No. 21 Wake Forest beats BC 41-10, will play for ACC title

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Wake Forest clinches the ACC Atlantic Division

Wake Forest beats Boston College 41-10 to go to Charlotte.

Nov 27, 2021, 08:20 pm

BOSTON -- — No. 21 Wake Forest earned a spot in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, getting three passing touchdowns and one more on the ground from Sam Hartman to beat Boston College 41-10 on Saturday.

The Demon Deacons (10-2, 7-1 ACC) will attempt to claim their first league title since 2006 when they face No. 20 Pittsburgh on Dec. 4.

Hartman ran it in from 7 yards out midway through the first quarter and made it 14-0 on a 33-yard pass to A.T. Perry. It was 17-10 late in the second when Brandon Sebastian intercepted Hartman in the end zone, but BC went three-and out and then Wake Forest scored on Hartman's 7-yard pass to Perry just before halftime.

BC (6-6, 2-6) ran off three straight three-and-outs — along with an interception — to start the third quarter, while Wake Forest extended its lead with a field goal and a 3-yard run by Christian Turner that made it 34-10.

Hartman completed 20 of 32 passes for 236 yards and ran 11 times for 51 yards. Perry caught four passes for 81 yards and two scores.

Phil Jurkovec was 3 for 11 passing for 19 yards for one touchdown and two interceptions, but he also led the Eagles with 66 yards rushing.

THE TAKEAWAY

Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons snapped Clemson's streak of six straight Atlantic Division titles. They have only appeared in the ACC championship game once, beating Georgia Tech in 2006.

Boston College: The Eagles lost four straight games after Jurkovec sustained what was initially thought to be a season-ending wrist injury. Even after he returned, though, BC went 2-2. It did not beat anyone with a winning record all season.

COULD HAVE BEEN

Clemson and North Carolina State also had a chance at the ACC title game entering the weekend. N.C. State beat North Carolina on Friday night to eliminate Clemson, but the Wolfpack needed a Wake Forest loss.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Wake Forest doesn’t look to make a major move, but that could change with a win over Pittsburgh next week.

ILLNESS

The flu ran through the Boston College locker room during the week, with 32 players affected. Fifteen players, including Jurkovec, were out on Wednesday, forcing the team to hold a walkthrough instead of a regular practice.

Ten players were out of Saturday’s game, mostly backups.

OVERTURNED

On BC’s first possession of the second half, receiver Zay Flowers ran 73 yards on a reverse to reach the end zone, only to have the play called back for a blindside block thrown by Jurkovec against defensive tackle Miles Fox. Replays appeared to show the hit was legal, but the call is not reviewable.

On the next play, Jurkovec threw a screen pass to Pat Garwo that was originally ruled a catch at the BC 14, the original line of scrimmage. The game was held up while the play was reviewed; the ball was determined to have touched the ground, meaning it was an incomplete pass and the ball was spotted — at the BC 14.

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