ESPN College Football

Here are the ACC's top five performers for the final week of the regular season:

Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner: As far as performances go, Skinner couldn't have done much more in his final collegiate game. He passed for a career-high 372 yards and a school-record five touchdowns to help Wake Forest defeat Duke 45-34 on Saturday. He completed 28 of 38 passes without an interception.

NC State quarterback Russell Wilson: In what was the equivalent of their bowl game, Wilson completed 20 of 27 passes for 259 yards and four touchdowns. Those numbers are par for the course for Wilson, but this time, they paid off in a 28-27 win against rival North Carolina.

Miami coach Randy Shannon:With the 31-10 win over South Florida on Saturday, Shannon led the program to a 9-3 record, its best finish since the 2005 season. It could have easily been a trap game for the Canes, but they got what they needed in every phase of the game and avoided the threat of a comeback by the Bulls.

Virginia Tech running back Ryan Williams: Just when you thought he couldn't top himself, Williams rushed for a career-high 182 yards and four touchdowns on 23 carries. He led the Hokies to a 42-13 win over rival Virginia in what began as a closer game than the final score indicated.

BC kicker Steve Aponavicius: OK, so he missed one. But it was just one. All season. And the Eagles would not have defeated Maryland 19-17 had it not been for the four field goals of Aponavicius. In fact, his 42-yard field goal with 3:59 left were the Eagles only points of the second half.

Posted by ESPN.com’s Heather Dinich

Just because the Hokies aren’t playing doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to keep an eye on in the ACC …

1. Georgia Tech on third-downs. The Yellow Jackets have the best third-down conversion percentage in the ACC (52.6), but Virginia has the best defense on third downs in the ACC, holding opponents to 29.3 percent. The Cavaliers’ defense hasn’t been the problem this year, but it will face a different challenge in the triple-option offense.

2. Virginia inside the red zone. The Cavaliers have been successful inside the 20-yard line on 17 of 20 chances, but Georgia Tech’s defense is second in the ACC in red zone defense at 75 percent. The Jackets played much better defensively against Virginia Tech last weekend, but will have to continue to clamp down when it counts against quarterback Jameel Sewell, who has shown improvement the past few weeks.

3. Kevin Steele vs. Mark Whipple. The two first-year coordinators will likely get into a chess match in Miami, as both of them have made immediate impacts for their teams. Under Steele, Clemson has the No. 17 scoring defense in the country, holding opponents to just 15.33 points per game. Under Whipple, Miami is averaging 29 points per game and 16 different players have caught a pass this season.

4. Clemson left tackle Chris Hairston. He suffered a knee injury late in the win over Boston College and missed the TCU game and played just nine snaps at Maryland. Clemson lost both of those games and averaged just 99 yards rushing and 15.5 points in the two contests. With Hairston back in the lineup, Clemson had 195 yards rushing against Wake Forest -- the second best by the Tiger this year. Clemson is 3-1 this year when Hairston is in the lineup and 0-2 when he is not.

5. FSU’s passing offense vs. UNC’s pass defense. Quarterback Christian Ponder has the Noles ranked 13th in the country in passing offense with 297.5 yards per game, but UNC’s stingy pass defense is No. 1 in the country with 125.17 yards per game. Most teams have shied away from veteran cornerback Kendric Burney this season, giving him few opportunities for pass breakups and interceptions, but that could change tonight.

6. Ponder’s first-down success. Of his 26 pass completions against Georgia Tech, 16 went for first downs. That was even better than his performance at Boston College,when 16 of his career-high 29 completions moved the chains. Ponder’s pass completions have accounted for better than 60 percent of the Seminoles’ first downs in each of the last three games.

7. Boston College senior kicker Steve Aponavicius. The former walk-on kicker, nicknamed “Sid Vicious,” is five points away from setting BC’s career scoring mark. He has accumulated 258 points in his three-plus seasons, hitting 40 field goals and 138 extra points. Aponavicius is the ACC active leader in both field goals (40) and PATs (134).

8. The Eagles’ streak. Boston College has won six straight against Notre Dame, including the last three on the road. If the Eagles win, the senior class will graduate having gone undefeated against the Irish. But this is an improved team under Charlie Weis, as quarterback Jimmy Clausen leads the nation’s No. 7 passing offense.

9. The scoreboard in Durham. No, seriously, aside from the fact Duke might win its second conference game, the winner in this series has scored at least 41 points in six of the last 11 games. Considering Duke is averaging 31.83 points per game, and Maryland is allowing about 33, it’s not out of the question for Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis to continue that trend -- especially considering the Blue Devils just put up 49 against NC State.

10. Turnovers in Annapolis. In Wake Forest’s loss to Navy last year, the Deacs committed an uncharacteristic season-high six turnovers. This year, Wake Forest trails its opponents in turnover margin with 10 takeaways and 13 turnovers.

Posted by ESPN.com's Heather Dinich

Plenty to chew on today ...

• Frank Beamer will start to find out this week whether the Hokies really are good enough to contend for a national title. 
• Wake Forest defensive coordinator Brad Lambert has his work cut out for him this year, as seven starters are gone from 2008.
• There was so much offense coming out of Monday's scrimmage in Tallahassee, that even FSU coach Bobby Bowden was surprised: 

"I've never seen as many long runs in my life," Bowden told the [Tallahassee] Democrat. "I'm talking 60 yards, 70 yards. In the end, the defense kind of tightened it up a bit. I don't know what happened."

