Holy crap, there's a bowl game today...

That also means it's 5 days til Christmas. I should probably start shopping. Anyhoo...

EagleBank Bowl
WAKE FOREST (7-5) vs. NAVY (8-4)
Saturday, 12/20/08, 11am ET - RFK Stadium (I thought they tore this down?), Washington DC
Series record: Wake Forest leads 6-3; Navy won September's meeting 24-17
What may or may not happen: While Wake has had a somewhat disappointing year (given their stellar 2006 an 2007 seasons), they can atone for this year's biggest blunder by gaining a measure of revenge against the Middies. Navy gouged the Deacs for nearly 300 yards on the ground in September while attempting all of 4 passes. Riley Skinner had possibly the worst game of his career, throwing 4 picks. In short, Wake did nothing right that day and still only lost by a touchdown. With two weeks to prepare for a very one-dimensional attack that they've already seen firsthand, the Deacons should be well prepared the stop the Naval assault. Future Sunday stars Aaron Curry and Alphonso Smith will not let their Wake careers end with a second loss to Navy in a single year. Wake Forest 27, Navy 17

Land mines in the end zone?

How else to explain the Demon Deacon aversion to scoring touchdowns in ACC games this season? Getting seven turnovers at FSU three weeks ago and zero touchdowns was, well, curious. Tonight, it's just stupid.

At present, it's Wake 3 - Clemson 0...7:10 in the third quarter.

The Deacons have done a masterful job of driving the ball up and down the field but OC Steve Lobotzke seems to think that his tricky formations and calls work on the two yard line the same as they do on the 50. My five-year old niece knows better. And because of that, a game Wake should be winning 24-0 is just 3-zip.

One busted play and Clemson can win this showdown despite being dominated for 99.998% of the game.

And the Tigers...if this effort holds, Rob Spence absolutely has to get the Tony Franklin treatment tomorrow. But that may be like putting out a kitchen fire after the neighborhood has been nuked.

Wake Forest Preview

2008 Schedule

Aug. 30	@Baylor
Sept. 6	OLE MISS
Sept. 20	@Florida State
Sept. 27	NAVY
Oct. 9	CLEMSON
Oct. 18	@Maryland
Oct. 25	@Miami
Nov. 1	DUKE
Nov. 8	VIRGINIA
Nov. 15	@N.C. State
Nov. 22	BOSTON COLLEGE
Nov. 29	VANDERBILT

2007 Results: 9-4 overall, 5-3 ACC (T-2nd Atlantic Division); beat Connecticut 24-10 in the Meineke Bowl

Offense: QB Riley Skinner and leading rusher Josh Adams are back for another tour, however much of the rest of this unit will sport new faces in the starting lineup for 2008. And that's not necessarily a bad thing; Wake returned just a handful of starters on offense in 2006 and they only went to the Orange Bowl. The most glaring loss from last season is all-everything Kenny Moore, officially classified as a receiver but also saw time at running back and ran approximately 824 successful reverses throughout his Demon Deacon career. The aforementioned Josh Adams is actually the top returning receiver in terms of catches (34), so that should tell you about the general uncertainty of the receiving corps heading into '08. The offensive line returns just two full-time starters, but that may be just as well since last year's OL produced the lowest rushing yards per game and yards per rush of the Grobe Era.

Defense: God help the clunky offenses of the ACC against this group in 2008. Nine starters return from last year's unit, highlighted by the entire linebacking corps and the entire secondary, headlined by CB Alphonso Smith - he of the eight picks in '07, three of which went the other way for TDs. Here's a scary stat....17 of the top 20 tacklers from 2007 are back, including nine of the top 10. The only question mark on what should otherwise be one of the top defenses in the nation is the pesky little change at defensive coordinator. Former DC Dean Hood left to take a 1-AA head coaching gig. The new DC is Brad Lambert, the Deacs' linebackers coach the last seven seasons.

Special Teams: Kicking and punting stalwart Sam Swank returns for his senior season, however return duties will be performed by some new faces in 2008, as punt returner Kenny Moore and KR Kevin Marion are now in the private sector. This unit should be in the upper-tier of the league if Swank regains his sophomore form from 2006, when he was voted the team's MVP.

