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The ball was in Xavier Moss' hands. He's a free safety now, but in his first two seasons at Army he was a wide receiver, and this was the kind of ball he used to pluck from the air with nary a problem nor thought. The ball was in his hands, at which time he could have run the 60 or so yards or so that would have given the Black Knights' a last-second victory over Wake Forest. He could have run backwards upon making the interception and no one could have caught him. The ball was in his hands. Until it wasn't.

Sure he had it, Army coach Jeff Monken said. It was right in his hands. For whatever reason he didn't look it all the way into his hands and into the tuck.

So the ball remained in possession of the Demon Deacons. Four seconds remained in the game. Mike Weaver, Wake's placekicker, had hit three of five field goals this season, the longest a 32-yarder. This one was from 47. It cleared with room to spare. And Army had suffered its third defeat in as many games, 17-14, at Michie Stadium. A winning kick for Wake Forest. A kick in the gut for Army.

Its devastating, Army linebacker Jeremy Timpf said, but it's promising at the same time. Obviously we're a little upset, but we've seen some great things from the defense and I think we're getting better. I'm excited to see where we're headed.

If there was any optimism following the Black Knights' razor-thin loss, it was hard to find. Army's three losses have been by a total of 10 points. No consolation.

It was a somewhat bizarre game in many fashions. John Wolford, the Demon Deacons' quarterback, had passed for almost 700 yards in his team's first two games, but just 67 seconds into the game he was helped off the field with an ankle injury. He was replaced by freshman Kendall Hinton. Wolford reentered the game on his team's second possession, but could play no longer than the third time Wake had the ball. The game was Hinton's to win or lose. And in the first half, he did nothing to indicate that winning was viable.

We knew they were a huge passing team coming into this game, Timpf said. Once their quarterback went out their offense changed a little bit. I thought we played really well, it was just a few plays here and there.

Army took a 7-0 lead after starting from its own 45, thanks to a Timpf interception. After two short runs, Army quarterback Ahmad Bradshaw hit a leaping DeAndre Bell for 31 yards, bringing the ball to the Wake 19-yard line. Bradshaw finally scored on a 4-yard run to give Army a 7-0 lead with just over 10 minutes left in the first half. The Black Knights held that lead at halftime.

The second time they had the ball in the third quarter, the Click here for more. Demon Deacons tied the game, thanks mostly to a 51-yard Hinton pass to KJ. Brent. That brought the ball to the Army 15. On the very next play, Hinton took it in for the tying touchdown.

The next time it had the ball Wake took the lead, and it had some help. Hinton started the rally with a 6-yard run, but another 15 yards was tacked on when Andrew King was penalized 15 yards for a late hit. That gave Wake the ball at midfield. Another big play, this time a 21-yard completion to Cortez Lewis, brought the ball to the Army 20. Five plays later, Hinton scored the second of his two touchdowns on a 7-yard run.

I thought Kendall did great, said Wake Forest tight end Cam Serigne, who caught five passes for 50 yards. We'll see how things go. I have faith in both of them no matter what happens. It's not that different from when John is in there. They're both great passers that can also move, so look at them as very similar quarterbacks. Both are very smart kids and I feel comfortable with both of them.

Army's offense continued to sputter, including a missed 33-yard field goal by Dan Grochowski, but the defense again kicked in, In his first-ever start, Brandon Jackson made the second of his two interceptions, running the ball back 43 yards until he was pushed out of bounds at the Wake Forest 9. Freshman running back Christian Drake scored on the next play to tie the game.

Wake Forest, 2-1, got the ball for the last time with 2:35 remaining. An Alex Tardieu punt buried the Demon Deacons at their own 7, and when Isaiah Robinson lost a yard on their first play, Army called time out on the supposition it would get the ball back.

I remained confident that our defense was going to stop them and particularly when we got them in long-yardage situations, Monken said. I thought if we stopped them to get to fourth down they would punt to us. I thought we could get the ball back and that would give us a chance to drive the ball down the field and all we needed was a field goal, so I just felt like we needed to do that to give ourselves a chance to win in regulation.

A Hinton run for two yards left Wake with a third and nine, and Hinton, looking to pass, instead took off and picked up 13 yards and a first down.

After an incompletion, Hinton, on back-to-back plays, hit Robinson for a 22-yard gain and Serigne for 17, putting the ball in Army territory, at the 46. Hinton was then hit in the backfield for a 4-yard loss; on the next play he was flushed again, and again made the most of it, picking up seven yards. Another 8-yard gain put the ball at the Army 29. Hinton then spiked the ball. Nine seconds remained. Looking to make Weaver's job a little easier, Hinton then went to the sidelines attempting a short gainer. Instead, he found Moss.

Before the game our defensive coaches throw the ball at the defensive backs and they work on going up to get the ball, Monken said. I am standing right over there saying 'Nose it to the tuck,' and when they don't do it I toss another ball at them and I want to see them nose it to the tuck and [Moss] being a former wide receiver he heard it enough last year. There was a lot of green grass and he thought he was going to take it to the house and it was over at that point if he picked that ball off, but he just didn't look it in. It is a missed opportunity.

Not so for Weaver.

The wind was actually blowing pretty hard in my face, he said. I wasn't worried about that when I went out there. The low snap registered with me when I was out there, but I have complete faith in my holder, Alexander Kinal. I knew he was going to get it down. In the last three minutes of the game I knew I had to start warming up because I knew it might come down to that again.

As Weaver took the field with four seconds remaining Clawson was conspicuously absent.

I didn't say anything, he said. You leave those guys alone. I just said 'field goal' and he goes out there. Two years in a row he's been really good for us and that was a 47-yard shot into a pretty stiff wind with a bad snap. Alex did a wonderful job on the hold.

One dropped interception. One made field goal. That's the way it works sometimes.