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BC Snaps 12-Game ACC Losing Streak By Beating NC State 21-14

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Running back Davon Jones threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Tommy Sweeney with 4:43 left, and Boston College earned its first Atlantic Coast Conference victory since 2014 by beating North Carolina State 21-14 on Saturday.

Patrick Towles was 18 of 33 for 204 yards to help the Eagles (4-4, 1-4) snap a 12-game league losing streak and win a conference game for the first time since defeating Syracuse 23 months ago.

"I know it's one game ... but we took a step," coach Steve Addazio said. "An important step."

What's statistically the worst offense in the ACC outgained N.C. State 386-338, held a 168-31 advantage in yards rushing and used some trickery to take the lead for good.

Towles took a shotgun snap and handed off to Jones, who headed toward the right side before stopping and tossing to Sweeney. Towles then hit Sweeney for the 2-point conversion that made it a seven-point game.

Ryan Finley had a career-best 307 yards passing with two touchdowns — a 79-yard catch-and-run to Bra'Lon Cherry, and a 23-yard score to Kelvin Harmon — but threw two interceptions for N.C. State (4-4, 1-3).

The Wolfpack had a first-and-goal at the BC 2 before Finley's pass to Stephen Louis in the end zone was picked off by Kamrin Moore with 1:35 to play.

The teams used big plays to trade the lead during the second quarter. N.C. State went up 7-3 on Cherry's long catch-and-run before BC countered with Jeff Smith's 60-yard touchdown run on a receiver sweep to put the Eagles back up by three.

THE TAKEAWAY

Boston College: The streak is over. The Eagles kept finding ways to lose conference games, following up last year's 0-for-the-ACC with four league losses this year — two by blowout, two much closer. This was unquestionably a step forward for a program trying to claw back to relevance in a top-heavy division.

N.C. State: There's no sugarcoating this one for the Wolfpack, who looked nothing like the team that came within a missed field goal of upsetting No. 3 Clemson. Instead it felt like a carryover from a 54-13 loss at No. 5 Louisville.

"We're just letting that (Clemson) game haunt us," defensive end Bradley Chubb said. "Everybody's still thinking in the past, not trying to move forward, and we've just got to move forward."

They couldn't get anything going on the ground, finishing with 31 yards rushing a week after setting a season low with 14 yards on the ground against the Cardinals. N.C. State didn't crack positive rushing yards in this one until there were about 6 minutes left in the third quarter.

UP NEXT

Boston College: Plays host to No. 5 Louisville on Saturday.

N.C. State: Gets its last chance to knock off a ranked Atlantic Division opponent Saturday when No. 12 Florida State visits.

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Follow Joedy McCreary at http://twitter.com/joedyap. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/joedy-mccreary

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More AP college football: www.collegefootball.ap.org

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