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WINSTON-SALEM -- For college football teams, August is the month in which optimism trumps reason and leads many intelligent men to say things they wouldn't consider in November.

So what has gotten into Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe? Why is he saying his team can't count on the defense to score as often as it did in 2007?

Probably the same reason Powerball pays better than a scratch game: probability.

"You'll see us work in practice on turning the ball over and creating scores on defense," Deacon cornerback Alphonso Smith said Tuesday, "but it's not reasonable to think you're going to score 12 times on defense."

Wake actually scored only 10 times that way last season, but that total still was good enough to lead the nation and stand as a statistical anomaly. The previous season, the Deacs' total was two. And that team won the ACC championship.

As Wake prepares for a third act in the program's Renaissance play, it seeks intelligent aggression -- the mindset that bugs opponents without excessive risk-taking. There is an art to the takeaway and the subsequent long return, but there is danger in discounting the beauty of the fortunate bounce.

"It's not a goal we stress; it's something that just happens," safety Chip Vaughn said as the Deacs prepared for today's intrasquad scrimmage.

Wake recovered 16 of the opposition's 24 fumbles in 2007, a total that may not sound odd. After all, when the ball's on the ground, don't you always think the defense will get it? The truth, however, is that the national average is somewhere around 50 percent, not 67. The ACC's other 11 defenses grabbed it 47 percent of the time. In winning the national championship, LSU was 13-for-26.

Wake didn't force an especially high number of fumbles, but it took two of them back for scores.

Eight times the Deacs turned an interception into an almost-instant TD. Their total number of pickoffs, 19, ranked in the top 20 nationally, but eight "Pick Six" plays? Now that's a lottery number. Cincinnati swiped 26 passes and took only four of them into the end zone.

The last thing Brad Lambert, promoted from linebackers coach to defensive coordinator, wants his charges to do is lose their zeal. "Scoop and Score" remains a drill on the field and a phrase in the meeting rooms. Over the long haul, however, there is no full substitute for solid positional defense from linebackers, corners and safeties. If you let the success go to your head, you'll eventually be on your back, painfully watching a receiver capitalize on your chance gone awry.

"It's a split-second decision," said Aaron Curry, who tied an NCAA record for linebackers with three interceptions for touchdowns in 2007. "If the defense needs to go for the big hit, you go for the big hit. If it needs a big play, you go for the big play."

"You have to understand the defense and know when you can be aggressive and when you have to be safe," Smith said. "Sometimes, coach Lambert allows the corners to be aggressive. It depends on the (defensive) play call and (offensive) play recognition."

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