Gold Rush: Seattle Bowl
12/19/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 19, 2002
By Sam Walker
Second chances are few and far between when it comes to competing for college bowl game bids. For that very reason, Wake Forest's bid to play Oregon in the Seattle Bowl is an especially marked event. The Deacons, aided by Georgia Tech's decision to play in the Silicon Valley Bowl and Washington State's victory over UCLA, were extended an invitation to play in the Seattle Bowl on Dec. 30. The game will be broadcast on ESPN at 5 p.m. and is one of only two bowl games played that day.
ACC Commissioner John Swofford and Wake Forest Athletics Director Ron Wellman lobbied for the Deacons, who in two years under coach Jim Grobe have finished in a bowl-eligible status at 6-5 last year and 6-6 overall this season. Last season, Wake Forest was not extended a bowl game invitation, and after a disappointing showing at Maryland in the final regular season home game, it looked improbable the Deacons would receive one this year. With Georgia Tech wanting to play at a different bowl venue (the Yellow Jackets played in the Seattle Bowl last year) and Washington State's victory creating two BCS bowl berths for the Pacific 10, a slot opened up for Wake Forest.
"It's a great opportunity," Grobe said. "I don't think our guys felt good after the Maryland game. I didn't feel like we played our best football. I think we get our chance at redemption, and I think our seniors are very deserving; our football team is very deserving. It's going to be fun to get an extra game.
"We really didn't know (if a bid would be extended). There are more opportunities this year.
We knew that those opportunities existed. Last year almost was a done deal. We didn't feel good about our opportunity last season. This year there was more hope, and we were keeping our fingers crossed and watching all those games down the stretch."
Grobe especially did not want his team to work for bowl eligibility, earn it two straight seasons and then not receive any invitations. So when the news came, Wellman drove to Grobe's house personally at 11 p.m. Dec. 7 to announce the details.
The Seattle Bowl is just the sixth postseason appearance in Wake Forest history, but oddly enough, Oregon and Wake Forest already have a bowl history. The Deacons defeated Oregon 39-35 at the 1992 Independence Bowl. Wake played in the 1999 Jeep Aloha Bowl (defeating Arizona State, 23-3), the 1979 Tangerine Bowl (losing to LSU, 34-10), the 1949 Dixie Bowl (losing to Baylor, 20-7), and the 1946 Gator Bowl (defeating South Carolina, 26-14). Wake Forest is 3-2 all-time in bowl games.
"I'm excited, especially because it's my fifth year and I get to go to two bowl games," said senior receiver Fabian Davis, who was part of the 1999 Aloha Bowl team. "I'm very excited about going to Seattle. It was a nitpicking thing down to the last wire, but it came out good for us, and I'm ready to go. Even practice is going to be special. It's going to be my last weeks of practice before my last game. That game is a late game where a lot of people will get to watch."
What Grobe and his team hopes people will see when they watch is the Wake Forest team that earned two victories over bowl-bound teams and played almost every game down to the wire. The Deacons were decimated by injuries, which greatly added to their demise at Maryland. But Wake Forest should be much healthier by Seattle Bowl time.
"I was a little surprised by the news," senior linebacker Kellen Brantley said. "I didn't think we would get in. Everybody on the team was checking all the Web sites the past few weeks trying to see where we could go, and it was looking like we would not get a break. I thought 'here we go again.' It's a credit not only to our team, but to our athletic director and the ACC as well.
"I'm excited to play one more game, it's a good chance to play with the seniors one more time, the team in general," said senior defensive end Calvin Pace, who did not play in the Maryland game because of a broken bone in his leg. "I really felt deep down that we had a chance to go to a bowl game, but the odds were against us. We lucked out, and we made it. Honestly, I don't care (that we have to practice). I want to practice again because I haven't done anything in two weeks. We just have to get the rust off us and go play one more time. I would go anywhere. You could send us to Alaska for all I'd care. I just want to play one more game."
The Seattle Bowl also will mark the first bowl game for a Jim Grobe team. In six seasons at Ohio University, Grobe's Bobcats won six or more games three times but failed to receive a bowl invitation.
The Seattle Bowl is a second chance for a Wake Forest football program still experiencing growing pains. Yet, what Grobe has possibly best been able to do is change attitudes and motivate players to make the most of their opportunities. Grobe has said that teams are known for their last performance, and he didn't want the bad taste produced by the Maryland game to be the final showing for the 2002 edition of the Deacons.
"I think the motivating factor for us right now is the Maryland game," Grobe said. "Our guys were disappointed. We were embarrassed at halftime, we didn't feel good at all about our performance. We came out and played better in the second half, made it a game and had a chance down the stretch. Our guys certainly did not want to end the season on the Maryland game, so I think that's motivation in itself. I think our motivation is to go out and win.
"We had some great wins and we had some very close defeats. I think the best thing about this football team is that they're pretty resilient. They bounce back pretty well. We persevere through some tough times. We've had some guys banged up throughout the course of the season. I think the great thing about this football team is that these guys like to play football, and when we did get knocked off our feet a little bit, we bounced right back."
Following the end of exams, the Deacons were running and lifting weights through Dec. 12. They were then off until Dec. 17 and will then resume full practices for their match-up with Oregon on Dec. 18. Wake Forest will depart for Seattle on Dec. 23 or 24.