Wake Forest Athletics
Football Prepares For Regular-Season Finale Versus Maryland
11/25/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 25, 2002
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WFU FOOTBALL NEWS & NOTES
Game #12
Saturday, Nov. 30
Wake Forest (6-5, 3-4 ACC) vs. #25/23 Maryland (9-3, 5-2 ACC)
Byrd Stadium (50,681)/College Park, MD
Kickoff: 12:05 pm
Television: Broadcast nationally by ESPN. Mark Jones will call the action, with Bob Davie serving as analyst and Holly Rowe on the sidelines.
Radio: Broadcast by the Wake Forest ISP Sports Network, heard on 20 stations across North Carolina and in Virginia. Full station listing is on page five of this package. Voice of the Deacons Stan Cotten calls the play-by-play with former Deacon great Ed Bradley serving as color analyst.
On the Web: The radio broadcast can be heard live over the internet via WFU??s athletics homepage: www.WakeForestSports.com.
Records: Wake Forest became bowl eligible last week with a 30-27 win over Navy, lifting its record to 6-5. The Deacs are 3-4 in the ACC. Maryland fell to 9-3 (5-2 ACC) and halted an eight-game win streak with a 48-13 loss at Virginia last weekend.
The Series: Saturday??s game marks the 51st meeting between Maryland and Wake Forest, with the Terps leading the series 36-13-1. Maryland has won three straight.
Rankings: Wake Forest is not ranked. Maryland dropped a few spots but remained in the polls, falling to 23rd (AP)/25th ESPN/USA Today.
The Coaches: Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe is in his second season in Winston-Salem, posting a 12-10 record with the Deacs. In his eighth season as a head coach, Grobe??s overall career record stands at 45-43-1.Maryland??s Ralph Friedgen is 19-5 in his second season as a head coach, all with the Terps.
Tickets: Contact the Terrapin Ticket Office at 800-462-TERP.
WFU Wraps Up Regular Season at Maryland
The Wake Forest football team hits the road for its final game of the regular season, traveling to Maryland for a key ACC matchup on Saturday, Nov. 30. Kickoff is set 12 noon at Byrd Stadium with a national ESPN broadcast.
The matchup with the Terps is important for the Demon Deacons?? bowl hopes. Wake Forest became bowl eligible by notching its sixth victory -- for the second time in as many seasons -- with a 30-27 win over Navy last week. However, a seventh victory would put Wake in a much better position to earn a bowl bid and would give the Deacs its third winning season in the last four years.
That sixth victory was not at easy to come by as many expected. Navy, 1-9, entering the WFU game, rolled up 444 yards of offense, using an option attack that wreaked havoc with the Deacon defense all day long. The Midshipmen took a 27-23 lead with just under four minutes remaining. Wake then got some last minute heroics from its offense, which put together a 10-play, 62-yard capped off by a five-yard touchdown run from Fabian Davis with 53 seconds left on the clock.
Maryland, after starting the season 1-2, put together an eight-game win streak that was halted last week with a 48-13 loss at Virginia. The Terrapins are currently third in the ACC standings with a 9-3 (5-2) record.
A Lot on the Line
Wake Forest will try to post its second straight winning season -- and third in the last four years -- at Maryland on Saturday. Wake has not posted consecutive winning seasons since the 1987-88 campaigns. The Deacs are already assured of at least a .500 record this year after posting its sixth victory against Navy last weekend.
The seventh victory would also put Wake Forest in a much better position for a post-season bowl berth. Wake Forest became the seventh ACC team to become bowl eligible last week, but a loss to the Terps would finish Wake??s season with a 3-5 ACC mark. The other qualifying teams all have conference records of 4-4 or better. It is a familiar position for the Deacs, who had a 6-5 record last season but finished with a 3-5 ACC record and did not receive a bowl bid.
Bouncing Back
Wake Forest was able to keep a notable streak alive with its win against Navy last week.
Following their previous eight losses, (dating back to last season) the Demon Deacons have bounced back to win the very next game.
Four of those seven rebound victories have come on the road, including 2002 wins over Purdue and Georgia Tech.
Head Coach Jim Grobe
Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe is in his second season with the Demon Deacons and eighth overall season as a head coach with a 45-43-1 career record. Grobe led the Deacs to a bowl-eligible 6-5 ledger in 2001, becoming just the eighth coach in WFU history to post a winning record in his first season at the helm. His career record at WFU now stands at 12-10.
