Wake Forest Preview

Wake Forest vs. Clemson, Oct. 17, 12:00pm, Death Valley

Tigermax:

I don't see this as a make-or-break "playoff" game or whatever. Unless you're talking about making-or-breaking your chances for a bowl birth; I'll buy that one. We've got to win an evenly-matched game somewhere along the line if it's gonna happen.

At any rate, after the miserable loss 2 weeks ago at the hands of Maryland and the intervening bye week with kind of sorta some drama, on paper things actually shape up pretty nicely for Billy Napier & Co. Wake Forest has struggled a bit on defense this year and the extra week has given Clemson lots of time to prep for Jim Grobe's team and work on execution. I'm hoping for some points on scripted drives in the first quarter; then I'll be looking for smoother playcalling and elimination of the personnel confusion that has cropped up now and then this year. I'll also be watching to see what they've done with Parker over the last two weeks. Hopefully we see him tucking the ball and running on occasion to keep the WF defense honest.

On the flip side, Wake Forest is a well-coached team: they know their fundamentals. Which means we probably can't rely on CJ Spiller or Jacoby Ford to make space for themselves. They are going to need to the help of, you know, their teammates. Not just 9 other guys out on the field, mind you, but teammates executing well--opening up holes along the offensive line, not telegraphing passes, and the like.

For Wake, Rilo Kiley Riley Skinner is the story (I haven't been able to keep that straight for four years now). Skinner has always been the consummate Grobe game-manager, but as Paul Strelow already pointed out, he's been throwing downfield more often this year. "Evolving," I guess. Should be an interesting test for our secondary, which has looked shaky at times this year. If Skinner is able to open up the field with his improved passing, the defense could be on the field for quite some time. Grobe has called Skinner's number on the ground in the past vs. Clemson, and you can bet we'll see more of it this year after he sees the tapes from our last two games. We'll see if/how Steele adjusts.

All in all, as I said earlier in the week, I gotta think Wake has the edge. I don't expect to see improvement in the offense, but I'm holding out hope that we don't look worse. Our best shot is to put up a couple of early scores and tack on the occasional field goal while our defense holds on for dear life.

Clemben:

I am slightly more optimistic because the game is at Death Valley. Grobe has a 3-5 record against Clemson but all of those wins have come at Wake. Skinner when given time has looked real good this year but he also has had some poor decision making when pressured. I am afraid of him running more than passing to be honest. Mobile QB's have killed us--even when they are the son of the drummer of RATT they run all over us. How many yards could Turner have gotten if he had any athleticism. Boggles the mind...

So it will be close because we cant score, if we lose again without scoring a fourth quarter TD I call the season close to over. Giving Wake the tiebreaker would be hard to overcome and would force us to win out being 1-3 in conference play. 2-2 is a different beast, I really think the winner of the division is going to be 4-4. Lots of football to be played though, lets just hope our brand involves more touchdowns and I-formations with Diehl blocking.

Go Tigers!!