Wake Forest Athletics
100% COTTEN: Assorted Streaks
10/1/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 1, 2006
by Stan Cotten
Mississippi Burning
I've been doing this for nearly three decades now, but I've never experienced anything like the Deacs' recent trip to Oxford, Mississippi. The weather got so bad so fast, and it caused a nearly two hour delay before Wake Forest could get on with whipping the Rebels.
The lightning was the culprit. I've never seen such streaks, and it was still very close by when game officials gave the "all clear" to commence play. I had Coach Jim Grobe in my binoculared sights about two minutes before the delayed kickoff, and he looked unsure and anxious as the light show continued all around Oxford.
But all went well as the Deacs burned Mississippi in the first-ever meeting between the two - a game I'll always remember not for the game itself but for the light show that surrounded it.
And The Grove wasn't bad either.
Kevin Who?
It was late in the game with the Rebels when offensive coordinator Steed Lobotzke asked Coach Jim Grobe if he minded running Kevin. Grobe should have clarified the question. He thought Lobo meant Kevin Harris and was quick to give the OK. That's when Wake ran the Orbit Reverse to sprinter Kevin Marion who had been cleared to play again after nursing a sore knee for a couple of weeks. Sore knee or not - Marion can go. And he was one juke from going 88 and out the gate with the game already in hand.
That was a streak that Grobe could have done without. "I don't think Coach O was very happy with me after the game," Grobe admitted. "I guess he thought we were trying to run up the score a little bit."
Marion was the 11th Deacon to run the ball against Ole Miss.
Flaming Deacons
The streak that had people talking the most following the Liberty game was Wake's 5-0 record after the 34-14 win over Jerry Falwell's Flames. The Dixie Classic Fair in Winston-Salem served as a backdrop for the game, and only three times in over a century of playing football had the Deacons been on such a sweet ride - winning at least five straight games.
Bill Dooley's first Wake Forest team won its first five games in 1987. His best Deacon squad in 1992 won six straight down the stretch on the way to the Independence Bowl. And Peahead's boys won their first seven in 1944 and finished 8-1.
Hello ACC
At this writing Wake Forest remained the only ACC team with a perfect record. The last team standing. The Deacs' win over Liberty coupled with Georgia Tech's win at Virginia Tech left only Wake to shoot at.
And shot at Wake will be with a streak of seven consecutive conference foes to finish out the regular season.
I hope to see you there. If not, we'll see you on the radio.