Coaching: For five seasons (2003-2007), the Demon Deacons had one of the most stable coaching staffs in all of college football, with no changes among the three main positions, and very few changes among the rest of the staff. This season sees two new faces, with Brian Knorr brought in to coach receivers, and Steve Russ to handle tight ends. While that may be a bit rocky for this program, those changes in reality are small potatoes compared to what we've seen around the ACC in the last few years (six head coaching changes since 2006). Regardless, what Jim Grobe has built in Winston-Salem is one of the more remarkable coaching feats of the last 20 years and now that he's spurned bigger and richer suitors the last few seasons, Wake Forest looks to be a program that can hang year in and year out near the top of the league.

Odds & Ends: Of the Demon Deacons' 20 wins over the past two years, only two have been by more than 20 points - a 37-10 romp over UNC last season and the infamous 30-0 beatdown of Florida State in '06.....2007's Meineke Bowl bid marked the first time in school history that Wake earned back-to-back bowl invitations.....the Deacons have beaten Duke by just six total points the last two years (14-13 in 2006, 41-36 in 2007); Duke was 1-23 over those two seasons

Schedule Analysis: Wake is the only ACC program without a 1-AA opponent this season. The Deacs' have two interesting matchups in weeks one and two, facing two BCS-conference doormats in Baylor and Ole Miss, both of whom are breaking in new coaching staffs. The Deacons then get a bye week before travelling to Tallahassee and to the scene of their Seminole Massacre of 2006. The Noles will be in their last week of suspensions from last year's academic scandal and should be very beatable if the Deacons have everything humming along. The Deacs' next ACC contest is a Thursday nighter with Clemson, so by early October they have a chance to own the Atlantic Division or to sit squarely behind the 8-ball. Virginia and Duke are in the rotation from the Coastal Division and Wake plays them back-to-back, at home, in early November; that's as close to having a 14-day breather as any team can get that late in the year. All five road trips are winnable, but none are gimmes, with the trip to FSU looking to be the toughest. Georgia Tech, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech are absent from this year's slate.
Projected Wins: @Baylor, Ole Miss, @Florida State, Navy, @Miami, Duke, Virginia, Vanderbilt
Projected Losses: none
Toss-Ups: Clemson, @Maryland, @N.C. State, Boston College

Primo Demon Deacon Blogs: Old Gold and Blog and that's the only one I know of

Heartwarming You-Tubery:

The one ACC bowl highlight from 2007

Preview Disclaimer

A Very Quick Meineke Bowl Preview

WAKE FOREST (8-4) vs. CONNECTICUT (9-3) - Dec. 29, 2007, 1pm ET (ESPN)
With a win this afternoon, the Demon Deacons will become one of just 12 1-A teams to win 20 games over the last two seasons. The "Weak Forest" moniker can now officially be tossed aside. While this afternoon's matchup in Charlotte certainly doesn't have the pizzazz of last year's Orange Bowl appearance, a victory over the Huskies would likely mean two straight Top 25 finishes for the Deacs.

Look for UConn to take a quick and early lead on a special teams or defensive score, but fail to get into a groove offensively all game. Further, expect Wake to slowly warm up and then explode in the half, as the long layoff and Jim Grobe's flirtation with the Arkansas job a few weeks is bound to have knocked them off kilter a bit. Riley Skinner should be able to pick apart the Huskies' thin secondary.

Wake Forest 24, Connecticut 10

For more alarmingly accurate predictions, check in tomorrow for tonight's winning lotto numbers. I'm that good.

Grobe to Stay at Wake

And there was much rejoicing in Winston-Salem.

Honestly, I don't what Grobe was thinking in even considering the Razorbacks. Hefty raise notwithstanding, the Hawgs have a Nutty (pun intended) fanbase and it's asking too much to expect them to keep pace in the SEC against the likes of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Alabama and Auburn.

Glad you came to your senses, coach.

Lest I Forget...

