Wake Forest Athletics
100% COTTEN - PIE IN THE SKY
10/24/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 24, 2004
by Stan Cotten
PIE IN THE SKY
There's a black and white photograph up on the wall of a local Winston-Salem eatery that catches my attention every time I see it. I last saw it the day before the Wake Forest-Florida State football game - and it got me to thinking.
The picture is of a portly young lad of about eight years old and his dog of similar build. They are standing side by side with their backs to you and their gaze fixed nearly straight up at an object on top of the kitchen cabinets directly over the refrigerator. Out of reach. At least temporarily. But certainly not out of mind.
Pie in the sky.
We are left to wonder what happens. But I can almost guarantee you what happens. Before mom can stop them, little Johnny and Spot the Wonder Dog have themselves one terrific snack. It takes some doing, but Johnny finds a way to ascend to the pie. And when pie is involved, it's always best to ask for forgiveness rather than for permission.
You can probably already see where I'm going with this. Most people across the country are beginning to see the picture more clearly. The Wake Forest football program is looking at the pie. And Jim Grobe is going to find a way to get it.
Against Florida State, the youthful Demon Deacons were huge underdogs. The fifth-ranked Seminoles had seemingly found their stride in a rout of highly regarded Virginia the week before. FSU had the nation's number one defense against the rush, giving up only 58 yards a game and lowly figure of 1.91 yards per carry. The Seminoles are big, fast and rude. Scary stuff.
But to the Deacs, Florida State looked appetizing. They did not back down. They did not flinch. But they did not win, and that's starting to bother Wake Forest.
"I'm proud of them," Grobe said minutes after the Deacs' fourth ACC loss of the season by a touchdown or less, "but on the other hand, I'm not going to accept losses."
On a crisp autumn afternoon at Groves Stadium, Wake Forest had a terrific opportunity to do what it had not done in almost 60 years - beat a team ranked fifth or higher. In 1946, the Deacons traveled to Knoxville and handed the fourth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers a 19-6 loss at Neyland Stadium.
But that was then, and this is now - and in the ACC, you measure yourself against Florida State (and now Miami, too, in the new ACC). "There's no question," Grobe admits. "In this league, there's no better program to put yourself up against to see where you are than Florida State."
And the Demon Deacons are getting there. In FSU's last trip to Winston-Salem, Wake Forest led for much of the game before the Seminoles slipped away 34-21. This time around, Bowden's Boys didn't lead until 9:59 was left in the fourth quarter. And after Wake Forest tied the game on a 41-yard Ryan Plackemeier field goal five and half minutes later, the Seminoles had to drive for the winning field goal with just 1:03 to play.
"I don't care what we bring up here, it's a battle to the very last minute with these guys," said college football's winningest coach after the game.
That pie looks awfully good. Wake Forest can just taste it.