Grobe came to Winston-Salem from Ohio University, where in six years he resurrected a program that had previously been considered one of the worst in Division I football. Inheriting a team that was winless the previous season, Grobe turned the Bobcats into perennial conference contenders in the MAC and posted a 33-33-1 record during his tenure.
Prior to Ohio, Grobe served as an assistant coach at the Air Force Academy for 11 years under legendary coach Fisher DeBerry. The Falcons produced a record of 84-50 and went to seven bowl games during Grobe??s tenure. He also served as an assistant coach at Marshall (1979-83) after beginning his college coaching career at Emory & Henry.
After beginning his collegiate career at Ferrum Junior College, Grobe went on to the University of Virginia, starting two seasons for the Cavaliers and earning Academic All-ACC honors. He earned both a bachelor??s and master??s degree from Virginia.
Injury Report
The Deacon linebacking corps enters the Maryland game somewhat depleted. Senior OLB Jamie Scott is questionable this week after suffering an injury in the Florida State game. He did not see action against Navy. Juniors Dion Williams and Jamaal Argrow both exited the Navy game with injuries, and Williams is doubtful while Argrow is questionable for this weekend.
Cornerback Daryl Shaw left the Navy game with an minor injury and is probable for action against the Terps.
Scouting the Terrapins
Maryland comes into this weekend??s game at 9-3, having only lost to Notre Dame, Florida State and Virginia. The Virginia loss (48-13) last weekend was the Terps?? first loss since September 14 when they lost to then-ranked No. 5 Florida State.
Maryland was shut out by Notre Dame on the road 22-0 in their first game of the season, but since then, it has only scored less than 30 points three times. Maryland??s smallest margin of victory (3) came against nationally-ranked NC State while they maintain a 29-point average margin of victory.
So far this season Maryland has outscored their opponents 389 to 211 while scoring nearly a third of their points (128) in the second quarter. The Terrapins have scored over double the number of touchdowns their opponents have (48:23).
Much of the Terrapin offense comes from junior quarterback Scott McBrien, throwing for 175.1 yards per game and is currently ranked 14th in the nation for passing efficiency (140.70). The Terps have scored 13 touchdowns off of passes thrown by McBrien, who ranks third in the ACC in total offense (192.3 ypg). Senior running back Chris Downs ranks third in the ACC in rushing (86.2 yards per game) and has scored 13 of the team??s touchdowns.
On the defensive side, senior linebacker E.J. Henderson, a 2001 All-America, leads the Terps in tackles (144) and TFL (13.5). Sophomore cornerback Dominique Foxworth leads the team in interceptions (5).
Maryland owns a very good special teams unit, as punter Brooks Barnard ranks 21st nationally in punting average (42.4) and placekicker Nick Novak is 13th nationally with 1.5 field goals a game and an ACC-leading 81.8 FG percentage. Return man Steve Suter has already tied an NCAA record with four punt returns for touchdowns this season.
The Series With Maryland
* The first meeting between the two schools was in 1917 -- Wake Forest lost 13-29 at Maryland. Since 1954, the two teams have met every year as conference rivals.
* Maryland leads the series 36-13-1 overall and has won the past three meetings. The last Wake Forest win against Maryland came October 9, 1999 in College Park (20-10).
* The Deacons have managed just seven wins at Maryland, with the Terps owning a 17-7 record in games at Byrd Stadium.
* The worst loss to the Terps came in 1996 when Wake Forest was shut out 52-0.
* The longest winning streak for Maryland has been seven games (1972-1978). Wake??s longest such streak is two games, three times.
* Twice the Deacons have lost to Maryland by one point. In 1960 they lost at home 13-14 and in 1980 the Deacs lost 10-11 at Byrd Stadium.
WFU-Maryland Connections
* In all, seven Deacons hail from Maryland -- John Finklea (Wheaton), Blake Henry (Towson), Eric King (Woodstock), Tilghman Morton (Baltimore), Jerome Nichols (Glenn Dale), Napoleon Sykes (Woodstock) and Joe Salsich (Annapolis).
* Both head coaches -- Wake Forest??s Jim Grobe (Virginia) and Maryland??s Ralph Friedgen (Maryland) -- played college ball in the ACC.
* Maryland assistant coach Ray Rychleski was previously an assistant at Wake Forest from 1993-2000.
* Maryland defensive coordinator Gary Blackney was the head coach at Bowling Green from 1991-2000, which means he is very familiar with Grobe and his staff. Grobe, of course, was the head coach at Ohio University from 1995-2000. Grobe went 4-2 against Blackney??s Falcons during that time.
