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WINSTON-SALEM -- The Florida State Seminoles knocked the Orbit out of the sky, but they couldn't take Wake Forest down with it Thursday night.

Deprived of their beloved Orbit sweep all night and several other running options early, the Demon Deacons upended the No. 21 Seminoles 24-21 with two big plays, the last of them Riley Skinner's tie-breaking 35-yard touchdown pass to --who else? -- Kenny Moore with 6:41 left.

"This was our best team effort," coach Jim Grobe said. "We won the game with a little bit of offense, a little bit of defense and a little bit of special teams. We finally got all pieces of the puzzle."

Moore, whose 66-yard punt return for an apparent touchdown late in the third quarter was wiped out by a block in the back, broke free behind cornerback Jamie Robinson after Skinner eluded a blitz. His catch of the perfectly thrown ball lifted the Deacons (4-2, 3-1 ACC) to their fourth straight victory and second straight over the Seminoles, whom they hadn't beaten until a 30-0 victory last year at Tallahassee, which helped lift them to the ACC title.

The play, a third-down attempt, represented a gamble when a run into the middle would have been safe. The Noles took up residence in the Wake backfield for most of the first half, and either a sack or a holding penalty would take the Deacs out of field-goal range.

"Coach Lobo really rolled the dice," Skinner said of offensive coordinator Steed Lobotzke. "But we had to take a shot."

Wake overcame a stifling FSU defense that threw the Deacs for losses on eight of their first 24 passes, only one of which was a sack. One difference-maker was an apparent adjustment in run-blocking that freed space for Micah Andrews, the one-time starter who lost his job to redshirt freshman Josh Adams two weeks ago and didn't play at all in Thursday's first half. Andrews was the chief weapon in the third-quarter drive on which Wake Forest tied the game at 14 on Skinner's short flip to Adams, who earlier scored on an 83-yard run.

"We actually started to run the ball inside more," Grobe said. "We tried the Orbit and the reverses and they were really sitting on those." The Deacs' defense wasn't bad, either. It held FSU's running game under control and survived the perpetual threat posed by 6-foot-6 wide receiver Greg Carr, who owned a nine-inch height advantage on cornerback Alphonso Smith. After surrendering a touchdown to Carr in the first half, Smith turned the game around when he intercepted an overthrown fade pass in the end zone in the third quarter. The Noles led 14-7 and seemingly were on the way to a TD, but they never got it.

Sam Swank's 48-yard field goal in the final two minutes secured the victory and rendered moot a Florida State score with 17 seconds left.

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rdaniels@news-record.com.

Florida State 0 14 0 7 -- 21

Wake Forest 0 7 7 10 -- 24

Wake--Adams 83 run (Swank kick)

FSU--Parker 6 pass from Lee (Cismesia kick)

FSU--Carr 4 pass from Lee (Cismesia kick)

Wake--Adams 6 pass from Skinner (Swank kick)

Wake--Moore 35 pass from Skinner (Swank kick)

Wake--FG Swank 48

FSU--Lee 17 run (Cismesia kick)

A--32,906.

Florida State Wake Forest

First downs 14 18

Rushes-yards 24-47 48-180

Passing 283 215

Comp-Att-Int 24-48-2 19-27-2

Return Yards 20 19

Punts-Avg. 9-41.2 8-35.8

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-1

Penalties-Yards 10-76 8-70

Time of Possession 25:20 34:40

Individual Statistics

RUSHING--Florida State, A. Smith 14-32, Lee 8-9, McDaniel 1-4, Holloway 1-2. Wake Forest, Adams 18-140, Andrews 20-57, Skinner 5-0, Team 1-(minus 1), Moore 4-(minus 16).

PASSING--Florida State, Lee 24-45-2-283, Weatherford 0-2-0-0, Team 0-1-0-0. Wake Forest, Skinner 19-27-2-215.

RECEIVING--Florida State, Carr 8-108, Parker 5-113, Fagg 4-33, Goodman 3-25, McDaniel 2-2, A. Smith 2-2. Wake Forest, Adams 6-29, Tereshinski 4-58, Andrews 4-34, Moore 3-74, Bryant 1-11, Boldin 1-9.