CJ Browns 5 TDs lead Terps past Wolfpack
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- C.J. Brown ran for three touchdowns and threw for two more, and Maryland beat North Carolina State 41-21 on Saturday in its final Atlantic Coast Conference game.
Brown rushed for a season-high 138 yards with touchdowns of 49, 2 and 3 yards and was 13 of 25 for 259 yards passing with TDs of 53 yards to Nigel King and 27 to Albert Reid.
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Maryland (7-5, 3-5) went up 34-7 by scoring on its first six possessions, and held on for its first seven-win season since 2010. The Terrapins are leaving the ACC for the Big Ten next season.
Brandon Mitchell ran 3 yards for a TD and finished 21 of 31 for 200 yards with a 3-yard score to Tyler Purvis and a 5-yarder to Rashard Smith.
The Wolfpack (3-9, 0-8) lost their eighth straight and haven't dropped this many in a row in the same year since 1959.
That's also the last N.C. State team to finish 0-for-the-ACC.
After taking a 7-0 lead on its opening possession, N.C. State netted zero total yards on its next five drives while making a series of blunders that Maryland had little trouble turning into points.
Brown became the first Terrapins player to rush for three touchdowns since D.J. Adams in the Military Bowl victory over East Carolina in 2010.
The Terps all but ended this one at halftime by reeling off 34 in a row. Brad Craddock kicked the first of his two 33-yard field goals before Brown's long TD pass to King, a Raleigh native who outjumped cornerback Jack Tocho, who had him blanketed.
Brown then ran 49 yards through the heart of N.C. State's defense to make it 17-7 with 2:42 left in the first quarter.
Then, a snap that sailed over the head of N.C. State punter Wil Baumann's head for a 21-yard loss gave Maryland a short field at the Wolfpack 14 and set up a Craddock field goal.
Baumann shanked his next punt 24 yards and -- after Terps tight end Dave Stinebaugh inexplicably beat four N.C. State players to his teammate's fumble at the Wolfpack 4 -- Brown added his short TD run to make it 27-7 with just under 9 minutes before halftime.
Brown then tacked on his third scoring run to make it 34-7 with 3:23 left in the half.
By that point, N.C. State's short-lived lead -- on Mitchell's flip to Purvis on a fourth-and-inches -- was merely a distant memory.