Clemson's 40-24 win over Florida State means the Tigers have to beat N.C. State, in Raleigh, and Virginia, at home, to win the Atlantic Division.

That's it and not even Tommy Bowden could screw that up (or only Tommy Bowden could screw that up).

Even if the spirit of Bowden possesses the Tigers, 4-2 in the ACC, and they lose once, they would still hold the tiebreaker over Boston College (3-2), which finishes with Virginia, UNC and Maryland.

N.C. State’s players hadn’t won in so long that they forgot how to react when they did.

Russell Wilson threw for three touchdowns and ran for another Saturday afternoon as the Wolfpack broke a four-game losing streak with a 38-31 defeat of Maryland at Carter-Finley Stadium.

N.C. State finally has its long-awaited, first ACC win.

Quarterback Russell Wilson passed for three touchdowns, ran for another and survived a three-interception game as the Wolfpack defeated Maryland 38-31 on Saturday afternoon at Carter-Finley Stadium.

N.C. State wide receiver and kick returner T.J. Graham is out for the season with a stress fracture in his leg, the school announced Thursday evening in its injury report.

Graham also missed last week's loss at Florida State, but it wasn't determined until this week that he would not play the rest of the season. He was injured on Oct. 17 at Boston College.

N.C. State quarterback Russell Wilson held his weekly news conference Tuesday morning.

He praised running back Toney Baker, said there is no friction between N.C. State's offense and defense, and explained how wide receiver Owen Spencer gets so wide open for deep balls. Here are excerpts from Wilson's news conference: 

The most unexpected college football news conference quotes Monday probably came from the Murphy Center conference room when N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien was asked about Duke’s success under David Cutcliffe.

After praising Cutcliffe, O’Brien had kind words for Ted Roof, who was 6-45 as Duke’s head coach. This wasn’t intended as a slight of Cutcliffe.

The ACC has nine bowl tie-ins and three bowl-eligible teams (Georgia Tech, Miami, Boston College).

With a win this week, Clemson (5-3) and Virginia Tech (5-3) can push the total to five.

Maryland, Virginia and N.C. State are all but mathematically eliminated, leaving a group of four (UNC, Duke, Wake and FSU) for the final four spots.

Russell Wilson and the N.C. State offense need to produce yet again.

Bert Reed ran 3 yards on an end around for a touchdown with 1:36 remaining to put Florida State back ahead 45-42.

Middle linebacker Ray Michel, who leads N.C. State in tackles, and wide receiver/kick returner T.J. Graham will miss Saturday’s game at Florida State with injuries, the school announced Thursday evening.

Michel, who has 53 tackles, has an ankle injury and will be replaced by Dwayne Maddox in the starting lineup. Maddox usually plays the boundary linebacker position, where Terrell Manning will start Saturday.

It's now the third season since Chuck Amato was ousted as N.C. State's football coach, and his name barely has been mentioned as the Wolfpack prepares to face Florida State.

Amato is the executive associate head coach at Florida State, which plays host to N.C. State at noon Saturday. N.C. State senior running back Toney Baker said Wednesday that he would be happy to talk with Amato if he sees him on the field.