* Blackney was a graduate assistant at Connecticut in 1968 and 1969. At that time, current WFU baseball coach George Greer was an undergraduate at UConn.
* Maryland has two players on its roster from North Carolina, including redshirt freshman Russell Bonham of Winston-Salem. Bonham played at Carver High School.
* Wake??s Montique Sharpe and Maryland??s James Lynch and Marcus Wimbush all attended Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C.
Pace Just One Sack Shy Of McCrary??s Career Record
Senior defensive end Calvin Pace needs just one sack to tie Wake Forest??s all-time record-holder, Michael McCrary, who had 30 sacks from 1989-92.
Pace recorded his 28th and 29th career sacks against North Carolina on Oct. 26. He has eight sacks on the season, which ranks tied for seventh in Wake history for single-season sacks.
On Oct. 12 against Duke, Pace became WFU??s career leader in tackles for loss. Pace tallied six TFLs against the Blue Devils to jump from third to first on the all-time list with 48 in his career. He passed the previous record holder, McCrary, whose 46 career tackles for loss stood as Wake??s standard for 10 seasons. Pace now has 53 career tackles-for-loss.
Pace has 21 tackles-for-loss this season, which ties as the second-best single-season TFLs in school history. The school record is 24, set by McCrary in 1992.
What makes Pace??s numbers even more impressive this season is that the Deacs employ a three-man front on defense, limiting the opportunities to rush the passer.
Pace is second on the team with 72 total tackles so far this season. He also leads the league in TFL per game and ranks seventh in sacks.
Davis Nears Century Mark
Senior wide receiver Fabian Davis owns 98 career receptions, needing just two more catches to reach the century mark in that category. He would become just the 17th player in Wake Forest history to reach that milestone, and first since Jammie Deese tallied 184 catches from 1996-99.
Davis?? 98 receptions have resulted in 1,530 yards. He needs 122 more yards to crack Wake??s top 10 list in career receiving yards. His career reception average of 15.6 yards per catch ranks fifth all-time at Wake Forest, just behind current St. Louis Ram Ricky Proehl??s collegiate career average of 15.7
Close Games Becoming a Trademark
The close score may surprised some people in Wake??s 30-27 win over Navy, but those who follow the program know that down-to-the-wire outcomes are typical of Demon Deacon football since Jim Grobe took the reins in 2001.
Over the last two seasons, the Deacs have gained a reputation for playing games that go down to the wire. Since the start of last seasons, 15 of 22 games have been decided by a touchdown or less, including 13 of the last 18. Eight of those games were decided by three points or less.
Also included in that statistic is an ACC-record nine consecutive games decided by seven points or less. That streak stretched from last year??s NC State game (Oct. 6, 2001) to the East Carolina game this season (Sept. 7, 2002). Over that stretch, Wake Forest posted a 5-4 record in games that were collectively decided by 36 points (an average of 4.0 per game).
Bookending the streak were losses to two nationally-ranked teams -- No. 15 Florida State (48-24) on Sept. 29, 2001 and the Sept. 14, 2002 loss to No. 19 NC State (32-13).
Although the final score was more than a seven-point margin, Wake Forest??s game at Clemson this year was not decided until the final drive. And the Wake-FSU meeting was a six-point game with less than two minutes remaining.
Despite all these close games, only one has had to be decided in overtime. Wake Forest played just its second-ever overtime game at Northern Illinois in the 2002 season opener, losing 42-41. The first overtime game in school history was a 30-27 loss to Appalachian State at home in 1998.
Quick Tidbits
* The last three schools where Jim Grobe has served as a coach are all currently ranked among the nation??s top 10 team in rushing offense. Air Force ranks first (314.5 ypg), Ohio is eighth (244.4) and Wake Forest is ninth (243.7).
* Among current ACC players, Tarence Williams ranks first in the league in career 100-yard rushing games (11) and career rushing yards (2,420). FSU??s Greg Jones is second in both categories.
* Middle linebacker Brad White totaled 24 tackles against Navy, just five short of the school record of 29, set by Ed Stetz in 1971. It was also the most by a Demon Deacon in a game since Ernie Purnsley tied Stetz??s record at Army on Oct. 3, 1987.
Coming Up Next
Already bowl eligible for the second time in two seasons, the Wake Forest football team will conclude the 2002 campaign at Maryland and will await word on a possible bowl berth.