BOSTON COLLEGE 38 - WAKE FOREST 28
It certainly appears that Jeff Jagodzinski knows what he's doing, and that any apparent college-game rust has an effective cure-all called Matt Ryan. Let the Phillip Rivers comparisons begin (and the ABC guys calling the game wasted no opportunity in doing so), but for the Eagles' sake, let's hope Ryan can have a bit more overall success in the W-L department.

Wake, meanwhile, acquitted themselves nicely, churning out some decent offensive production if we ignore the fact that running the football is a part of most team's gameplans. In a league that is so incredibly quarterback deficient, it's amazing that the Demon Deacons can just plug in anyone on short notice and have him smoothly and cleanly throw the ball around (see: Skinner, Riley; and now Hodges, Justin).

GEORGIA TECH 33 - NOTRE DAME 3
The Pride of the ACC so far, the Yellow Jackets dropped the hammer on the Domers despite a somewhat clunky passing game (11 of 23, 121 yards) from UFC wannabe Taylor Bennett. All that is needed for the Jackets to win the league is for the running game - led by Tashard Choice and the powerful OL - to grind out 175+ yards per game, have Bennett dink-and-dunk and chuck it for 200 yards per contest, and make sure that Jon Tenuta's defense continues to screw with the minds of all those mediocre ACC QBs ("Matty Ice" Ryan aside). Just don't let The Chan get in the way.

MIAMI 31 - MARSHALL 3
You know big-time Hurricane football is back when the Orange Bowl is proudly half-full for a game against a non-Florida State, Virginia Tech, or Florida squad. 39,000+ saw Miami quietly control the game, scoring one touchdown per quarter and picking off Marshall QBs four times. Sure, Kirby Freeman was unimpressive (9 of 21, 86 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT), and he'll probably get abused like a fresh inmate at Oz next Saturday at Oklahoma, but for one week Miami football looks to be back on track.

CLEMSON 24 - FLORIDA STATE 18
Meh. I've rarely seen such a bipolar game as this one, and since the manic/happy side was delivered by FSU in the 2nd half, you can't help but leave this game thinking that the Noles - while still appearing to be a year or two away from prominence - will have a more encouraging future. Like many seasons prior, Clemson started this game HOT HOT HOT and then just sorta deflated in the third and fourth quarters, much like they've done over the second half of many a season under Tommy Bowden.

And for God's sake Tiger fans...act like you've been there before. Charging the field after hanging on against a #19 Florida State squad is almost as pathetic as the Noles' "offensive line" in the first half. FSU hasn't been rushing-the-field-worthy since about 2003.

Wake Forest Preview

2007 Schedule

2006 Results: 11-3 overall, 7-2 ACC (1st Atlantic Division, ACC Champions); lost to Louisville 24-13 in the Orange Bowl

Offense: Nine starters return from Wake's average but highly efficient offense in 2006. QB Riley Skinner returns for his sophomore season firmly entrenched as the starter and carrying ACC Rookie of the Year laurels as well (even though the Deacs had the second-to-last rated passing offense in the league last year). Due to the MASH unit that became the RB position in 2006, Wake had 4 different players start at tailback at various points in the season. All of them (Micah Andrews, DeAngelo Bryant, Travo Woods, and Kenneth Moore) return for 2007. Moore, who had been Wake's leading receiver until he was switched to RB late in the season, switches back to WR this fall. The offensive line returns 4 starters from '06 plus another '05 starter who was 2nd-team last year. These guys won the ACC when their offense was in shambles, personnel-wise. They're loaded now, at least by Demon Deacon standards.

Defense: Here's where the Deacons may slip a notch, and that's not a good sign considering they ranked just 9th in total defense in the ACC in 2006, and 90th nationally. Just one starter from last year returns on the defensive line, and leading tackler and All-ACC LB Jon Abbate inexplicably left school early so that he could go undrafted. The secondary suffers a massive hit (both safeties and the top cornerback have departed). The bright spots are that the three new starters on the DL have some decent game experience, and both OLBs started every game last year. The secondary is the chief concern, especially given the passing proficiency of Wake's first two opponents of the season (Boston College and Nebraska).

Special teams: The Deacs' team MVP last year, kicker and punter Sam Swank, returns with a vengeance. The return game is solid, with Kevin Marion fielding punts and Kenneth Moore handling kickoffs.

