SWC75
Bored Historian
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SU fans are fond of saying “Other than the USC game, there’s no game we can’t win.” Actually we can win all the games if we outscore the other team. And even in the USC game, if the team goes into the game feeling it has no chance, they will perform poorly and get beat worse than if they thought victory was possible. So we can win all the games. The downside is that we’re beatable, too and there aren’t any teams we can just assume we’ll beat, except perhaps Rhode Island, who will be in the same position we will be in vs. USC. But that’s OK- you don’t win games because of assumptions. You’ve got to go out and make the plays that will win the game.
Thursday September 1st 8PM (all times EDT or EST)in the Dome vs. Wake Forest TV: ESPN 3 (which you get through their internet site)
Five years ago G-Rob’s second team opened at Wake Forest, one of the perennial doormats of college football and got beat 10-20. After a 1-10 season the year before, this was a disappointing beginning to Robinson’s second year. It turned out that was the best team Wake has ever had, one that improbably won the ACC and went to the Orange Bowl. Our loss was actually the 4th best performance against Wake Forest that year. Only twice in his career here did a G-Rob team rank better than that in point differential.
But the Demon Deacons seem to have fallen back to historical norms., going from 11 wins to 9 to 8 to 5 to 3. Last year they were 3-9 and all nine losses were in a row, some by scores like 24-68, 21-52 and 14-62. This is one we should win but we’ve lost our last 8 games in the Dome vs. ACC teams. Strange things always seem to happen like in 1997 when Dee Brown, a freshman, tried to stick the ball over the goal line as we were setting up for a game winning chip shot field goal, trying to win it with a touchdown. The ball got slapped out of his hand and we lost in overtime. (That was the night Princess Diana died and I made a very bad joke some years alter that they crashed because they were listening to the SU-NC State game at the time.). Then there was 2002 when a kid from New York State playing for North Carolina became the only player in history to hit three 50+ yard field goals in a game to beat us 22-30. What’s going to happen this time?
Last year Wake was a very young team. They had a freshman quarterback, Tanner Price, who struggled and a freshman running back, Josh Harris, who didn’t. Harris, a 4.3 man in the 40, gained 241 rushing vs. league champion Virginia Tech. There are several speedy receivers, including Chris Givens who has TD catches of more than 40 yards. They have a big, (320 pound average from tackle to tackle), veteran offensive line with four seniors and a junior- and that’s what gave SU such trouble last year. But the Wake line has been a weakness , rather than a strength for them.(Maybe those are a G-Rob like 320 pounds.) It remains to be seen if getting the same guys back will help them this year. I suppose however, you could say the same thing about Syracuse.
Similarly, Wake returns most of a defense that gave up 36 points a game, including 29 touchdown passes. Like us, they are rather smallish up front but quick: how will they match up against more physical teams? And can we be that kind of team against them? Wake’s defense is probably best at linebacker where they have an All-ACC linebacker in Keith Wilber, who had 14.5 tackles for a loss. The secondary was full of freshmen last year but they are “talented and fast” per Athlon.
The Deacons have a good place-kicker in Jimmy Newman but have problems punting and returning kicks. They hope to bounce back strongly with more experienced players and Doug Marrone is warning everybody about them. They will probably stop the trend of winning fewer games than the previous year for the last five seasons but I think they are back to being Wake Forest and we are getting back to being Syracuse so we should beat them but…who knows what will happen this time!
Their stats from last year:
Offense- rushing 158.5 (54th) passing 143.8 (114th), total 302.3 (108th) scoring 22.8 (91st)
Defense- rushing 192.5 (99th) passing 238.2 (92nd) total 430.7 (101st) scoring 35.8 (110th)
Turnover margin: even (55th)
Thursday September 1st 8PM (all times EDT or EST)in the Dome vs. Wake Forest TV: ESPN 3 (which you get through their internet site)
Five years ago G-Rob’s second team opened at Wake Forest, one of the perennial doormats of college football and got beat 10-20. After a 1-10 season the year before, this was a disappointing beginning to Robinson’s second year. It turned out that was the best team Wake has ever had, one that improbably won the ACC and went to the Orange Bowl. Our loss was actually the 4th best performance against Wake Forest that year. Only twice in his career here did a G-Rob team rank better than that in point differential.
But the Demon Deacons seem to have fallen back to historical norms., going from 11 wins to 9 to 8 to 5 to 3. Last year they were 3-9 and all nine losses were in a row, some by scores like 24-68, 21-52 and 14-62. This is one we should win but we’ve lost our last 8 games in the Dome vs. ACC teams. Strange things always seem to happen like in 1997 when Dee Brown, a freshman, tried to stick the ball over the goal line as we were setting up for a game winning chip shot field goal, trying to win it with a touchdown. The ball got slapped out of his hand and we lost in overtime. (That was the night Princess Diana died and I made a very bad joke some years alter that they crashed because they were listening to the SU-NC State game at the time.). Then there was 2002 when a kid from New York State playing for North Carolina became the only player in history to hit three 50+ yard field goals in a game to beat us 22-30. What’s going to happen this time?
Last year Wake was a very young team. They had a freshman quarterback, Tanner Price, who struggled and a freshman running back, Josh Harris, who didn’t. Harris, a 4.3 man in the 40, gained 241 rushing vs. league champion Virginia Tech. There are several speedy receivers, including Chris Givens who has TD catches of more than 40 yards. They have a big, (320 pound average from tackle to tackle), veteran offensive line with four seniors and a junior- and that’s what gave SU such trouble last year. But the Wake line has been a weakness , rather than a strength for them.(Maybe those are a G-Rob like 320 pounds.) It remains to be seen if getting the same guys back will help them this year. I suppose however, you could say the same thing about Syracuse.
Similarly, Wake returns most of a defense that gave up 36 points a game, including 29 touchdown passes. Like us, they are rather smallish up front but quick: how will they match up against more physical teams? And can we be that kind of team against them? Wake’s defense is probably best at linebacker where they have an All-ACC linebacker in Keith Wilber, who had 14.5 tackles for a loss. The secondary was full of freshmen last year but they are “talented and fast” per Athlon.
The Deacons have a good place-kicker in Jimmy Newman but have problems punting and returning kicks. They hope to bounce back strongly with more experienced players and Doug Marrone is warning everybody about them. They will probably stop the trend of winning fewer games than the previous year for the last five seasons but I think they are back to being Wake Forest and we are getting back to being Syracuse so we should beat them but…who knows what will happen this time!
Their stats from last year:
Offense- rushing 158.5 (54th) passing 143.8 (114th), total 302.3 (108th) scoring 22.8 (91st)
Defense- rushing 192.5 (99th) passing 238.2 (92nd) total 430.7 (101st) scoring 35.8 (110th)
Turnover margin: even (55th)
