Wake Forest Athletics
100% Cotten: SEEING IS BELIEVING
11/5/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 5, 2006
It was approaching midnight when I left Groves Stadium following Wake Forest's victory over Boston College in one of the biggest games the facility has ever hosted. I figured I'd better get out of the there before the stroke of twelve. I've read stories before about how things go back to the way they were at that magic hour. And there was even a full moon's reflection helping me find my way back to my car.
I wanted out of there.
I had just seen Wake Forest win its way to 8-1. But I'll admit it was a little hard to actually believe. I mean it had been 62 years since the Demon Deacons had been 8-1 to start the season. And heading into the Boston College game, Wake had lost eight straight games in November. Peahead's Boys started and ended the 1944 season at 8-1. They only had nine games that year. There was no bowl game - just a season ending win over South Carolina in the annual affair played in Charlotte.
Thank goodness there are more games - more opportunities - for Jim Grobe's sixth team at Wake Forest. I mean the first nine games have provided some great moments. At this writing a great season - an historic season - is still there to be had. And finally in the wake of the Deacs' win over highly regarded Boston College - a team that had won eleven of its last twelve games, won seventeen of its last 23 games on the road and boasted the ACC's total offense leader in quarterback Matt Ryan - the Demon Deacons are beginning to get the respect they so richly deserve.
In my haste to get home in the chill after a rare November night game in Winston-Salem, I asked a member of the media who was also leaving the stadium, "What did you see out there tonight?"
"I guess this team might be for real," he said.
And in my view that really sums up how others view what is going on at Wake Forest. I mean it's November. The season is closer to being over than just beginning. And people still need to see more to actually believe. It's human nature. And it's understandable in the context of history and Wake Forest football. But it's not as if the Deacs had just put back to back wins together. Wake had won its eighth game. It had beaten a ranked team. It had won all of its games away from home. It was a Bizzaro World of a fourth quarter against Clemson away from being undefeated for goodness sakes. And yet there are those who still have that Steely Dan tune Deacon Blues somewhere in the back of their mind.
But I've had the privilege of seeing every game this season. I've been able to watch this group practice. And I've had the chance to just sit with coaches here and there and talk about this particular team. And that's really what's going on. The Deacs are a real team. You don't overcome what this group has and win without being on the same page and without caring who gets the headlines. From Riley Skinner to Jon Abbate and Kenneth Moore in between, the Deacs have themselves a real team.
It's something I see. And I believe.
Cotten Brief
The night before Wake Forest won its game over Boston College, a former Deacon had a night to remember. Harry Newsome, who punted for the Deacons in the early 1980's, had his number eleven jersey retired at Cheraw (SC) High School. Newsome was a star quarterback in high school but was recruited to Wake by my radio partner Bill Urbanik (I see a column of its own on this one - the story is too good to pass up!). Oh, and one more thing. Another jersey was retired along with Newsome's that night in Cheraw. It belonged to Fisher DeBerry, the long time coach at The Air Force Academy who hired and worked with Jim Grobe for twelve seasons.
