Wake Forest 30, Ole Miss 28

From a fan’s perspective, yesterday’s 30-28 win over Ole Miss had plenty of emotional highs and lows. The game started on a high note when Wake recovered a muffed punt (I guess it just hit someone in the head, but I think it’s still technically a “muff”) and scored a quick touchdown. Unfortunately, the feeling didn’t last as Ole Miss scored 14 unanswered points and took a 14-10 lead into halftime.

The third quarter brought back some good feelings; with Wake scoring 10 points and taking a 20-14 lead into the fourth quarter. The fourth was one of the more nerve-racking quarters of Wake Forest football I’ve ever witnessed, including some pretty terrible moments (Alphonso Smith’s fumble on punt return, phantom pass interference call) to some incredible ones (Pendergrass TD, Sam Swank’s 41 yard game-winning field goal).

It wasn’t looking good when the Rebels scored a touchdown with only 1:01 left on the clock, but Riley Skinner, Sam Swank, and the rest of the Demon Deacons weren’t ready to throw in the towel. The offense moved the ball efficiently, completing two short passes on the sideline to conserve clock before finding D.J. Boldin wide open down the middle for 22 yards. Several plays later (and a heads up timeout call by holder Ryan McManus when the play clock was about to run out) Sam Swank drilled a 41 yard field goal, leading wake to a 30-28 victory.

The final statistics reveal some not-so-good things, but ultimately it’s the score on the board that counts. Ole Miss’s offense out-produced Wake’s—360 yards to 348—and did so in 12 fewer plays than Wake. They outgained Wake 107-81 on the ground and came close in the air (253-267) on 11 fewer plays. Ole Miss also sacked Skinner four times, but Wake’s two interceptions and one fumble recovery (Ole Miss only had a fumble recovery) won the turnover battle.

On the ground Brandon Pendergrass had 49 yards on 8 carries, including two great runs in the third quarter that led to his touchdown. Josh Adams only gained 43 yards on 12 carries. Riley Skinner was 32 of 43 through the air for 267 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions. D.J. Boldin had 11 catches for 123 yards, while Marshall Williams and Kevin Harris both had touchdown receptions.

The team Ole Miss put on the field yesterday was much more impressive than the one I expected to see. Jevan Snead is a very good young quarterback with a bright future, and the Rebels have several talented receivers. Their defense, which supposedly has been decimated by injuries, still gave the offense fits, sacking Skinner four times and causing heavy disruption to Wake’s running attack. Houston Nutt is clearly a good coach who has the program moving in a positive direction. In many ways Ole Miss out-played Wake yesterday, but turnovers, penalties, and the “clutch-ness” of Riley Skinner and Sam Swank proved to be too much. They’re going to win some SEC games this year and I think Wake fans are happy they aren’t on schedule again anytime soon.

As for Wake, a win is a win and there shouldn’t be too much complaining, but clearly there is work to be done. I saw a lot of improvement in the second half after a very rough first half, but the Deacs still need to find a way to move the ball on the ground and the defense didn’t have a great performance

I want to talk briefly about the decisions to kick PAT’s instead of going for two after both second half touchdowns. The first one, after the third quarter touchdown, was an absolute no-brainer. In the third quarter of the game in that situation there’s no way it makes sense to go for two. When Wake scored again with 11:37 left in the fourth quarter and again kicked the PAT I heard a lot of people second guessing the decision. I, however, agree with the decision all the way. At that point it was likely Ole Miss would have the ball two more times. Had Wake missed the two point conversion, two field goals would have won the game. Furthermore, with a missed conversion Wake would have been leading by five, 26-21. If things played out the way they did and Ole Miss scored a touchdown with 1:01 left then they’re up 27-26 and have an absolute no-brainer to go for two. If they make the conversion Ole Miss is leading by three, 29-26, and when Wake drives down and makes a field goal it sends the game into overtime instead of to the final whistle and a Wake victory. I think a lot of people are neglecting that side of the equation when they evaluate the decision. I know Jim Grobe said afterwards that he had been second guessing the decision, which is totally understandable, but you have to look at all sides and all possible outcomes and realize that the decision definitely wasn’t a bad one. I’m not saying it would have been wrong to go for two, but kicking the PAT wasn’t wrong either.

Sam Swank deserves to be mentioned again for a great game. Three field goals, including a game winner, and three extra points is a great day from a guy who definitely should be on his way to an All-American season.

Finally, let’s take a look at the questions I asked in the game preview and see how things turned out:

1. What effect will Hurricane/Tropical Storm Hanna have on this game?
Absolutely none, except maybe in the way the teams prepared. I don’t know where the storm went, but when I woke up Saturday morning it was completely clear and for most of the afternoon there weren’t but a few clouds in the sky. It was even pretty hot, about like it always is for early September games. I’m glad it left us alone, but it was weird for it to completely disappear the way it did.

2. Will the offensive line’s pass protection hold up? Will the run blocking improve?
I don’t think we saw a step backwards this week as much as we just didn’t see a step forward. Ole Miss has a talented line and they were able to sack Skinner four times and disrupt the passing game some, but I don’t think the line’s played any worse in pass protection; they just faced a better unit. That’s not to say I think it was acceptable, as I would have much rather seen them step up and play better than last week, but I don’t think it was worse.

I have a similar response to the run game. It was really a pretty similar performance to last week, with plenty of mistakes and struggles. They looked better in the second half, particularly on the drive that ended in Pendergrass’s 12 yard touchdown run, but they did not show the improvement I thought we might see this week.

3. Can the receivers avoid dropping passes?
Pretty good job by the receivers this week. Off the top of my head I can only think of a couple drops towards the end of the game – one from Kevin Harris and another from Marshall Williams. Granted, they came at a crucial point in the game when you don’t want to be having any mistakes at all, but on the whole I thought it was a very good performance from the receiving corps.

4. Will Ole Miss avoid turnovers? Will Wake be okay if they do?
No, the Rebels did not avoid turnovers. Two interceptions and a lost fumble led to 10 Wake Forest points. The fumbled punt that led to the first score by the Deacs could have been the difference in the game. Without that Wake probably goes into halftime in a big hole and may not have been able to climb out in the second half.

5. How beautiful will Deacon Tower be?
It was definitely beautiful, but I was somewhat surprised they didn’t do anything special to commemorate it. I’d love to hear from anyone who was up there for the game what their thoughts are. Is it a great place to watch the game? Are the amenities and service up to par for gameday? I’m guessing the answers are yes, but I’d love to hear about it.

As for my predictions, well, let’s just say they weren’t so good. Other than the fact that Wake won I didn’t really get anything right. I thought the run game would have a better week, including someone going over 100 yards. Seeing as how there weren’t even 100 yards total, clearly that didn’t happen. I said Ole Miss definitely wouldn’t score 27+ points and they did (28). I predicted 31-17, and although I came close with the 31, it clearly wasn’t the game I projected. Ole Miss gets a lot of credit, but a win is a win and I’ll gladly take it.