Yellow Jackets sting Hurricanes

Hold off on Miami's return to national prominence. The Hurricanes ran into a huge roadblock: Georgia Tech's triple-option offense.

The Yellow Jackets ran No. 23 Miami ragged in a game that could have moved the onetime powerhouse to the cusp of playing for the Atlantic Coast Conference championship and a spot in a major bowl. Georgia Tech piled up 472 yards on the ground - the second most ever allowed by the Hurricanes - in a 41-23 rout last night in Atlanta.

Jonathan Dwyer had 128 yards on just 10 first-half carries, including a 58-yard touchdown. By the end, the Hurricanes (7-4, 4-3) could do little more than huddle around heaters, outclassed in their first game as a ranked team in more than two years.

Georgia Tech (8-3, 5-3) takes over first in the convoluted Coastal Division, but the Yellow Jackets will need some help because three other contenders would win a tiebreaker. Still, it was an impressive display by an offense that piled up the most rushing yards ever on the Hurricanes other than a 536-yard effort by Auburn in 1944.

Pizzotti on ballot

Harvard quarterback Chris Pizzotti was added to the ballot for the Walter Payton Award, given to the top player in the Championship Subdivision. The ballot, which already included Holy Cross signal-caller Dominic Randolph, will be distributed to voters next week. Three finalists from the 16 players on the ballot will be announced Dec. 1 . . . Thom Boerman was named interim coach at Bentley, succeeding Peter Yetten, who announced his retirement Wednesday.