Wake Forest vs. Stanford Game Preview
9/11/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 11, 2009
Video: Game Preview With Jim Grobe
Game Notes: Wake Forest 
| Stanford | Radio/TV "Flip" Card
Gameday Central: BB&T Field Info | Online Coverage
Television Coverage: Raycom TV Affiliates | ESPN360.com
Blog: Live Gameday Blog
By Alex Botoman, WakeForestSports.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Saturday's game against Stanford will be a new experience of sorts for the Wake Forest football program. It will mark the first time in its 108-season history that the Demon Deacons have played a regular season game against a Pac-10 team.
The Deacons have had three postseason meetings against Pac-10 foes, all of them wins, with the most recent one coming in the 2002 Seattle Bowl where Wake defeated Oregon 38-17.
"Stanford is a new team to us," said linebacker Matt Woodlief. "It's going to be a different set of players from out West. I like that because I love new challenges."
A main focus of this week's game preparation has been on fixing the mental mistakes that proved costly in last weekend's 24-21 loss to Baylor where the Deacons turned the ball over four times and missed tackles at key points in the game.
"We had a great effort and we played hard, but we just weren't smart all the time," said tackle Chris DeGeare. "You have to get better each week. Everybody's ready to get back out to practice."
Stanford (1-0) has improved its record every year under third-year head coach Jim Harbaugh and finished the 2008 season at 5-7. The Cardinal defeated Washington State 39-13 in their opener last weekend, and will head to Winston-Salem looking for a non-conference win that could propel them towards bowl eligibility.
The Wake Forest coaching staff is faced with the difficult task of preparing the Deacons for a team that has a very different approach than Baylor.
"Last week there were a lot of formations, a lot of different types of plays, options and trick plays and lots of different things to prepare the players for. Mainly basketball on grass type stuff," said head coach Jim Grobe. "(Stanford) is a knock-you-down type offense. We better keep our pads down and get our cleats settled in the turf pretty good or we're going to get knocked off the football."
After being tasked with stifling Baylor's potent running attack, the Wake Forest defense will get no respite as they must face Stanford's Toby Gerhart, the Pac-10's third-leading rusher last year, who ran for 121 yards and two touchdowns against Washington State.
"(We need) better tackling because he's going to be a load to bring down," said Woodlief. "He's a very physical runner who's going to be a real challenge for us, and we need to step up and make big plays on him this weekend."
At the quarterback position, freshman Andrew Luck will be making only his second career start for the Cardinal. In his debut, Luck threw for 193 yards and a touchdown, as well as picking up 54 yards on the ground. Grobe remarked that Luck reminds him of Ole Miss quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Jevan Snead - high praise for a player that has only one collegiate game under his belt.
"(Luck) had a really good game last week against Washington State," added Woodlief. "He's around 6-4 tall, weighs 235 pounds, and is a really physical guy. He can run, and if he starts scrambling we're going to have to wrap him up just like a running back."
On the offensive side of the ball for Wake Forest, sophomore receiver Devon Brown will be looking to build on a breakout performance against Baylor that saw him catch a touchdown pass as well as be the team's leading rusher with eight carries for 46 yards. A receiver getting the bulk of the carries may have been a surprise for some, but running the ball is not an unfamiliar role for Brown.
"I played running back for my entire life and I never played receiver before I got here (to Wake Forest)," said Brown. "If you're catching passes, you're going to be running anyway. Running the ball is what I love to do."
A key matchup will be the Wake Forest passing attack against the Stanford secondary. Quarterback Riley Skinner will be looking to rebound from his performance against Baylor where he threw three interceptions. The Deacon receivers are hopeful that they can utilize their speed to present Skinner with open targets down the field.
"(Stanford) runs a whole lot of man-to-man, so if we can beat them with our speed that we have at receiver then that should help us out a lot," said Brown. "If we receivers can do our job and beat our man off of the ball and get deep, then Riley definitely has the arm strength and accuracy to find us."
To a man, the Demon Deacons are looking forward to Saturday as an opportunity to put last week's loss behind them and set a positive tone for the rest of the season.
"We want to come out rolling," said DeGeare. "Starting out 0-2 isn't what you think of when you're out there in the heat doing two-a-days and doing summer workouts."
Wake Forest and Stanford are set to square off at noon on Saturday at BB&T Field. The game will be televised regionally by Raycom and can also be heard on the Wake Forest ISP Radio Network.
Traffic Note for Saturday: Please be aware that the 2009 Winston-Salem Air Show will be held at Smith Reynolds airport on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 12 p.m. Due to this, fans traveling north on Highway 52 are encouraged to use the MLK exit and follow the signs to BB&T Field. Fans traveling south on Highway 52 are encouraged to use University Parkway. Patrons utilizing Akron Drive, please plan on arriving early and expect some delays due to Air Show traffic. In addition, a portion of Cherry Street in the downtown area will be closed prior to 10 a.m. on Saturday for a 5K run, and spectators are advised to avoid the downtown area during this time.
