Clemson

C.J. Spiller scored a touchdown Saturday in his final game at Death Valley and No. 18 Clemson beat Virginia, 34-21, on the day the Tigers clinched their first trip to the Atlantic Coast Conference title game. The Tigers (8-3, 6-2 ACC) won their sixth straight game but had the Atlantic Division wrapped up as they kicked off, thanks to North Carolina's 31-13 victory against Boston College. Clemson will face Coastal Division winner Georgia Tech in two weeks in Tampa, Fla. Spiller had a 4-yard touchdown run and set the ACC's single-season all-purpose yardage mark, surpassing the 2,059 of Virginia's Thomas Jones in 1999.

A day after making a handful of roster additions and cuts, the Ravens announced on Wednesday that they had released fullback Chad Diehl, an undrafted free agent who had participated in the team's rookie minicamp over the weekend. No reason for the move was given, but Diehl shed a little light on it on his Facebook page. “At rookie mini-camp this past weekend I suffered another concussion,” Diehl said via the Spartanburg Herald Journal (S.C.) . “With this concussion happening so soon after the concussion I had in January at the Senior Bowl it left many people concerned including family, doctors, and myself about my health and future if I were to continue playing.

COLLEGE PARK -- Clemson forward Sean Tyson was reinstated yesterday by Tigers coach Cliff Ellis after a 2 1/2 -week suspension, but it is unclear whether the senior from Baltimore will play today against Maryland.In a prepared taped statement, Ellis said Tyson was reinstated on the recommendation of his Clemson teammates and other members of the coaching staff. Tyson had been suspended Dec. 18 for unspecified reasons.Ellis said Tyson was allowed to return to the team on two conditions: that he go for counseling at the university and that he work hard on the court to get playing time.

Maryland cornerback Cameron Chism started 32 straight games from 2009 until being benched near the end of last season. He is one of just three players in school history -- Curome Cox and Bob Haley are the others -- with two interception returns for touchdowns (Miami and Clemson games of 2011) in the same season. Like the Terps as a whole, Chism, a criminology and criminal science major from Washington D.C., didn't  have the sort of 2011 season he aspired to. But he finished his career having played in 44 games -- 34 under former coach Ralph Friedgen and 10 under Randy Edsall -- and had seven interceptions.

C.J. Brown inded gets the start at quarterback for Maryland over Danny O'Brien, last season's ACC rookie of the year. Brown is 10 of 24 this season for 92 yards. But he is Maryland's second-leading rusher with 153 yards. O'Brien had started the previous five games this season. He is 97 for 156 for 930 yards with four touchdown passes and six interceptions. He's got the headsey on and a towel over his shoulders.    

State teams apparently have lost out in the chase for the area's most highly recruited basketball player.Sought by Towson State and Maryland, St. Frances' Devin Gray, a 6-foot-7 center/forward who averaged 25.6 points, is expected to sign a letter of intent to attend Clemson University in the fall, The Sun reported today.St. Frances coach William Wells said it will become official at a news conference today at the school.Gray, who has taken the Scholastic Aptitude Test three times during the past year, needs to score the minimum 700 on the test when he takes it on May 10 to be eligible as a freshman under NCAA rules.

CLEMSON, S.C. -- The Maryland basketball team that nearly upset top-ranked Duke in Durham, N.C., Thursday night showed up last night at Littlejohn Coliseum. Unfortunately for the Terrapins, they showed up a little late.After trailing Clemson by 19 points in the first half, by as many as 22 in the second half and by 21 with a little more than nine minutes left, Maryland finally shook itself from its funk and had a legitimate opportunity to win.But the Terps got no closer than seven points with a little less than four minutes left, and the hardly overwhelming Tigers pulled away down the stretch for an 82-70 victory before a crowd of 7,500.

CLEMSON, S.C. -- The NCAA took more than three years t resolve the Wayne Buckingham investigation at Clemson University, and the Tigers' basketball program likely will feel the effects for much longer.The NCAA's Committee on Infractions yesterday placed Clemson on probation for two years and levied four sanctions, including the prohibition of any expense-paid visits for recruits during the 1993 calendar year and a limit of only two such visits in 1994. That's a net loss of 22 visits in two years.

It was a game of tipped passes and blocked shots and hard fouls and air balls and - most of all - turnovers. But made baskets? Those were precious and few as Clemson halted Maryland's impressive early run in Atlantic Coast Conference play with a 62-53 win Sunday night that was hardly aesthetically pleasing except for fans of rugged, full-court defense or missed layups. The Terrapins, whose four-game winning streak ended, entered the contest leading the ACC in the standings as well as in assist-to-turnover ratio and shooting percentage - a gaudy .487.

As midnight approached, C.J. Brown sat slumped in a chair inside Maryland's football complex after Maryland's 56-45 loss to Clemson on Saturday. A reporter asked Brown how he felt. "I'm tired," Maryland's new starting quarterback replied. And why not? Brown had just rushed for 162 yards. It was easily the most by a quarterback in school history, besting the 139 yards by Dennis O'Hara against Wake Forest in 1969. Brown had rushed for 124 yards a week earlier in a loss to Georgia Tech.

