Wake Forest Athletics
In Saturday's Game Program: Welcome To The Big Time
11/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 3, 2006
By Dean Buchan
Wake Forest Media Relations
Ho-hum. Just another college football game at Groves Stadium, right? That's what the players and coaches from both Wake Forest (7-1 overall, 3-1 ACC) and Boston College (7-1, 3-1) have been trying to convince themselves of all week.
Forget that Saturday's game between two nationally-ranked teams is on national television. Put aside the fact that the winner will be alone in first place in the ACC's Atlantic Division (if Maryland loses at Clemson Saturday). Don't even think about how Saturday's victorious team can control its own destiny in terms of playing for the ACC championship.
And don't listen to the fans who argue that the game is the biggest in Wake Forest's 105-year football history.
It's just another college football Saturday with two academic-minded private schools getting together on a fall evening.
Right.
The experts could not have predicted this. In fact, they didn't. In the preseason media poll, Wake Forest was picked to finish dead last in the Atlantic Division. Boston College was picked third, but the Eagles did receive three first-place votes. No one thought that Wake Forest, Boston College and Maryland would hold down the division's top three spots in early November while Florida State, Clemson and NC State slugged it out for fourth place.
Not even when Wake Forest launched its "The Time Is Now" campaign and plunged into a six-phase plan to improve Groves Stadium did Demon Deacon faithful expect that their school would be mentioned in the same breath with league titles, national and dare we mention, BCS rankings.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. While either 22nd-ranked Wake Forest or 16th-ranked Boston College will be in the enviable catbird seat after tonight, there is still plenty of challenges remaining for both teams.
The Deacons' November schedule may be the most difficult in college football. After Boston College, Wake heads to Tallahassee to play Florida State, followed by a Nov. 18 home game against Virginia Tech. The regular season finale comes at suddenly-hot Maryland.
Boston College has home games remaining with Duke and Maryland, followed by a regular season-ender at Miami.
Wake Forest, coming off a hard-fought 24-17 win at inspired North Carolina last Saturday to win the de facto state championship, has been one of college football's biggest surprises in 2006. The Demon Deacons are 4-0 on the road, have beaten teams from three BCS conferences and are off to their best start since 1979.
Perhaps the biggest surprise is just how the Deacons have gotten to this point. They lost their quarterback (Benjamin Mauk) in the season opener and later lost their starting running back (Micah Andrews) and a key member of the offensive line (Arby Jones). They have played the entire season without their top pass rusher, Matt Robinson, who suffered a broken kneecap one year ago.
Statistically, Wake Forest is overwhelming no one. The Deacons have scored 80 points in four ACC games. They have also allowed 80 points. In the ACC, Wake Forest ranks ninth in both total offense and total defense.
"We're not winning with offense, defense or special teams," junior linebacker Jon Abbate said. "We're winning as a team."
Wake Forest is creating ways to win. The Deacons blocked a field goal to beat Duke and intercepted a pass in the final minute to secure a win against NC State. Last Saturday, Wake used a blocked punt for a touchdown, fumble recovery and two interceptions to beat North Carolina.
Wake also rates high statistically in the less-publicized categories. The Deacons rank first in the ACC in red-zone offense, scoring 91.3 percent of the time they get inside the 20. They rank second in red-zone defense. Kicker/punter Sam Swank hasn't missed a PAT, he has made 75 percent of his field goal attempts and is a candidate for both the Lou Groza and Ray Guy awards.
Boston College brings a four-game winning streak to Groves Stadium and the Eagles are coming off a 41-0 win over Buffalo. The way BC has played recently, they may have beaten the Buffalo Bills instead of Buffalo University.
The Eagles, who own double-overtime wins against Clemson and BYU, defeated Virginia Tech and Florida State in back-to-back Saturdays by a combined 46-22 score. Boston College is producing more than 350 yards of offense per game (third in the ACC) and limiting opponents to less than 80 yards rushing per contest (second in the ACC).
Boston College is led by junior quarterback Matt Ryan, a candidate for ACC Player of the Year honors and the league's leader in total offense and passing. Ryan sat out last Saturday's thumping of Buffalo, but should be fully ready to go tonight.
One of the keys Saturday will be Wake Forest's rushing attack against Boston College's stingy defensive unit. The Deacons depend on the run as they passed just eight times last Saturday and threw just five times in a win at Ole Miss earlier this season.
To complicate matters for the Deacons, who will carry the ball remains a question. When Andrews was hurt in the game at Connecticut, De'Angelo Bryant took over. However, in an offense that cherishes taking care of the football, Bryant had a crucial fumble against Clemson and a near-costly fumble last week in Chapel Hill. Wake recently turned to redshirt freshman Kevin Harris, but a sprained knee suffered last Saturday is expected to keep him out of the lineup. Wake Forest is expected to start wide receiver-turned-tailback Kenneth Moore.
Wake Forest and Boston College have met each of the past three seasons, including two meetings prior to the Eagles' official arrival in the ACC. The three contests have all gone down to the final minute and have been decided by a combined total of 12 points. The Deacons have won two of those three, including the only Groves Stadium meeting, 17-14 in 2004.
Satuday's game is the 14th meeting between the two schools.
Wake Forest and Boston College are the only one-loss (overall) teams remaining in the ACC. The Eagles, relative newcomers to the league, eye their first ACC championship. Wake Forest, original members of the ACC, is in the chase for just its second league title and its first in more than 35 years.
But remember, it's just another game. Keep telling yourself that.
Noting The Deacons
- Wake Forest has only had 10 seasons that have produced six or more wins.
- At 7-1, the Deacons are off to their best start since 1979. This is only the third time in school history the Deacons have a 7-1 record.
- The Deacons are ranked in the top 25 for three consecutive weeks for the first time since 1979.
- Wake Forest swept its three ACC Tobacco Road rivals for the first time since 1987.
- After the NC State win, the Deacons earned a place in the top 25 for the first time since the 2003 season.
- Wake Forest beat NC State in Raleigh for the first time since 1984.
- Wake Forest won its first three road games of the season -- Connecticut, Ole Miss and NC State -- for the first time since 1947.
- The Deacons won five straight games to start the season. The five-game winning streak was only the fourth of its kind in school history (1944, 1987, 1992, 2006) and tied for the second-longest in school history.
- Wake Forest's five wins in the month of September marked the most victories in any month of any year in Demon Deacon football history.
- The Deacons have already surpassed the win total in 89 of 105 seasons of football.
- Wake Forest is seeking only its seventh bowl bid in program history. u Wake Forest has tallied 18 sacks this season, already surpassing the team's 2005 total.
