WINSTON-SALEM There seems to be something in the air above BB&T Field that turns the Duke Blue Devils into a great-looking but hard-luck football team.

Wake Forest pulled out a 33-30 victory thanks to Shane Popham's 28-yard field goal in overtime to beat the Blue Devils in a seesaw ACC battle on Saturday.

Duke again saw its chance to close out the game in regulation fade with a last-second missed field goal, just like it did in 2006 in the same stadium.

Duke lost here in 2006 when the Demon Deacons blocked Joe Surgan's potential game-winning field goal at the end of the game.

This time Duke sophomore Nick Maggio missed from 41 yards out with two seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime.

Popham, filling in for injured star Sam Swank, nailed three field goals, the last to give the Demon Deacons its final lead.

Duke then had its shot at the end zone from the Wake Forest 25.

Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis said he saw Eron Riley, the other end of Duke's best quarterback-receiver scoring combination, streaking to the end zone wide open and was thinking, “touchdown.”

But Lewis, who completed 18 of 26 passes for 229 yards, two touchdowns, underthrew the ball and Wake Forest senior defensive back Alphonso Smith picked it off near the end zone.

It was Smith's second pick of the game and the 19th of his career, tops in Wake Forest history. Smith needs two to pass North Carolina's Dre' Bly for first place in ACC history.

Two years ago, Duke's loss to the Demon Deacons foreshadowed more heartache for the Devils during a winless season.

Duke has lost 18 straight ACC road games, but Duke coach David Cutcliffe insists the Devils (4-4, 1-3 ACC) don't want to ignore the pain.

“We felt like we were going to win the game and we did everything it took to win the game,” Cutcliffe said. “You could sense it on the sideline that we thought we were going to win the game. … Like I told them after, I'd rather be in the arena dealing with this frustration rather than not feeling this emotion.”

The teams traded mistakes and great plays in a wild second half that saw the lead change nearly every possession in the fourth.

Duke, which also fumbled the ball away twice on special teams, had earned a shot to win at the end of regulation after coming back from a 19-7 deficit in the final 23 minutes.

Duke led 23-22 after Maggio hit a 20-yard field goal with 12:23 left, but Wake came screaming back to take a 30-23 lead with10:16 left.

Wake's D.J. Boldin scored from 21 yards out then caught a two- yard pass from quarterback Riley Skinner for the two-point conversion.

Duke's defense had been saving the Devils all day long but Duke's special teams gave Wake Forest great field position when Donovan Varner fumbled a punt return and Wake Forest's Greg Bechtel recovered at the Duke 33 to set up the Boldin touchdown and conversion.

But Duke came back and tied the score at 30 when Lewis found running back Clifford Harris for their second touchdown hookup of the game, this one from 20 yards out with 6:48 left in the game.

Wake Forest came into the game struggling to score points but left with enough to win and 344 yards of offense. Duke gained 376 total.

“It was probably the best offense we've faced this entire year, numbers wise and how tough they are,” said Smith of Wake Forest. “We are fortunate and happy to come out on the winning side.”

The missed field goal at the end of regulation looked too familiar but Lewis dismissed that.

“In that situation you want to win in regulation and break their hearts so they can't do nothing about it,” Lewis said. “But it's OK. That's why we play. Going into OT … they had to beat us. We weren't going to give it to them.”