Houston carries load in Tar Heels' victory

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. --- Ryan Houston ran for a career-high 164 yards and Jheranie Boyd scored the clinching touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to help North Carolina beat Duke 19-6 on Saturday.

Charles Brown also came up with a key interception late in the third quarter as part of a dominating defensive performance for the Tar Heels (6-3, 2-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who shut down Thad Lewis and the prolific passing attack that had carried the Blue Devils (5-4, 3-2) to three consecutive victories.

Duke finished with 125 total yards and had to fight for every one of them. The Tar Heels didn't have much offensive success, but they wore down the Blue Devils behind Houston after starting tailback Shaun Draughn went out with an early shoulder injury.

Houston finished with a career-high 37 carries, including 10 on the clock-draining drive that ended with Boyd's touchdown with 6:57 left.

North Carolina didn't manage much offense outside of Houston. T.J. Yates threw for just 119 yards and the Tar Heels had to rely on a career-high four field goals from Casey Barth.

It was the first meeting in 15 years in which both North Carolina and Duke had winning records, while it was one of the rare times in the rivalry that they weren't meeting to close the regular season. But the ending was familiar: North Carolina won for the 19th time in 20 meetings.

NO. 16 MIAMI 52, VIRGINIA 17

In Miami, Graig Cooper rushed for a career-best 152 yards and a touchdown, Damien Berry ran for a pair of second-half scores and Miami eased past struggling Virginia.

Thearon Collier had a 60-yard punt return for the go-ahead touchdown, and Jacory Harris finished 18 of 31 for 232 yards with two TDs for the Hurricanes (7-2, 4-2).

Rashawn Jackson had a 34-yard rushing TD for Virginia (3-6, 2-3), which has lost 10 of 13 starting with an overtime defeat to Miami last season. The Cavaliers were outgained 515-149.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE 38,

MARYLAND 31

In Raleigh, N.C., Russell Wilson threw three TDs and ran for another, and N.C. State snapped a four-game losing streak by holding off Maryland in a matchup of the ACC Atlantic Division's worst teams.

Wilson was 25 for 38 for 343 yards and the Wolfpack (4-5, 1-4).

Alex Wujciak returned an interception 70 yards for a score, while Davin Meggett and Chris Turner had 1-yard TD runs for Maryland (2-7, 1-4).