Coaching: The Best Little Coaching Staff in America returns for an encore to their masterpiece of 2006. What Jim Grobe, OC Steed Lobotzke and DC Dean Hood turned in last year was a small miracle. The devastating injuries on both sides of the ball forced constant shuffling of personnel and gameplans, and while the Deacs bent quite a lot last year, but never broke. The coaches' focus on limiting mistakes and forcing errors on opponents worked out extremely - almost divinely - well. The entire staff returns this season, but it's a whole new world for these guys now.

For What It's Worth: Wake's much ballyhooed +13 turnover margin last year largely came from three games: +3 @UNC, +4 @FSU, +2 vs. Ga Tech, none of which were home games I might add....and speaking of turnovers, the Deacs are the only program in the nation to commit 20 or less turnovers each season for the last five years....Wake's overall record in Jim Grobe's six seasons: 37-35; Wake's record the six seasons pre-Grobe: 21-46....From the "What Was The Purpose Of This?" Department: on Nov. 27, 1982, the Demon Deacons lost to Clemson 21-17 in front of 80,000 spectators in Tokyo

Schedule Analysis: Things couldn't be laid out more perfectly for the Deacons in their run to repeat as ACC champs (and you have no idea how surreal it feels to have typed that last sentence). The mysterious Wake booster in possession of ruinous photos of the Director in Charge of Football Scheduling is an extortionist extraordinaire; Virginia Tech, Miami and Georgia Tech are nowhere to be found on this year's slate. Aside from the first two weeks (@Boston College and a home date with Nebraska), the schedule is nicely spaced out...only once after weeks one and two do the Demon Deacons face '06 bowl teams in back-to-back weeks (Oct. 11 against FSU in Winston-Salem, and then Oct. 20 @Navy).
Projected Wins- Army, Maryland, @Duke, North Carolina, NC State, @Vanderbilt
Projected Losses- Florida State, @Clemson
Toss-Ups- @Boston College, Nebraska, @Navy, @Virginia

For More Opinionated, Yet Delightful, Demon Deacon Insight: Statistically Speaking (and this is a stretch)

Blast-From-The-Past, Feel-Good YouTube:

This is not your father's Wake Forest

Preview Disclaimer

Wake Forest-Georgia Tech Equivalent

Before nearly dropping dead today of heat exhaustion while mowing my lawn with the lamest mower in the history of grass (advisory: do not ever buy this piece of suck), I was thinking of how disappointing the 2006 ACC Championship Game was, and what little interest and buzz there was surrounding it.

My quickly melting brain then pondered....What would be the equivalent matchup in an SEC or Big 12 title game? A historical doormat vs. a traditionally good - but not consistently great - program? I thought of a few, but some of those still don't seem to equate, for two reasons: 1) while Wake Forest has been a traditional doormat, they've at least had a competitive pulse for much of the last 10 years, and there's another complete and total patsy in the conference (that would be Duke); 2) while Georgia Tech has an excellent football tradition, and has won a national title more recently than Auburn, Georgia, Penn State, and Notre Dame, they simply don't have the sex appeal, national following - and most importantly, rabid alumni base - that those powers have.

So, rather than let that thought melt away in the 97-degree Florida summer heat, I figured I'd still try to posit a few somewhat reasonable comparisons....mainly because I need to see this thought all the way through, and I really need to start posting more entries in this here blog.

SEC Equivalents
Vanderbilt vs. Ole Miss
Vanderbilt vs. Arkansas
Kentucky vs. Ole Miss
Kentucky vs. Arkansas

Georgia Tech really has no equivalent in the SEC East...Florida, Georgia and Tennessee have much larger followings and have been better programs over the last few decades. South Carolina has a better statewide following but comically less tradition, and Kentucky and Vanderbilt are, well, Kentucky and Vanderbilt. They have two general equivalents in the SEC West in Arkansas and Ole Miss, although it's fair to say that the Jackets have been better over the last decade or so than the Hogs or Rebels. Tech is not equivalent to Alabama, Auburn or LSU for obvious reasons, and is obviously better and more highly regarded than Mississippi State.