Maryland announced Wednesday that cornerback Avery Graham has left the football team and has been given his unconditional release to transfer wherever he'd like.   “I'm disappointed that Avery has decided to leave us, but he didn't feel he was going to be a starter in the fall,” Terps coach Randy Edsall said in a news release. “Avery was a hard worker during his time here and we wish him well.” Graham, a redshirt junior listed behind Jeremiah Johnson on Maryland's spring depth chart, finished his Maryland career with 17 tackles in 13 games.

How could he have seen this coming? History wasn't supposed to repeat itself. Not like this. He'd done the research, double-checked the math, talked to the right people. There was no way, Anderson Sloan thought to himself in November, that this was happening again. Sloan had transferred to Maryland to make something of a swimming career befallen by the worst kind of misfortune: the elimination of a Clemson program he would have given everything to keep. What he found in College Park was everything, he thought, the Tigers did not have - security, a future, a chance at glory.

Lynetta Kizer scored 18 points and the No. 8 Maryland women's basketball team had six players in double figures while beating host Clemson for the 10th straight time Thursday night, 91-61. The Terrapins (21-3, 8-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), the ACC'shighest-scoring team, won their third in a row this season and ran all over the Tigers (6-16, 2-9) at Littlejohn Coliseum. Alicia DeVaughn scored 15 points, Alyssa Thomas and Tianna Hawkins had 14 each, Laurin Mincy 13 and Brene Moseley 10 as Maryland tied its highest ACC point total this season.

When Miami beat Duke on Sunday at Cameron Indoor Stadium, it gave Jim Larranaga his first signature win as the Hurricanes' coach -- something Mark Turgeon is still seeking with Maryland. It could have come last Saturday at Comcast Center, when the Terps built a 9-point lead over North Carolina before a late flurry of bad shots, sloppy ballhandling and defensive lapses led to the Tar Heels leaving with an 83-74 victory. I asked Turgeon on today's ACC media teleconference whether he senses that his young team is panicking and trying to do too much to get that first big win. "I don't think that's the case yet," Turgeon said. "I think we had a lot of close games early in the year, we won those games, but we were better than who we were playing. The game we were playing the other day ... just the mistakes that we made, things that you have to correct really good teams.

It was only a month ago that Maryland was riding a seven-game winning streak and its players were full of hope — swagger, even — as they pronounced themselves eager to open the Atlantic Coast Conference portion of their schedule. That sure feels like a long time ago. Losers of five of their past six games, the Terps are falling victim to inexperience, late-game lapses and a conference schedule that includes two games apiece against North Carolina and Duke and is backloaded with road games.

Tonight's offering in the seemingly never-ending slew of bowl games features West Virginia and Clemson from the Orange Bowl in Miami. That means local fans will be tuning in to check out former Dunbar standout Tavon Austin on the big stage. But they won't be the only ones. Austin, the Mountaineers' star wide receiver and special teams All-American , has received quite a bit of local and national media attention in advance of the game (8:30 on ESPN). Andrea Adelson of ESPN.com writes that Austin's move to receiver -- after he was recruited to be the next Noel Devine -- has turned out to be a blessing in disguise . In the Charleston (W.Va.)

CLEMSON, S.C. -- In Georgia Tech's first overtime game of the season at Clemson, the Yellow Jackets learned a very valuable lesson: Avoid overtime at all costs.Even a Clemson basket in the final 30 seconds of regulation -- while the score was tied at 71 -- would have been better than what happened to Georgia Tech Wednesday night in overtime.Clemson (12-6, 2-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) used the extra period to score 24 points -- one shy of the NCAA record for most overtime points -- to earn a 95-78 victory over the Yellow Jackets.

Devin Gray, the area's top high school basketball recruit, made his college choice official yesterday by signing a letter of intent with Clemson."I felt comfortable with them," said Gray, a 6-foot-7 forward at St. Frances. "I like the school, and I like the ratio of graduations [four players graduated last year, and four are on schedule to graduate next month]."Gray narrowed his final list to six before choosing Clemson. The other finalists were Maryland, Towson State, Minnesota, Richmond and St. John's.

SATURDAY'S COLLEGE FOOTBALL TV HIGHLIGHTS Whiparound Coverage ESPNU11 a.m. Conference USA Championship, Southern Mississippi@Houston 2, 7Noon Connecticut@Cincinnati ESPNNoon Syracuse@Pittsburgh ESPN2Noon Iowa State@Kansas State CSNP12:30 UNLV@Texas Christian VS.2:30 Texas@Baylor 2, 73:30 SEC Championship, Georgia vs. LSU...

Clemson carries day Matt Murschel Orlando Sentinel When looking for an upset this rivalry weekend, look no further than Columbia, S.C. That's where No. 17 Clemson will try to continue its road dominance over rival No. 12 South Carolina. The Tigers have won nine of their last 11 meetings in Columbia. Clemson is coming off a horrific 37-13 loss to North Carolina State last week and has lost two of its last three games, but the Tigers are looking to finish the season strong as they head into the ACC championship game.