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Campus in a dither as Deacs crack
Top 25
By DAVID DROSCHAK
AP Sports Writer
Wake Forest received its
highest ranking in The Associated Press poll since 1979 on Sunday after
season-opening wins over Boston College and North Carolina State.
The Demon Deacons were picked to finish seventh in the Atlantic Coast
Conference but are now ranked 20th in the nation after the 2-0 start.
"I am going to quit now while I'm ahead," Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe
joked Sunday in a telephone interview from his Winston-Salem home.
"It's great for our kids, but it's also a little bit scary because we're
such a young football team and we've been pretty comfortable in the
underdog role. I'm sure being ranked will put a target on our chest. It
will be interesting to see how our young guys respond."
Wake Forest was last ranked in the AP poll on Jan. 3, 1992, finishing
25th in the final ranking. Before that, the Demon Deacons were ranked as
high as 14th in 1979 under John Mackovic.
The Demon Deacons won just 26 games in eight years under Jim Caldwell
before Grobe took over in 2001, leading the program to 6-5 and 7-6
records the last two seasons with his flexbone offense.
Last season ended with a 38-17 romp over highly regarded Oregon in the
Seattle Bowl. However, Grobe was breaking in a new quarterback and
believed his club was too young to make any kind of noise early this
season.
He was proven wrong after a 32-28 victory at Boston College and a major
upset of the Wolfpack, who were ranked 14th before Wake Forest beat them
38-24 Saturday.
"We've done some things that veteran teams do in the first couple of
games," Grobe said. "We haven't been penalized very much and we haven't
turned the ball over a whole lot. Those two things have given us a
chance to win.
"And generally young guys don't play with a lot of toughness, they're
generally just happy to be a part of it all. But our guys have shown a
little bit of grit. They have really impressed me with their maturity.
Now that could change tomorrow."
After two games, the Demon Deacons have been called for just 40 yards in
penalties and didn't turn the ball over against N.C. State.
"It's a great lesson in coaching. Execute and don't beat yourself," N.C.
State coach Chuck Amato said Sunday. "The other teams have run up all
kind of fantastic numbers on them but they beat themselves by penalties
and they beat themselves by turnovers."
Wake Forest can start 3-0 for the first time since 1987 with a victory
over Purdue at home this weekend.
"The campus is excited about this, the whole community is excited for
our kids," Grobe said. "But this stuff is fleeting, it doesn't last very
long if you don't continue to work hard and play good on Saturday. We
can't spend too much time patting ourselves on the back."
02/23/2007 11:02 AM
Copyright 2003
Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may
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