Wake Forest's Alphonso Smith celebrates his school-record-tying 17th career interception in the fourth quarter against Clemson.

General
CORT
WAREHOUSE/DRIVER Construction
Komatsu Equipment Co
Mechanic Education
Assessment Technology, Inc
Social Studies Content Writer Health Care
Rio Salado College
PA's/Online Instructors General
CORT
Warehouse Supervisor

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Riley Skinner threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to D.J. Boldin with 5:28 left to help No. 21 Wake Forest beat Clemson 12-7 on Thursday night.

Skinner was 22 of 34 for 186 yards and led the decisive 15-play, 78-yard drive in the fourth quarter for the Demon Deacons (4-1, 2-0 Atlantic Coast Conference). Wake Forest outgained Clemson 342-198 to snap a two-game losing streak in the series and remain the only Atlantic Division team with a perfect conference record .

Shane Popham — starting in place of injured kicker Sam Swank — had field goals of 22 and 32 yards for Wake Forest, and a dominant defense held the Tigers' vaunted ground game to 21 yards rushing on 23 carries.

Cullen Harper was 15 of 35 for 177 yards with an interception for Clemson (3-3, 1-2) in the Tigers' second straight loss. His 10-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Ford with 7 seconds left in the third quarter put Clemson up 7-3.

Alphonso Smith's school-record-tying 17th career interception gave Wake Forest the ball inside the Clemson 20 and set up Popham's second field goal, which pulled Wake Forest to 7-6 with just under 13 minutes to play.

Then, after forcing a punt, it was Skinner's turn to rally the Demon Deacons.

Taking over with about 10 1/2 minutes left, he systematically marched Wake Forest downfield by completing seven of nine passes for 69 yards and converting three third downs — including a 28-yard pass to Boldin on third-and-24.

He then found Boldin in the right flat, and the receiver cut back through two defenders and into the end zone for his first career touchdown. Skinner's two-point conversion pass for Ben Wooster was batted away.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Part of the slogan that Penn State uses to market the football team provides perhaps a perfect description for the defense: "No Names. All Game."

There are no stars like Paul Posluszny or Dan Connor this year, but the defense is still tough and peaking at the right time — just as the No. 6 Nittany Lions (6-0, 2-0 Big Ten) head into a Saturday night test at Wisconsin.

Most of the spotlight this season in Happy Valley has been hogged by a potent offense scoring 45 points a game.

"Not at all, I'm very happy for the success for the offense," safety Anthony Scirrotto said when asked if he felt the defense was overlooked. "Our job is to get them the ball to score."

The stat sheet shows impressive numbers for the D, too: ninth in the country in points allowed (11.7), eighth in total defense (250.3 yards), and 11th against the run (80.2 yards).

Purdue was the latest victim last week in a 20-6 loss, held to 24 points below its season average. With Penn State having some trouble of its own on offense, the Nittany Lions' defense stepped up on the road.

Penn State is "one of the first things that jump out to you when you take out the Big Ten stats," Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said. "Those are some impressive numbers."

● USC quarterback Mark Sanchez went through a full session of practice Thursday and appears on track to start against Arizona State.

"It looks promising," USC coach Pete Carroll said of Sanchez's availability for Saturday's matchup against the Sun Devils at the Coliseum.

Sanchez sustained a bone bruise in his left knee in the third quarter of USC's 44-10 victory over Oregon last Saturday.

● A day after firing offensive coordinator Tony Franklin, Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville announced tight ends coach Steve Ensminger will call plays for the remainder of the season.

"It's a good setup, not much different than what we had," said Tuberville, who will take a larger role in the offense and consult with Ensminger over calls.