ATLANTA --- Josh Nesbitt had already fumbled on one fourth-down play, gotten tripped up on another. He'd also been stuffed trying to run for a first down, and had yet another all-or-nothing play ruined by a dropped pass.

Yet there he was in overtime, standing on the sideline with coach Paul Johnson, insisting he could get the 18 inches or so Georgia Tech needed to keep alive its Atlantic Coast Conference title hopes.

"Are you sure?" Johnson asked his quarterback.

"Yeah," Nesbitt replied. "No doubt."

He was true to his word. No. 10 Georgia Tech pulled off a gutsy play on fourth down after failing four times during regulation, and Nesbitt ended it with a 3-yard touchdown run that pushed the Yellow Jackets to the cusp of the ACC Championship game with a 30-27 victory over Wake Forest on Saturday.

Jonathan Dwyer rushed for a career-best 189 yards and went over 1,000 yards for the season, but it was Nesbitt and the guys on the defensive side who bailed out the Yellow Jackets at the end.

After stifling Wake Forest on the first possession of OT, forcing a field goal, Georgia Tech drove to the 5 where it faced fourth-and-less-than-a-yard. The Yellow Jackets initially tried to draw Wake offsides, but was forced to burn a timeout when that didn't work.

Instead of sending Scott Blair in for a chip-shot field goal, Johnson decided to go for the win. If Johnson had any thoughts of kicking a field goal, Nesbitt persuaded him for one more chance.

"I could see the defense they were in," the quarterback said. "I just knew in my heart I could get it."

Nesbitt lowered his head and powered up the middle for a 2-yard gain. He scored on the next play, bouncing off the right tackle to go in standing before he flipped the ball high in the air and raised both arms in triumph. The entire team poured onto the field to celebrate underneath the goal posts.

"I felt like there was a monkey off my back," Nesbitt said. "Nothing was going right for me the whole game. To get that run and score to end the game just felt great."

Georgia Tech hasn't won an outright conference championship since 1990, the year they shared the national championship with Colorado.

"I play to win," Johnson said. "The kids work hard and put in a lot of time and effort. If we can't make an inch there, we don't deserve to win the game."

It was another excruciating loss for Wake, which must win their final two games to become eligible for its fourth consecutive bowl trip. Five of their defeats have come by a total of 13 points, two of them going to overtime.

"It's frustrating," said Riley Skinner, who passed for two touchdowns. "We are right there in every game. We're just not finishing it."