CFI RANKINGS: #21 WAKE FOREST DEMON DEACONS

2007 RECORD: 9-4; ACC: 5-3
Won Meineke Car Care Bowl vs. Connecticut 24-10
LOCATION: Winston-Salem, North Carolina
STADIUM: BB & T Field (31,500)
HEAD COACH: Jim Grobe
OVERALL: 46-39 (7 seasons)
AT WAKE FOREST: 79-72-1 (13 seasons)

The Demon Deacons won nine games (including their bowl) last season, which was actually a step back for the ACC school—now that’s progress. They won 11 games in 2006 on their way to an ACC title and their 20 wins over the past two seasons are six more than their previous two-year best. If QB Riley Skinner can stay healthy, they could reach double digits in wins and challenge for the ACC Title.

WHEN THE DEACS HAVE THE BALL

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR: Steed Lobotzke (6th Season/8th at Wake Forest)
OFFENSIVE STARTERS RETURNING: 6
KEY LOSSES: Kenny Moore, Steve Justice, Micah Andrews, John Tereshinski, Luis Frazier, Chris DeGeare (INELIGIBLE)

The two-year run the Deacons are on has come with Skinner under center. He stepped in seamlessly for the injured Ben Mauk in ’06 and when Skinner was out of the lineup in the early part of last season, it showed. While he is not overly impressive in terms of his measurables, Skinner gets the job done. While he will miss his favorite target (Kenny Moore), there are high hopes for the receiving corps. The passing attack would benefit from spreading the football around a little more. The running game is solidified with sophomore RB Josh Adams as the primary ball carrier and red-shirt freshman Brandon Pendergrass expected to push for playing time. The offensive line should be fine with three players returning with starting experience.

TOP PROSPECTS: 1) RB Josh Adams (SO), 2) OT Joe Birdsong (JR)

WHEN THE OTHER TEAM HAS THE BALL

DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR: Brad Lambert (1st Season/8th at Wake Forest)
DEFENSIVE STARTERS RETURNING: 9
KEY LOSSES: Jeremy Thompson

When most people think of Wake Forest, a speedy playmaking defense doesn’t necessarily come to mind…but that is exactly what they had in 2007, and the Deacs return nine starters in 2008. Linebacker Aaron Curry led the team in tackles for a loss using his speed to knife into the offensive backfield. He also had four interceptions—returning three for scores--proving he is indeed a three-down linebacker. Not to be outdone, All-ACC corner Alphonso Smith returned three of his record-setting eight interceptions to paydirt as well. How many teams can say they had a pair of defenders do that? Smith is a lockdown coverman, but opposing teams don’t have the luxury of picking on the other guy—junior CB Brandon Ghee is a solid coverman in his own right. The only missing piece going into the season is a premier pass rusher.

TOP PROSPECTS: 1) LB Aaron Curry (SR), 2) CB Alphonso Smith (SR)

THE SCHEDULE

Wake Forest’s out of conference games should not pose a great threat—after opening up at Baylor, they play host to Ole Miss, Navy and Vanderbilt (regular season finale). In conference play, they take on Atlantic Division foe FSU before the ‘Noles are back to 100 percent (suspensions), while division favorite Clemson comes to Winston-Salem. They also play Virginia and Boston College at home, where the Deacs will have a chance to avenge two of their four defeats from ’07. They do play Maryland and Miami on the road following their contest against Clemson—easily their toughest three-game stretch of the season.

PIVOTAL POINT

The Offensive Line: Wake returns three players with starting experience—LT Joe Birdsong, RT Jeff Griffin and RG Barrett McMillin. The trio combined to make 20 starts last season. There are high hopes for junior C Trey Bailey, but he is replacing an All-American in Steve Justice. How this group performs will dictate how explosive the rushing attack of Adams/Pendergrass will be. More importantly, they are charged with protecting Skinner. The signal caller was injured in the ’07 opener versus BC and missed the following games against Nebraska, both losses.

CFI FINAL ANALYSIS

For those of you that simply refuse to believe the Clemson Tigers will finally win an ACC title, the Demon Deacons give you a team to hang your hat on. The pieces are in place for Wake to make a run at a second conference championship in three seasons—the quarterback plays mistake-free winning football, they have a balanced offense and a difference-making defense. What is there not to like? Making another BCS game may be too tall an order, but Jim Grobe is proving he has built a program with staying power.

Credit: Collegiate Images

Demon Deacons see themselves as more than just longshots

By JOEDY McCREARY
AP Sports Writer
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) -- De'Angelo Bryant wore a T-shirt commemorating Wake Forest's 2006 ACC title, then talked like he's out to add more championship gear to his wardrobe.

"We're still not giving up hope," the fullback said Tuesday. "It's not out of reach."
Maybe not, but after a defeat at Virginia left Wake Forest with two losses in Atlantic Coast Conference play, the Demon Deacons can't be considered anything but longshots to claim a second straight Atlantic Division title. Still, the players' we're-still-in-this attitude says plenty about how success has changed the atmosphere here.

At any other time in school history, six victories and the chance to reach a bowl game might be cause for celebration and maybe even a good reason to roll the campus quad.

But not this year, not with those lingering memories of last season's league championship, lofty national ranking and spot in the Orange Bowl. So while these Demon Deacons (6-3, 4-2) are poised to claim an unprecedented second straight bowl berth and post back-to-back winning seasons for just the third time since 1972, it's clear they view themselves as more than just spoilers entering this week's visit to
No. 20 Clemson.

Rather, they believe that with some help from other teams, and some more of the plucky play they enjoyed during their recently snapped six-game winning streak, they can vault back into the divisional chase.

"Our eyes are still on the prize," Bryant said. "Last weekend's game was a very good learning experience. ... We realized that now we can't just play three to four quarters. We have to play every game down to the wire. There's a possibility of every game going down to a field goal, to one or two points, but it's the little things that we need to take care of so we won't be in the position that we were in this past
Saturday, kicking a field goal in the fourth quarter with two seconds to go."

Virginia beat Wake Forest 17-16 when all-ACC kicker Sam Swank's 47-yard field goal missed wide right in the final seconds. That defeat became tougher to take when division-leading Boston College was upset by Florida State later that night.

The loss to the Cavaliers leaves the Demon Deacons little margin for error the rest of the way, and would lose the tiebreaker with the Eagles because of their opening-week loss in suburban Boston. They must close the ACC schedule by beating Clemson and N.C. State, then hope BC loses twice more during its three-game stretch against Maryland, Clemson and Miami.

"When you don't have (a clear-cut scenario), like we did last year, where we knew exactly what we had to do, now you've got to get some help from other people, it kind of makes you focus on the next game," coach Jim Grobe said. "You don't worry too much about the other stuff."

Another victory would ensure a second straight better-than-.500 regular season -- the first since they were 6-5 in 2001 and 7-6 in '02, Grobe's first two years here -- and would bolster their chances for a bowl invitation. But clearly, these Demon Deacons are out for much more than that.

"Our deal really is, more than anything else, to get our kids to just understand, 'Guys, we've got a lot of football left to play,'" Grobe said. "Don't be too down over the loss to Virginia, but don't get too excited about that bowl-eligible stuff, because that's a trap. 'Bowl-eligible' means very little. Six wins don't mean a lot. ... We've got 11 teams (in the ACC) that have a chance to reach six or
more wins."
Source: AP; Photo Credit: Gene Galin; To see more: accfootballphotos.com.