2010 Wake Forest Demon Deacons Football: Wake Forest vs Presbyterian

Jim Grobe’s Wake Forest Demon Deacons have been one of the ACC’s peskiest teams in recent years, resulting in Grobe winning acclaim as one of America’s top college football coaches. His Demon Deacons’ 2006 ACC championship was one of, if not the most, improbable BCS conference championships of the BCS era. Since his days at Ohio University, Grobe has been known as one of the best coaches in college football at doing more with less. That is not to say that Wake Forest has lacked in talent during Grobe’s tenure. Five players from the 2004 recruiting class alone were drafted by NFL teams, including a top-five overall pick in stud linebacker Aaron Curry.

Curiously, Wake Forest has not been able to capitalize on the success of the conference championship and several NFL draft picks… not as far as 2010 is concerned at least. Many outlets have picked Wake Forest to finish near the bottom of the ACC in 2010. If the prognostications are true, it remains to be seen if 2010 will be a one-year aberration or a sign of things to come in Winston-Salem. Of course, Wake Forest has been underestimated before. Regardless of pundits’ predictions of a losing season, Wake Forest would have no trouble with the overmatched Presbyterian Blue Hose.

It has become an unfortunate trend in college football for Division 1-A programs (the NCAA officially calls them FBS, but I don’t) to schedule hapless Division 1-AA programs (likewise, I don’t call them FCS) for an easy win. Occasionally, the overmatched lower-division opponent manages to win (see: Appalachian State versus Michigan in 2007), but usually the major conference team is buying an easy win. This is especially true when the 1-AA team is coming off a 0-11 season, as was Presbyterian on Thursday night.

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It should, therefore, come as no surprise that the Demon Deacons bested the Blue Hose in Division 1-A’s first kickoff of the season. Wake Forest won by a comfortable margin and was never in danger of losing. Yet the Demon Deacons should come away from their opening game focused on improving – fast. The Deacs play an improving Duke team next week, followed by a brutal stretch: at Stanford, at No. 20 Florida State, No. 16 Georgia Tech, Navy, and at No. 10 Virginia Tech leading into their bye week. The remaining games are not much kinder for the Demon Deacons, as they close at Maryland, Boston College, at North Carolina State, Clemson, and at Vanderbilt. After a sloppy performance against an overmatched opponent, Grobe has to be worried that he might have his worst season since moving to Winston-Salem.

The Demon Deacons overwhelmed their foes on the basis of pure size, speed and skill. There is no question which was the better team. But how much can Grobe have learned from playing a team that wasn’t good enough to win a single game against a 1-AA schedule last year? Perhaps he learned that he has a quarterback to replace the outstanding Riley Skinner. Ted Stachitas, who followed Tim Tebow at Ponte Vedra Beach (FL) Nease High, will now follow Skinner at Wake Forest. Stachitas wowed Groves Stadium with a nifty 34-yard touchdown scramble just 90 seconds into the game. The sophomore had a solid start, going 7-of-13 for 84 yards passing, and adding 76 yards rushing in only two quarters of action. Grobe was able to see three other quarterbacks in action. The three understudies combined to go 3-of-11 passing for only 10 yards, with each completing only one pass, likely cementing Stachitas’ starting status going forward, if it wasn’t already settled heading into the opener.

Grobe’s patented misdirection running game was more impressive, with Wake Forest gaining 415 yards, including an 85-yard touchdown run by wide receiver Devon Brown. But it is a far different matter cranking out 400 yards rushing against a 1-AA bottom feeder as opposed to a solid conference opponent. It is unlikely that Grobe learned anything about his offense that he couldn’t have learned on the practice field against the scout-team defense.

Grobe has to be especially disappointed with the defensive performance. Granted, it is not easy for a school like Wake Forest to replace four NFL-caliber defensive players. Wake Forest lost linebacker Aaron Curry, a No. 4 overall pick from the 2009 draft; cornerback Alphonso Smith, a second-rounder; and a pair of fourth-rounders in safety Chip Vaughn and cornerback Stanley Arnoux. Players of that caliber are not easy to replace, so it is understandable that the defense might take a step back this year. However, Grobe can’t be happy to have given up 292 yards passing on 24 completions to such an overmatched foe, winless last year and facing a power-conference team for the first time in school history. How will that defense deal with top-shelf QBs like Kyle Parker or Christian Ponder? These cannot be comforting thoughts to Wake Forest coaches or fans.

Duke travels to Wake Forest next Saturday at noon on ESPN3.com, while Presbyterian travels to Clemson for a 3:30 kickoff, which will also be covered on ESPN3.com.

Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs Presbyterian Blue Hose Football Recap