ACC suspends football officials for 2 games after Miami-Duke ending

CORAL GABLES, FL (AP) – The Atlantic Coast Conference has suspended the officiating crew that worked the Miami-Duke game for two league games for “a series of errors” on the final play.

The league announced the decision Sunday, about 13 hours after the Hurricanes threw a combined eight laterals before Corn Elder took the last one for the game-ending touchdown that beat Duke 30-27.

In a statement announcing the suspension of the on-field crew, the replay official and the communicator, Commissioner John Swofford said that final play “was not handled appropriately.”

The league says the replay official was wrong in not declaring Miami’s Mark Walton down before he flipped the ball, and the on-field crew should have flagged the Hurricanes for an illegal block in the back.

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BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) – Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer is retiring at the end of the season. He has been the Hokies coach for 29 years. The 69-year old is the winningest active major college football coach with 277 victories. He is 235-120-2 since taking over at Virginia Tech in 1987.

The Hokies won at least 10 games each season from 2004-11, but have lost at least five games each year since.

Beamer has led the Hokies to seven conference titles, four in the Atlantic Coast Conference and three in the Big East.

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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – North Carolina State says starting offensive lineman Will Richardson has been suspended from the team for violating undisclosed team rules.

Coach Dave Doeren announced the suspension Sunday.

Richardson is a redshirt freshman who has started all eight games at right tackle for the Wolfpack (5-3, 1-3 Atlantic Coast Conference).

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AP College Football Writer

Ohio State, Baylor, Clemson and LSU remain the top four teams in The Associated Press Top 25 as the College Football Playoff selection committee prepares its first rankings.

There was little change in the poll with five of top 10 teams having an open date.

Ohio State, which suspended quarterback J.T. Barrett for this week’s game against Minnesota for being cited for operating a vehicle while impaired, was off Saturday and retained all 39 of its first-place votes.

North Carolina entered the ratings at No. 21 after beating Pittsburgh and Texas A&M is back in at No. 25 after defeating South Carolina.

Duke and Pittsburgh dropped out.

The first selection committee top 25 will be released Tuesday night. The pairings for the College Football Playoff will be revealed Dec. 6.

AP college football website: collegefootball.ap.org

(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)