PITTSBURGH — Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer remembers all too well how Pittsburgh made a habit of ruining potentially special seasons for his program when the they were in the Big East.
    Nearly a decade after the Hokies bolted for the ACC — where the Panthers are slated to join them next fall — not much has changed.
    Pitt forced No. 13 Virginia Tech into four first-half turnovers and bullied the Hokies all over the field in a 35-17 victory on Saturday, an emphatic opening salvo to a rivalry that will be renewed full time next fall when Pitt joins Virginia Tech in the ACC's Coastal Division.
    "I thought (Pitt was) hitting on all cylinders, and I thought it was their day," Beamer said. "We've got to play a lot better. (But) Pitt deserves a lot of credit. They played hard, and they played well. And they got the win today."
    Virginia Tech (2-1) has lost four straight to Pitt (1-2) dating back to 2001, with each loss coming while the Hokies were ranked in the Top 15. Unlike the last two meetings, however, this required no late-game heroics.

Florida State 52, Wake Forest 0
    TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The day belonged to Florida State's Chris Thompson even if he only played less than a half.
    A year after he suffered a broken back during a loss at Wake Forest that nearly ended his playing career, the Seminoles' speedster ran for 197 yards on nine carries in a 52-0 pasting of the Demon Deacons on Saturday.
    "I was in that hospital bed and so many thoughts went through my mind. I didn't know if I wanted to play football again," Thompson said, recalling his injury. "I didn't know if I was going to play again and I didn't know if I was going to be walking straight.
    "I'm breathing so I'm happy."
    It took the 5-foot-8, 185-pound Thompson about 20 minutes on the game clock to have a career day.
    Thompson scored on runs of 74 and 80 yards on successive first-half carries that sparked No. 5 Florida State to a 38-0 halftime lead.

Connecticut 24, Maryland 21
    COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Connecticut had a lot to deal with heading into Saturday's game at Maryland.
    Several Huskies, especially on defense, were battling some kind of flu making its way through the team. They also were trying to rebound from a tough 10-7 loss to North Carolina State and had to face their former coach for the first time.
    Despite all that, Connecticut did just fine. Lyle McCombs and Scott McCummings both ran for touchdowns, and Nick Williams returned a punt for another score as the Huskies defeated Maryland 24-21.
    The defense played especially well, as Connecticut (2-1) limited Maryland (2-1) to 205 yards of total offense and never trailed.
    "I would say that I'm proud of the team in the sense that we had the flu, and we had guys a little bit under the weather," Connecticut coach Paul Pasqualoni said. "Some of them couldn't play and some of them played. We had to get a great performance out of the defense ... I told the kids it was a really good team win."
    The Huskies entered the game ranked third in the country in total defense and scoring defense, and they made life tough for Maryland and freshman quarterback Perry Hills.

Northwestern 22, Boston College 13
    EVANSTON, Ill. — This one hardly satisfied Northwestern.
    Sure, the Wildcats remained unbeaten with another win over a BCS team, but there's plenty of room for improvement.
    Mike Trumpy ran for 106 yards with a late touchdown, and Northwestern beat Boston College 22-13 on Saturday.
    Jeff Budzien tied a school record with five field goals and the Wildcats (3-0) made it three wins over three BCS teams to start the season, ringing up 560 yards while running 100 plays in the process.
    "It's scary," Budzien said. "We're not playing well for our standards. It's scary to think where we can go."
    He got no argument from center Brandon Vitabile.
    "I agree," he said. "We have so much more potential."
    As easy as they made it look moving between the 20-yard lines, though, they had big issues once they got near the goal line. They didn't even reach the end zone until Trumpy's run in the closing minutes.