WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA - Wake Forest's defense jarred the football free, scooped up loose balls and picked off the quarterback. The takeaways helped the Demon Deacons accomplish a rare feat - a victory by an unranked team at Ross-Ade Stadium. <br>
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Chris Barclay ran for three touchdowns and Wake Forest capitalized on five Purdue turnovers to beat the Boilermakers 24-21 Saturday. <br>
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The Demon Deacons (2-2) became only the second unranked team to win here since Purdue coach Joe Tiller took over in 1997. The Boilermakers are now 21-2 at home against unranked opponents during that span. <br>
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Wake Forest did it with a defense that entered with a plus-8 turnover margin. <br>
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The Demon Deacons added to that total against the Boilermakers (2-2), who lost four fumbles and an interception. Wake Forest scored 10 points off those takeaways, and five different players came up with turnovers. <br>
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``I think our guys are a work in progress,'' Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said. ``We have not arrived defensively. Hopefully, we'll continue that. I think that's the only chance we had today.'' <br>
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The defense did allow 477 yards of total offense, and Purdue had its chances with three drives into Wake Forest territory in the fourth. But Berin Lacevic missed field-goal attempts of 46, 40 and 44 yards in the quarter. <br>
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The 44-yard miss came with 21 seconds left in the game. All three attempts were wide left. <br>
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``I just blame myself. I lost this game for us,'' Lacevic said. <br>
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The game should not have been decided on the field-goal attempts, Tiller said. <br>
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``When we turn the ball over as many times as we did, it's hard to pull ourselves out of that hole,'' he said. <br>
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Twice in the first half, the Boilermakers turned the ball over inside Wake Forest's 10-yard line: once on an interception by Kyle Orton, and again on a fumble by Joey Harris, both at the 6. <br>
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``I'm just sick about those turnovers in the red zone,'' Tiller said. ``If there's one thing that gets under my craw more than anything else, it's turning the ball over when you're going into score. That took points off the board.'' <br>
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Wake Forest didn't score off those turnovers, but converted two others into scores. The first came off wide receiver Taylor Stubblefield's fumble late in the second quarter, leading to Barclay's second touchdown of the quarter and a 14-7 lead. <br>
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In the third, Wake Forest got a 41-yard field goal from Matt Wisnosky after running back Montrell Lowe's fumble. <br>
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The Demon Deacons held on to win their first road game in three tries this year. <br>
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``It is so hard to go on the road as many times as we've done,'' Grobe said. ``I think a lot of teams would have folded their tents.'' <br>
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Wake Forest controlled the tempo with its running game, rushing 69 times for 248 yards. Five players ran for over 30 yards, led by 70 from Barclay. <br>
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Barclay was used sporadically in the first three games, carrying the ball only 18 times with no touchdowns. But he got the carries inside Purdue's 20 and had TD runs of 18, 11 and 5 yards. They were the first touchdowns of his career. <br>
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``The holes were there,'' Barclay said. ``The line did an excellent job and I just tried to take advantage.'' <br>
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Wake Forest's James MacPherson was 9-for-12 for 120 yards. <br>
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For Purdue, Orton threw TD passes of 51 and 74 yards to John Standeford and a 13-yarder to Anthony Chambers. Standeford had six catches for a career-high 191 yards - the third straight game he's topped 100 yards. <br>
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Orton went 24-for-43 for 331 yards and an interception, and Harris ran for 119 yards. <br>
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Stubblefield, Purdue's leading receiver last year, returned to the lineup for the first time this season after being cleared to play Friday. After missing three games with a head injury, Stubblefield finished with seven catches for 58 yards. <br>
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The Boilermakers are now 3-1 against the Demon Deacons. Saturday's game was the first between the schools since 1978.