finished with 121 yards to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark for the season.

Tulsa 44, Central Florida 27

Tarrion Adams had three TDs and Tulsa’s defense shut out Central Florida in the second half as the Golden Hurricane (8-4) claimed their first conference title in 20 years with a win over the Golden Knights (8-4) in Orlando, Fla., in the inaugural Conference USA championship game.

The win will likely send Tulsa to the Liberty Bowl against Fresno State.

Navy 42, Army 23

Adam Ballard ran for 192 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Midshipmen (7-4) over the Black Knights (4-7) in Philadelphia, in the 106th meeting between the service academies. Navy has won four straight and six of the last seven games against Army to take a one-game lead in the overall series at 50-49-7.

Florida Int. 35, Middle Tennessee State 31

Josh Padrick threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns, and A’mod Ned had a 20-yard scoring run with 1:19 left to carry the Golden Panthers (5-6, 3-4 Sun Belt) past the Blue Raiders (4-7, 3-4) in Miami.