Wake Forest has two general equivalents in the SEC East in Vandy and Kentucky, although Kentucky has about eight times the enrollment and exponentially more alumni and following than the Deacs. Wake has one real equivalent in the the SEC West in Mississippi State, but again lacks the local appeal, but not necessarily the national appeal, of the Cowbell Nation.

Big 12 Equivalents
Baylor vs. Colorado
Baylor vs. Kansas State
Iowa State vs. Texas A&M

Big 12 North equivalent to Wake: Iowa State, purely based on winning percentage, certainly not local following. Big 12 South equivalent to Wake: Baylor...although Wake has been much, much better on the field the last several years, the type of school is as close to Wake as any other in any major conference.

Big 12 North equivalent to GT: Kansas State and Colorado (the Jackets' co-national champ in '90), and that's based only on the last 15-20 years. Nebraska has clearly been stronger historically, while Iowa State, Kansas and Missouri have been worse and less regarded than the Ramblin' Wreck. Big 12 South equivalent to GT: Texas A&M....again, not perfect, but close. A&M is still a bigger name nationally, but the Jackets have been better recently and have a similarly regarded history. Oklahoma and Texas are obviously better, while Texas Tech, Oklahoma State and Baylor are worse to varying degrees.

Ehhhhhh. Maybe this wasn't such a great topic after all. Wake is too small a school in comparison to, well, nearly all 119 1-A programs, and Tech, while winning the national title in 1990, has been stuck in just-barely-sub-Top 25, Dec. 28-ish bowl status for the entire Dubya Bush administration.

That said, bashing the 2006 ACC Championship Game is perfectly fair, especially when you consider how poor a game it turned out to be. I'd sure as hell eviscerate a 9-6 snoozer between Kansas State and Baylor in a half-empty stadium in St. Louis, wouldn't you?


This SEC Championship Game, sponsored by Lame-O

Orange Bowl Preview

ORANGE BOWL - Jan. 2, 2007 - Dolphin Stadium, Miami, FL
Wake Forest (11-2) vs Louisville (11-1)
Wake Forest - the best major conference Cinderella story since Northwestern's Rose Bowl run in 1995 - gets a chance to surpass those Wildcats in college football lore when they face 11-1 Lousiville in the Orange Bowl. Northwestern '95 lost that Rose Bowl to Keyshawn Johnson's USC Trojans 41-32, in a game that wasn't as close as the score indicates. And, should Wake win on Tuesday night, that accomplishment will be even more impressive, since Louisville '06 is a helluva lot better than USC '95.

Unfortunately for the Demon Deacons, the Cardinals are by far the best team they will have faced this season. In fact, Louisville is probably the 3rd or 4th best team in the nation, depending on what we see in the BCS Championship Game next week. Wake appears to be overmatched at basically every position in terms of talent and speed, and while Jim Grobe has deservedly hauled in many a coach of the year honor, the Cards' Bobby Petrino has quitely turned in one of the top 5 best coaching jobs this year. Lest we forget, the 'Ville's lone loss was that Thursday Night upset at Rutgers on a last second field goal. Their domination of bowl winners West Virginia (44-34), Kentucky (59-28), Miami (31-7), and South Florida (31-8) is ample evidence of how damn good they are.

The one speck of hope for Wake is that their strongest suit defensively - forcing the turnover - is helped by the fact that the Cardinals are merely average at holding onto the ball (51st in turnover margin). Nonetheless, the clock will strike midnight for the Deacs. But nothing can take away from the fact that Wake Freaking Forest Is In The Orange Bowl. We'll still be talking about that 30 years from now.

Louisville 33, Wake Forest 17

Wake Forest: ACC Football Champions

Now there's a headline I never thought I'd see in my lifetime.

Congrats to the Demon Deacons, and especially to Jim Grobe. He committed himself totally to the Wake football program, and the university in turn committed to him. Wake found themselves a gem of a coach, and I wouldn't be surprised to see these Deacons back in another ACC Championship Game very soon.

Now go out and win the Orange Bowl.


In case you've just snapped out of a long coma--yes, this post and photo are genuine. Seriously. None of that photoshop nonsense here.