Quarterback David Carr finally has helped the Panthers – three years after playing with them. Carr came in to relieve San Francisco’s Alex Smith, who was injured, and threw an interception late in the game with the score tied. The Carolina Panthers moved in close enough for John Kasay to kick a game-winning 37-yard field goal.

Carolina moves to 1-5 while San Francisco falls to 1-6.

Carr came in at the third quarter and threw a well underthrown pass on third down. He finished with a 58 quarterback rating going 5 of 13. When he was with the Panthers in 2007, he threw five interceptions and three touchdowns.

Richard Marshall intercepted the pass that set up the game-winning field goal by Kasay, who earlier hit a 53 yarder.

The Panthers, trailing 20-13 late in the game, tied the score when rookie David Gettis, who earlier dropped a pass in the end zone, made a diving TD reception with 1:53 left.

Panthers’ QB Matt Moore finished 28 of 41 for 308 yards and two touchdowns and an interception.

Things won’t be easy for the Panthers as they play only two teams with losing records the rest of the way, including the 3-4 St. Louis Rams next week.

While neither team is happy with its season, 49er fans seem to be particularly distressed as the 49ers were expected to be a contender for the playoffs.

As David Fucillo, a Bay Area contributor for SB Nation, wrote, “Well, just when I was wondering how the 49ers could find a new way to kick us in the junk, they do it. The 49ers dropped another nail-biter 23-20 to the Carolina Panthers thanks to an incredibly soft secondary and the loss of Alex Smith to a sprained shoulder. While I do think the 49ers probably win this game if Alex Smith does’t get hurt, I also think the team could have still won the game if the defense, and the secondary in particular, showed a little bit of aggression on those last couple drives.”

The Buffalo Bills, overtime losers to the Baltimore Ravens, are now the only winless team left in the NFL.

After four straight impressive wins, it appears the suspensions and injuries have finally caught up with the Tar Heels as Miami crushed North Carolina 33-10.

The Tar Heels actually had a 10-3 lead early and should have been up by more except for a fumble in the end zone. But then, on the heels of losing tight end Zack Pianalto for the season, the injuries started piling up. Five Tar Heels went down including Pianalto’s replacement Ryan Taylor.

Miami, which probably would have won the game regardless of the injuries, reeled off 30 straight points. Several big plays came through the air against the depleted Carolina secondary, which was playing three freshmen and another player, Da’Norris Searcy, who had been knocked woozy earlier.

With nine players having been dismissed, suspended or otherwise held out just in case, it was going to be a tough task at Miami without the four injuries last week and five during the game.

Some players who had previously only played on special teams got to see action for Carolina. The four defensive backs playing at the end of the game were the last four defensive backs on the team.

Despite leading questions, UNC coach Butch Davis didn’t sulk about the injuries. He praised Miami as a good football team and said the Tar Heels had a chance to get some points early and didn’t come through.

“The kids tried as hard as they can,” Davis said, finally alluding to the shorthandedness. “Like I tell them, you never know when your number is going to be called. A lot of kids had to play tonight and hopefully we’ll be better for it next week.”

Carolina has a homecoming game against William & Mary next Saturday before traveling back to Florida to play Florida State, a team that handled Miami easily a couple of weeks ago.

Duke’s demise this season should have been predicted, simply because the Blue Devils don’t have the talent and toughness on defense they need to compete in the ACC. The offense can’t make up for the problems on defense, with a poor running game and inexperienced quarterback.

Virginia Tech simply manhandled Duke Saturday, 44-7. The game was over by halftime and the Devils plummeted to 1-6. Duke returned six starters on defense for this season, but they lost the bulk of their defensive front from a year ago and there’s little on this team that strikes fear into an offensive coordinator. Duke has a long way to go in ACC play … as this season is reminding the remaining Blue Devil fans.

Raleigh’s Josh Hamilton, who has struggled with alcohol and drug abuse, was awarded the American League Championship Series MVP Award following his team’s 6-1 victory over the New York Yankees.

The win clinched a trip to the World Series. Instead of popping the cork on traditional champagne, Hamilton’s teammates sprayed ginger ale on each other out of respect for Hamilton and his issues with alcohol.

Hamilton hit .350 in the series while hitting four home runs and driving in seven runs. “First of all, all glory goes to God, Jesus Christ,” Hamilton said. “Secondly, i love my teammates. Any of these guys could have gotten this award… I don’t want to talk about myself – I want to talk about them.”

Hamilton said the Rangers are in this position because the players “don’t know how to fail” and there is great team chemistry. “The guys love each other and support each other,” he said.

Hamilton, whose voice was cracking as he was being interviewed about what he means to win the MVP after all his struggles, said in the final inning he was in the outfield tearing up, trying to hold it all together in case the ball was hit to him. “It means a lot with everything i’ve been through and what God has brought me through to this point with this group of guys,” he said. “I’m so excited and I feel blessed.”

