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WINSTON-SALEM -- Given enough time to tinker, football coaches are capable of anything. Even old-school Jim Grobe.

With almost two weeks to prepare for a Thursday night game against Clemson, with national prestige, bowl bids and a division title on the line, Wake Forest drew up a bizarre ball-control offense from the days of Dixie Clyde Walker to subdue the Tigers 12-7.

Well, that's not entirely accurate.

Actually, Wake drew up a bizarre ball-control offense from the days of Peahead Walker then scrapped it in the end to outlast Clemson 12-7.

With a kicking game in disarray and still smarting from a stunning loss to Navy, the 21st-ranked Deacons made up some things on the fly and kept Clemson off-balance with dusty old plays from the past to slog past the fading Tigers and take control of the Atlantic Division.

On a misty evening with the county fair being held across the street, Wake Forest invited its fans to a black-out affair, encouraging fans to wear dark colors and take alternate routes to the stadium. Some 33,988 fans squeezed in the stands around BB&T Field just as three Apache attack helicopters, presumably armed with Hellfire missles, made a low run over the stadium.

The aerial show belied what would follow.

Wake came out in a variation of the old single-wing, snapping the ball directly to tailbacks Josh Adams and Brandon Pendergrass.

The offense was born of the Deacs' recent inability to move the ball on the ground, and it seemed to work. At least until Wake got the ball inside the Clemson 5. With the capacity crowd growing uneasy with the offense, the Deacons stubbornly ground to a halt in the shadow of the goalposts twice in the first quarter.

And that brought into play the second development. Wake's powerful kicker Sam Swank couldn't play because of a strained thigh muscle in his kicking leg, and the Deacs were forced to use freshman Shane Popham.

Wake botched the first attempt, then Popham made one of two field goals before halftime.

There were 40 pro scouts credentialed for the game, many of them in town to see Swank and several other players with professional futures. What they saw was further proof that the ACC's defenses are still ahead of the offenses. What they saw was linebacker Aaron Curry and Wake's stout secondary completely shut down the Clemson offense. The reeling Tigers had minus-3 yards in the first quarter.

Clemson lost its speedy tailback C.J. Spiller in the second quarter and was forced to run plays into a pieced together offensive line and throw into the Wake secondary for the rest of the game.

Wake, willing to win 3-0 from the moment it willed a Popham field goal through the uprights with 1:23 left in the first quarter, stayed in its newfound offense much of the night, throwing in the occasional end-around pass and orbit-sweep pass to the quarterback, just to keep Clemson honest and the blacked-out crowd entertained.

Eventually, the scripted outcome began to fray. Clemson got its first two big plays of the game, a deep pass into blown coverage late in the third quarter and a pass-interference call against Wake two plays later. With fireworks going off across the street, Clemson bobbled its way into the end zone to take shocking lead on the final play from scrimmage before the final period.

Wake's next possession, all passes, ended in a punt to the Tigers who, with a quarter to play, had no time outs, had converted 1-of-10 third downs and were missing three offensive players who had started the game.

Down 7-3, the Deacons had the Tigers right where they wanted them.

Clemson threw one time too many, and Alphonso Smith picked one off with less than 13 minutes to play to set up a Popham's second field goal.

Moments later, with an entire field ahead of him, Wake quarterback Riley Skinner slipped away from a Clemson pass rush and converted a third-and-24 that sparked Wake's first touchdown drive, capped by a pass to D.J. Boldin with 5:28 left.

In the waning minutes, as smoke drifted over the stadium from the Dixie Classic Fair and the blacked-out stands began to empty, Wake went back to what it had worked on almost from the moment it lost to Navy. The 4-1 Deacs snapped directly to Pendergrass with less than two minutes left to get the clock running, then stubbornly ran it out with fans and bowl reps and bowl scouts walking out of a game only a Wake football coach could love.

Contact Ed Hardin at 373-7069 or ed.hardin@news-record.com