RALEIGH, N.C. - Philip Rivers threw two touchdowns to tie the ACC career record as North Carolina State beat Clemson 17-15 Thursday night.
Rivers had scoring tosses to T.A. McLendon and Richard Washington for the Wolfpack, who improved to 5-0 at home this season. Rivers has 79 career touchdown passes, tying Florida State's Chris Weinke.
Chad Jasmin scored the only touchdown for the Tigers, who trailed throughout. Aaron Hunt added three field goals as Clemson fell to 0-5 in nationally televised Thursday night games.
Clemson had won three of the past four meetings here, but the Wolfpack took an 11-point lead early in the fourth quarter and held off a comeback.
The Wolfpack held a 7-6 halftime lead and increased it on its first drive of the second half. With N.C. State facing third and 1 from Clemson's 37-yard line, the Tigers' defensive front jumped offside. Rivers took the snap and lofted a pass to Washington down the right sideline. Washington got a step on Tye Hill, stretched to make the catch and fell into the end zone with 10:18 left.
N.C. State pushed the lead to 17-6 on a 27-yard field goal from Adam Kiker with 14:49 left, ending a 14-play drive that took five minutes off the clock. Clemson had two personal fouls to help keep the drive alive. The Tigers scored on their next two drives, beginning with a 21-yard field goal from Hunt with 10:04 left.
After holding N.C. State to a three and out, Clemson put together a 65-yard scoring drive. Whitehurst found Bobby Williamson over the middle for a 23-yard pass play, leading to a 5-yard scoring run from Jasmin that cut the deficit to 17-15 with 6:01 to play.
But the Tigers came up short on the two-point try.
LA.-LAFAYETTE 26, N.M. STATE 24: Sean Comiskey's 21-yard field goal with eight seconds left gave host Louisiana-Lafayette its first win of the season. The Ragin' Cajuns started the winning drive after Terryl Fenton intercepted Paul Dombrowski's pass and brought it to the Aggies 44.
SMU OFFERS: Southern Methodist officials heard Wednesday from officials of Conference USA and the Western Athletic Conference as C-USA looks to attract new schools and the WAC tries to protect its ranks. Britton Banowsky, commissioner of C-USA, pitched a plan for a possible move by SMU. WAC commissioner Karl Benson tried to get the Mustangs to stay in the WAC. SMU president Gerald Turner told the Dallas Morning News he would meet with the school's athletics council and board of trustees today to discuss the C-USA plan. No formal invitation was extended. Turner said a decision on whether SMU will leave the WAC might not be made until after Big East officials meet in November. The Big East is expected to invite C-USA members Louisville and Cincinnati as all-sports members and Marquette and DePaul in all but football.
GRIDIRON CLASSIC: Georgia's Mark Richt and Wisconsin's Barry Alvarez were named coaches for January's all-star game, which will be held in the Villages, about 41 miles northwest of Orlando. Past contests have been held at the Citrus Bowl. The format will change to a North vs. South setup. The past format pitted Florida against college seniors from the rest of the nation. Alvarez will coach the North, Richt the South.
MIDSEASON ALL-AMERICA: Miami junior tight end Kellen Winslow and junior safety Sean Taylor were named to the team by SI.com, the online news service of Sports Illustrated. Winslow is the team's leading receiver with 32 catches through six games. Taylor is tied for the NCAA lead with six interceptions with 133 return yards and two touchdowns.
CENTRAL FLORIDA: Junior Craig Harvey will start at middle linebacker Saturday at Akron, and redshirt freshman Ronnell Sandy will be backup. Junior middle linebacker Stanford Rhule was suspended by coach Mike Kruczek for a violation of team rules. At cornerback, Rashard Johnson moved to second behind Rovel Hamilton. Marcus Glover (hamstring) will not play.
MIAMI: Coach Larry Coker opened competition for kickoff duties after freshman Brian Monroe struggled on a wet field against the Seminoles. Mark Gent replaced Monroe during the game and could get another chance against Temple. "Probably the worst thing we did Saturday was kickoff," Coker said. "I know it was wet and this and that, but they had to kickoff, too. The thing I was disappointed about is we didn't place the ball very well. We kicked the ball down the middle of the field to the 15-yard line and it's like, "Run by me.' "
