Defense is decisive

No. 18 Wake Forest spent the better part of four quarters kicking itself for its mistakes before senior Sam Swank finally kicked the field goal that sealed a 12-3 victory over No. 24 Florida State in last night's ACC opener at Doak Campbell Stadium.

"The defense saved our behinds," said Swank, speaking for himself and the Deacons' offense. "I'd say we owe the win all to them."

Safety Kevin Patterson, who had two of the Deacons' five interceptions, said that the defense was only returning the favor.

"The offense and Sam Swank have saved us plenty of times," Patterson said. "The defense, we just wanted to come out here and have fun and put it on our backs.

"We didn't give up a touchdown. They came in with a high-powered offense and we shut the down."

The Deacons forced a total of seven turnovers and needed pretty much all of them to improve to 3-0 with their third straight victory over Florida State, which fell to 2-1. Quarterback Riley Skinner suffered a rare off night that included two fumbles and a number of errant passes as the Deacons failed to convert one scoring opportunity after another.

And Swank, the Deacons' all-time leader in points scored and field goals, struggled as well, missing three of his seven field-goal attempts. He missed from 27 yards in the first quarter and from 48 and 32 yards in the fourth quarter.

After Aaron Curry picked off a pass by D'Vontrey Richardson for the second of the Deacons' three straight interceptions, Swank finally drilled a 31-yarder with 2:07 left to put the game away.

"I told him I was going to give him one more shot tonight," Coach Jim Grobe said with a smile. "He was only going to have one more shot.

"We weren't going to let him kick again --not tonight."

Chip Vaughn added the finishing touches to one of the most impressive defensive performances in Wake Forest history by intercepting Christian Ponder on the Seminoles' final possession. The Seminoles, who outscored Southern Conference opponents Western Carolina and Tennessee-Chattanooga 115-7 in the first two games, managed just 220 yards and 12 first downs.

"I don't know if we could ever play a better defensive game, as far as forcing turnovers and making things happen," Grobe said. "That's as good as we can play."

Swank kicked his second field goal from 29 yards away on Wake Forest's second possession of the third quarter to extend the lead to 6-0. Florida State answered with its only scoring drive, which led to a 37-yard field goal by Graham Gano.

Swank answered on the next possession with a 49-yarder to extend the lead to 9-3, but missed his next two attempts before putting the game away.

Wake Forest led 3-0 after two quarters, but spent halftime wondering about what might have been.

Although the Deacons had four enviable scoring opportunities, they settled for a field goal on one and completely squandered the other three. Swank missed a short field-goal try, the Deacons went for a fourth-and-1 deep inside FSU territory and came up empty, and Skinner fumbled at the Seminoles' 2-yard line with only 29 seconds left in the half.

Patterson provided the final opportunity when he intercepted Ponder's pass around midfield and returned it 32 yards to the FSU 17. On second down, Skinner scrambled to the FSU 2, where the ball was knocked lose by safety Jamie Richardson.

Cornerback Korey Mangum recovered and FSU killed the final seconds of the half.

Wake Forest spent its previous drive marching to the Seminoles' 10, where on fourth-and-1 the Deacons gambled by going for the first down. Linebacker Kenny Ingram crashed in from right linebacker to bat away Skinner's pass intended for Ben Wooster.

Alphonso Smith and Swank got the Deacons on the scoreboard first. Smith intercepted Ponder's pass on FSU's first play of the game, and returned 18 yards to the Seminoles' 45.

The Deacons managed one first down before Swank drilled a 48-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead with 11:18 left in the first quarter.

The interception was Smith's second of the season and 16th of his career, the most of any active player in college football's Bowl Subdivision.

But the Deacons twice botched chances to extend the lead on their next possession after Aaron Curry recovered Antone Smith's fumble at the Florida State 27.

Skinner connected with Marshall Williams for an apparent 15-yard touchdown pass, but the play was nullified by a holding call against tackle Jeff Griffin. After a 16-yard run by Josh Adams advanced the ball to the FSU 9, Swank missed a 27-yard field-goal try wide right.

■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.

Wake Forest 3 0 6 3 -- 12


Florida State 0 0 3 0 -- 3

First Quarter

Wake Forest--FG Swank 48, 11:18.

Third Quarter

Wake Forest--FG Swank 29, 10:29.

FSU--FG Gano 37, 6:40.

Wake Forest--FG Swank 49, 4:31.

Fourth Quarter

Wake Forest--FG Swank 31, 2:07.

A--79,235.

TEAM STATISTICS

WFU FSU

First downs 16 12

Rushes-yards 38-59 28-102

Passing 217 118

Comp-Att-Int 17-30-0 12-36-5

Return Yards 134 0

Punts-Avg. 4-37.8 4-47.5

Fumbles-Lost 3-2 2-2

Penalties-Yards 8-70 12-139

Time of Possession 31:47 28:13

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--WFU, Adams 18-66, Boldin 3-11, Skinner 6-4, Team 4-(minus 5), Pendergrass 7-(minus 17). FSU, Richardson 8-46, Ponder 5-27, A.Smith 8-24, Reed 2-7, Holloway 1-0, Parker 3-0, Team 1-(minus 2).

PASSING--WFU, Skinner 17-29-0-217, Boldin 0-1-0-0. FSU, Ponder 6-18-3-52, Richardson 6-18-2-66.

RECEIVING--WFU, Mars.Williams 3-57, Parker 2-55, K.Harris 2-18, Wooster 2-18, Brinkman 2-16, Boldin 2-4, Brown 1-20, Adams 1-15, Rinfrette 1-12, Pendergrass 1-2. FSU, Parker 3-34, Easterling 3-33, G.Carr 3-30, Dobbie 1-14, Owens 1-6, Holloway 1-1.