• Ha ... this is so true ... Travis Sawchik of the Post and Courier called Clemson's hire of Dan Brooks one of the "worst kept secrets on campus." Good hire by Dabo Swinney nonetheless.
• Georgia Tech will be deeper at receiver this year, and part of that stems from the return of Tyler Melton.
• Here's one I missed -- the details of FSU offensive line coach Rick Trickett's new contract. And another about BC kicker Steve Aponavicius' good fortunes from one coaching staff to the next.

Posted by ESPN.com's Heather Dinich

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- Sorry for the delay, but Spanky's on Franklin Street was calling my name for dinner.

Here's what happened throughout the league today, per the latest available report from each team:

BOSTON COLLEGE

• The defense stole the show in the Eagles' second scrimmage, and that's not a surprise. But eight sacks and four interceptions?
• The offense had 64 net rushing yards. Yikes.
• Chris Crane completed 14-of-25 passes for 178 yards and a touchdown.
• Junior Rich Gunnell led all receivers with three catches for 83 yards and a touchdown.
• Sophomore Billy Bennett connected on field goals of 26 and 38 yards while senior Steve Aponavicius nailed a 29-yarder.
• True freshman Ryan Quigley punted the ball three times for 104 yards (34.3 average) with a long of 36 yards while sophomore Billy Flutie punted once, a 33-yarder.

Quotable:

"The defense brought a whole lot of blitzes today," Crane said. "It's comforting to know this defense will be playing on our side of the ball this fall. It's a benefit to play against them every day."

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FLORIDA STATE

• Rodney Gallon confirmed today that he is no longer a part of the Seminole football team. He told the FSU sports information office he will be enrolled in school this fall and is excited to complete the final nine hours toward his degree. Football is just not part of his future right now but completing his college degree is a priority.
• Preston Parker was held out of practice due to a cervical sprain. Tony Carter also suffered a cervical sprain and did not finish practice. Freshman Terrance Parks suffered a right knee contusion at the end of the session as well.

Highlights

• One-on-one was run in the red zone and Corey Surrency caught four TD passes. Three came from E.J. Manuel and one from Drew Weatherford.
• Weatherford also had TD passes to Bert Reed, Avis Commack, Jarmon Fortson, Rod Owens and Chase Walker.
• Manuel not only had the three TDs to Surrency, but he also completed touchdown passes to Owens and Fortson. Christian Ponder, who was working mostly with the inside group, came over and completed a touchdown to Commack.
• In the 11-on-11 drill, Weatherford squeezed a pass between two defenders and it was deflected but Bo Reliford kept his concentration and hauled in the touchdown pass.

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GEORGIA TECH

• Quarterback Josh Nesbitt didn't practice this afternoon with a shoulder injury and neither did Andrew Gardner, Sr., OT (also a shoulder). Both are day-to-day and neither is in jeopardy of missing the opener. Nesbitt got a "stinger" when a teammate fell on his shoulder.
• Practices will be closed beginning Monday. It was good while it lasted.

Highlights:

• The Yellow Jackets spent two periods this morning working on 3rd-and-5 situations. Back-up safety Troy Garside intercepted a Bryce Dykes passas.
• Senior quarterback Calvin Booker connected with sophomore Demaryius Thomas on a 35-yard touchdown completion.

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MARYLAND

• The Terps worked on clock management and ended with two-minute drills.
• There is still a battle at strongside linebacker where incumbent Moise Fokou is trying to hold off Adrian Moten for the starting nod. Regardless of who starts, both are likely to play extensively, including on special teams.
• During the full-team drill, wide receivers LaQuan Williams and Torrey Smith caught touchdown passes.

Quotable:

"We came out today and they were tired and sore," coach Ralph Friedgen said. "This was a character practice. We had a pretty good practice. I had to push them, but that's my job. I told them I'm going to get every ounce of energy and every ounce of talent out of them."

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MIAMI 

• The Hurricanes continued to stress special teams, and the defense focused on run blitzing drills with specific emphasis on red zone and run formations.
• After five practices in the past three days, coach Randy Shannon is giving his guys Thursday off.
• They'll scrimmage on Friday.

Quotable:

"The other day I didn't like the way we were practicing, but we came out this morning and this afternoon and finished up strong," Shannon said. "We had a lot of enthusiasm and we made a lot of plays on both sides of the football so we're excited about that. It was a big improvement from the other day."

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WAKE FOREST 

• The Demon Deacons had their second two-a-day practice in preparation for tomorrow's scrimmage, which I will attend.

Highlights:

• In the first practice, during 7-on-7 drills, quarterback Riley Skinner hit running back Josh Adams on a long pass down the left sideline on the first play of the drill.
• Cornerbacks Chip Vaughn and Brandon Ghee each made a couple of nice pass breakups.

Quotable:

"I would like to see some improvement from the younger classes," said coach Jim Grobe. "We have older guys that are doing pretty much what we thought they would be doing at this point -- having good camps and making minimal mistakes. I think the key to a season is to have the younger guys step up. No matter how good your upperclassmen are, you are going to have to play young guys at some point, whether you are comfortable or not. So I would like to come back to the office after the scrimmage tomorrow and feel like our young guys made pretty good strides."