Updated 9:27 p.m.

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Having escaped with a tough 73-66 victory over Clemson Sunday night in Littlejohn Coliseum, Duke's Mason Plumlee looked across the locker room at teammate Andre Dawkins, whose 24-point performance included five 3-pointers, and spoke for his team and, perhaps, the Tigers, too.

"Oh man, he played great," Plumlee said. "He's been due for a breakout game. It was not just shooting but you saw him in the passing lanes...he did a pull-up on the rim (earning a technical foul after a dunk)...It's just so uplifting."

It was precisely what the Blue Devils (15-2, 3-0) needed.

It’s game day for the No. 8 Blue Devils (14-2, 2-0), who travel to Clemson tonight to face the Tigers (9-7, 1-1) at 6 p.m. Duke has won 25 of its last 27 games against Clemson and 10 of its last 11 games at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind once the game tips:

CHAPEL HILL  – Over 26 seasons at North Carolina, coach Sylvia Hatchell’s women’s basketball teams have won games in a variety of fashions – buzzer-beaters, blowouts and ugly come-from-behind wins. 

Hatchell’s team, trailing by three points late in the second half, needed the latter against Clemson on Thursday night, but were denied as the Tigers held on for a 52-47 victory in what was a bizarre, closer-than-expected contest at Carmichael Arena.

In the end, after the No. 22 Tar Heels (12-4, 2-2 ACC) worked back from an early seven-point deficit to twice tie the game down the stretch, Clemson (5-10, 1-3) made tough shots in the paint and outrebounded their opponents. The Tigers held the Heels to their fewest points at home ever. 

After LSU's 21-0 loss to Alabama in the BCS title game Monday night, Tigers coach Les Miles stopped short of asking AP voters for a split national title. Even he knew it was a lost cause after his team's uninspired performance against the Crimson Tide.

Alabama, with the first shutout in a title game (BCS, de facto or otherwise) in 20 years, left no room for doubt Monday night in the Superdome — despite a 9-6 regular-season loss to LSU — that it was the better team. And that's why I voted the Crimson Tide No. 1 in my final AP ballot of the 2011 season.

Alabama got its shot at LSU, and lost. I don't think Alabama deserves another shot at the No. 1 Tigers in the Bowl Championship Series title game.

But the AP is not part of the BCS equation nor is it asking its voters which two teams should be in the "national" title game. The AP asks us to rank the top 25 teams in order.

So who's No. 2, Oklahoma State or Alabama?

CHARLOTTE -- Clemson used a spectacular third quarter to outscore Virginia Tech 21-0 and capture the ACC football championship 38-10 before a record crowd of 73,675 at Bank of America Stadium.

The victory sends Clemson to the Orange Bowl, via the ACC’s automatic bid into a BCS game. It appears likely the Tigers (10-3) will be paired against West Virginia of the Big East when bids are awarded Sunday evening.

This will be Clemson’s first appearance in the Orange Bowl since the Tigers’ national championship in 1981

RALEIGH — Only in the unpredictable ACC does this happen.

A week after losing to the last-place team in the Atlantic Division, N.C. State demolished the first-place team in the division.

The Wolfpack defense fueled an unbelievable 37-13 rout of the seventh-ranked Tigers on Saturday at Carter-Finley Stadium, keeping the Wolfpack's bowl hopes alive and preventing Clemson from its first 10-win season since 1990.

North Carolina's basketball recruiting class is getting bigger, in numbers and in size.

Forward Brice Johnson, 6-9 and 210 pounds, chose the Tar Heels on Wednesday over N.C. State, Clemson and Florida, according to ESPN's Dave Telep.

With Johnson headed to UNC, forward T.J. Warren cut his final college choice down to N.C. State and Georgetown.

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Defensive end Kourtnei Brown returned an interception and a fumble recovery for touchdowns Saturday to lead Clemson to a 59-38 victory over North Carolina at Death Valley.

Brown, a senior from Charlotte’s Victory Christian High, ran in a fumble 14 yards to give the Tigers a 59-24 lead entering the fourth quarter.

The victory kept the eighth-ranked Tigers undefeated at 8-0 (5-0 in the ACC). The Tar Heels lost their second straight to fall to 5-3 overall, 1-3 in the ACC.

Dwight Jones hears the raves about Sammy Watkins.

"Yep, hear 'em all the time. You can't not hear them," Jones, a senior receiver at North Carolina, said Wednesday.

Watkins, a freshman at Clemson, is arguably the hottest thing afoot in ACC football this season.

On an undefeated team ranked eighth nationally, Watkins is squarely in the discussion for ACC rookie and player of the year awards.

Jones, the league's top-ranked NFL wideout senior prospect, can match Watkins stat for stat.