He has 26 tattoos that he now tries to hide and which he got while drinking and doing drugs in Florida early in his professional career. “My first drink – my first drink ever – was at a strip club down there, with the tattoo guys,” Hamilton said a few years ago. “Pretty soon, I started using. First the powder. Then crack. I was 20. I wasn’t playing. I was hurt. My parents left and went back home. I was by myself for the first time.”

The whole world is with the popular Hamilton now and many are rooting for him and his Rangers team as they go to the World Series to play the winner of the Giants-Phillies series.

Only a year ago, it seemed like North Carolina had gained the high ground in its epic struggle for basketball supremacy with Duke. The Tar Heels won the 2009 national title, their second with Roy Williams, and pulled off a stunning recruiting coup when Harrison Barnes went on Skype and snubbed Duke for Carolina. Williams even had a popular book out on his life.

The ACC media picked UNC as the co-preseason favor with the Blue Devils, despite Carolina’s lack of experience. Duke, of course, went on to win its fourth NCAA title under Krzyzewski and the Duke coach is now within reach of passing Dean Smith in all-time wins.

Duke got all but one vote as the ACC preseason favorite and had two players, Kyle Singler and  Nolan Smith, on the preseason all-conference team. No wonder, then, that Williams downplayed any suggestion that this could be a special year in the Triangle, with UNC and now N.C. State fielding strong teams.

“I don’t think either one of us is at the level Duke is. I don’t think anybody in the country is at the level Duke is. How many times do you have the MVP in the Final Four come back?” Williams said.

He noted that he really wanted to sign Ryan Kelly of Raleigh, but Kelly went to Duke and barely played as a freshman.

“To me, Duke is at a completely different level than North Carolina or North Carolina State,” Williams said.

For the second time in as many weeks, my record of predicting area high school football games was a perfect 10-0, making the season total now 72-18, which is 80 percent accuracy. Here are 10 football games that are within driving distance in the Triangle area this Friday night. After today’s rain, Friday night’s weather is nice with virtually no chance at rain. Most games are at 7:30 p.m. You might want to check with local officials as some games start at 7. In bold below are the predicted winners.

Apex at Green Hope

Fuquay-Varina at Athens Drive

Garner at Southeast Raleigh

Millbrook at Leesville Road

Panther Creek at Middle Creek

Sanderson at Wake Forest-Rolesville

Wakefield at Enloe

Southern Durham at East Chapel Hill

J.F. Webb at Chapel Hill

North Raleigh Christian at Wake Christian

Check the scores in our Sports Roundup on the left navigation bar.

So much has been made of N.C. State’s incoming freshmen that it’s easy to forget the Wolfpack actually returns three starters in Tracy Smith, Javier Gonzalez and Scott Wood. That Smith will remain a starter is a given. But Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe made some interesting points about his other two incumbent starters Wednesday at Operation Basketball.

Asked if freshman Ryan Harrow would start at point guard or come off the bench, Lowe was careful and said, “I’m going to have to see how that works out. Our senior [Gonzalez] there can help Ryan understand what it’s like to be a freshman in this conference. …

“Javy is playing great right now. He is playing great.”

Lowe what impressed him was that Gonzalez was talking more than ever and often making points to Harrow about how to improve. “He is not looking at it as a threat – he’s looking at it as, OK, we have another good player who can help us. That’s what you want,” Lowe said.

Lowe also noted that Wood has been mentoring C.J. Leslie in practice. Leslie is a gifted offensive player but could drift on defense in high school and get away with it. In practice, Leslie has learned he has to stay with Wood – or get burned by a jumper. Lowe said he likes the way Leslie gets upset if Wood torches him, which has happened.
“What he has done is rely on his leaping ability and think he can meet you at the rim and go get it, as opposed to locking down [and playing great defense],” Lowe said of Leslie. “But he’s learned he’s got to do the other stuff before he gets to the rim.”

However freshmen Harrow, Leslie and Lorenzo Brown are used, they are an enormous talent update for a Pack team that has lacked that in recent years. Their presence was a big reason the media picked State fourth in the league Wednesday.

“You have to have talent to have a chance to win,” Lowe said. “We’ve gotten to that point now.”

OK, the votes are in at the ACC’s Operation Basketball in Charlotte. Duke is picked to win the ACC again, with North Carolina picked third and N.C. State fourth. Duke got 61 of 62 votes to win it.

Kyle Singler of Duke leads the preseason All-ACC basketball team, joined by Malcolm Delaney of Virginia Tech, Nolan Smith of Duke, Tracy Smith of N.C. State and Chris Singleton of FSU.

Singler is the preseason Player of the Year and Harrison Barnes of UNC is the preseason Rookie of the Year.

Here is the voting:

1, Duke (61) 743
2, Va. Tech 632
3, UNC (1) 622
4, N.C. State 526
5, Florida State 496
6, Maryland 432
7, Clemson 335
8, Miami 432
9, Ga. Tech 274
10, Boston College 173
11, Virginia 164
12, Wake Forest 134

All-ACC
1, Kyle Singler, Duke, 62
2, Malcolm Delaney, VT, 61
3, Nolan Smith, Duke, 55
4, Tracy Smith, N.C. State, 45
5, Chris Singleton, FSU, 29