College football ROUNDUP | Thursday’s games

North Carolina 26, No. 23 Pittsburgh 19

PITTSBURGH

Marquise Williams threw two long touchdown passes and North Carolina beat Pittsburgh in a matchup of Atlantic Coast Conference upstarts. The unexpected ACC Coastal showdown was the first of a three-week round-robin that will likely determine the division title. The Tar Heels (7-1, 4-0) face No. 22 Duke next at home with a chance to put a vice grip on the program’s first trip to the ACC title game. North Carolina has won seven straight since a sloppy opening loss to South Carolina and is off to its best start since 1997 under Mack Brown. For the third straight season, Williams came up huge against Pitt (6-2, 3-1). The senior was 14 for 23 for 270 yards and ran for 52.

No. 5 TCU 40, West Virginia 10

FORT WORTH, TEXAS

Trevone Boykin leaped over defenders and threw from the hip for touchdowns, breaking TCU’s career record for total offense while leading the Horned Frogs past West Virginia for their 16th consecutive victory. Boykin was 32 of 47 for 388 yards and three TDs and ran 11 times for 84 yards, with a 2-yard keeper for a score when he hurdled a defender at the goal line and several nifty scrambles that left the Mountaineers tackling at air. In their last game before the first weekly College Football Playoff rankings of the season, TCU (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) made quite an impression. As did Boykin and Josh Doctson (11 catches for 183 yards and two TDs) on Heisman Trophy voters tuning into a midweek game. All the losses for the Mountaineers (3-4, 0-4) have been in consecutive games against the Big 12’s four ranked teams. They previously lost to No. 14 Oklahoma, No. 12 Oklahoma State and No. 2 Baylor — all teams TCU has to play in November.

Western Michigan 58, Eastern Michigan 28

YPSILANTI, MICH.

Jamauri Bogan had a career-high four touchdowns on eight carries and Western Michigan (5-3, 4-0 Mid-American) forced a season-high four turnovers in a victory over Eastern Michigan (1-8, 0-5) for the Broncos’ most points since 2011. Western Michigan scored 21 straight points in the first 6 minutes of the second half.

Georgia Southern 37, Texas State 13

STATESBORO, GA.

Matt Breida ran for 205 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries to help Georgia Southern beat Texas State. Breida topped 200 yards for the first time this season and the third time in his career. The junior has run for 1,163 yards and 13 TDs this season after finishing with 1,485 yards and 17 TDs last season. He’s averaging 9.6 yards a carry this year. Georgia Southern (6-2, 4-1 Sun Belt) rebounded from a 31-13 loss last week at Appalachian State to run their home winning streak to 10 games. Wesley Fields ran for 158 yards and a TD on nine carries and the Eagles finished with 503 yards rushing on 67 attempts. Robert Lowe ran for 91 yards on 20 carries for Texas State (2-5, 1-2).

Associated Press