Climb aboard everyone, it’s time for the Wake Forest bandwagon to get rolling! There’s room for everyone, so don’t be shy. Come on, it’s fun!
I don’t care which ACC team you root for, you need to make Wake your second favorite team right now. Hell, if you pull for UNC, UVA or Duke, you can even make the Deacons your number one choice this season. You have my permission! Trust me, it’ll be good for your health. It’s not like your team deserves your adulation.
If you don’t understand why I’m saying this, you need to watch Wake Forest play. This is a team full of second-rate football players, guys the big programs didn’t want. When kicker Sam Swank was asked about this after the game, he mentioned that yeah, some other schools wanted them, but they’d have to walk-on. For the record, Swank nailed three (three!) 50-plus yard field goals in the Deacons’ road win over NC State today. And he had a 49-yarder doink off the upright (about two-thirds of the way up, mind you – kid’s got a leg!).
Coach Jim Grobe has taken this squad full of misfit toys and forged them into a hell of a football team. After today’s win over hot NC State, Wake is now 6-1. Their one loss came last week to the ACC’s best team, Clemson and that was pretty much only because of one miraculous play in the Tigers’ favor. It’s perfectly reasonably to say that Wake should be 7-0 at this point.
The thing is, most times when a lesser program makes a Cinderella run, they do it with a combination of trickery and extreme good fortune. Not this team. They line up run the ball right down your damn throat. Sure, they’ll throw some misdirection at you, but they’ll also smack you in the face. If they had worn Clemson or Penn State uniforms today, no one would have noticed the difference.
And good luck? Please. Wake’s only big name player is quarterback Benjamin “don’t call me Ben” Mauk and he was lost for the season in the first game. Running back Micah Andrews was leading the ACC in rushing before blowing out his knee in game three. Starting left tackle, possibly the second most critical position on the team, Arby Jones is also gone for the season. Wake is doing this with backups!
Wake’s execution is nearly flawless. When Florida State or Miami run a reverse, it works because they get the ball into the hands of a high school state champion sprinter. When the Deacons run a reverse (like they did over and over against the confused Wolfpack today), it works because they run it perfectly. The receivers seal a lane and quarterback Riley Skinner gets out there a sticks somebody. It’s hard to watch that and not be impressed. I think even the dejected Wolfpack faithful would agree that the team that beat them today (and they did beat NC State) was worthy of everyone’s respect and admiration.
So climb aboard. Join the Deacon nation. ACC fans have to find something good about this year.