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Boldin propels Wake Forest past Clemson

Oct 10, 2008 - 5:10 AM WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina (Ticker) -- D.J. Boldin helped soothe his brother Anquan's headache a bit on Thursday.

The senior wide receiver made two critical catches - including the game-winning, 7-yard touchdown pass - as 21st-ranked Wake Forest rallied to a 12-7 victory over Clemson in an ACC game.

Boldin is the brother of the Arizona Cardinals' wide receiver who suffered a fractured sinus following a terrifying hit in the waning moments of a game against the New York Jets on September 28.

With Wake Forest (4-1, 2-0 Atlantic) facing a third-and-28 from its 8, Boldin hauled in a pass from Riley Skinner and turned it into a 28-yard gain.

"He definitely threw it to the right guy," Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said. "I just can't tell you how proud I am of D.J. Boldin. He's our leader right now offensively. He's a tough guy and makes plays. We try to get Riley to deliver the ball to the open receiver but, when it gets to be crunch time, he knows that if he can go to Boldin, then we have a chance."

Skinner found Boldin with a scoring strike to complete the 15-play, 78-yard march that gave the Demon Deacons the lead with 5:28 left.

"Riley's got a great arm," Boldin said. "We worked on that play all week in practice. Coach always told us the under route got robbed and I was going to be open. It happened tonight and I made the play for the team."

Clemson (3-3, 1-2 Atlantic) had taken a 7-3 lead in the third quarter when Cullen Harper hit Jacoby Ford with a 10-yard scoring pass. Ford bobbled the ball as he entered the end zone, but held on for the score.

Alphonso Smith picked off his school-record tying 17th pass inside the Clemson 20 for Wake.

Shane Popham, replacing the injured Sam Swank, then kicked a field goal to bring the Demon Deacons within 7-6 early in the fourth quarter. Popham was 2-of-4 filling in for Swank, who has a quadriceps injury.

"We had hoped that by game time he (Swank) would be fine but when we went to breakfast this morning he was still pretty sore," Grobe said. "We still had hopes that if he got to the stadium it may loosen up and he might be able to kick in some capacity. ... We had hoped to get something out of Swank tonight but when we got over here tonight, he was just too sore to get full range of motion, so we were with Shane the entire time tonight."

Skinner completed 22-of-34 passes for 186 yards while rushing 11 times for 73.

"We came into the game and told Riley that one of the reasons why we can't run the ball is because we have a quarterback that nobody expects to run the ball," Grobe said. "We told him to buckle up because it was his turn tonight."

The Tigers came in averaging 385 yards total offense and 165 on the ground.

"Tonight we played with attitude," Wake Forest linebacker Aaron Curry said. "We played in a bad mood, but we were having fun."

Harper was 15-of-35 for 177 yards with a touchdown and an interception for Clemson.

The loss was another major dent in the season for Clemson, which many saw as a national force. However, Tommy Bowden's Tigers are at .500 and have more questions than answers.

They finished with 198 yards of total offense, including 21 rushing yards on 23 carries. James Davis was held to 25 yards and C. J. Spiller exited after two carries for 10 yards.

"We tried everything, if you watch," Bowden said. "We tried going deep to Aaron (Kelly) and throwing deep over the middle to the tight end. We tried reverses, we tried fake punts, we tried C.J. on the outside and James in the middle. They were playing really well defensively. We just couldn't develop any kind of continuity."

The Tigers turned the ball over 12 times in 13 games last season. They have equaled that number already in 2008.