That still happened

I thought it was possible that by taking a couple of days off somehow something might change and Wake wouldn't have lost to Maryland on Saturday. Clearly it was wishful thinking. The loss happened, and it was just as ugly as it seemed to be at the time. Yep. 26-0. It's true.

The last few weeks have been deceptive. The Florida State game started making people nervous about a lack of offense, but the defense played so well and the Deacs won such an important game that it was easy to forgive. Against Navy it was easy to blame Riley Skinner's incredibly poor day for most of the offensive problems, and it wasn't a conference game so losing that game is less painful. Every team has a really bad game at some point, right? Against Clemson the Deacs finally got in the endzone, and even though it wasn't a pretty offensive performance, it seemed to be headed in the right direction. The defense played very well once again, and a Thursday night ACC victory made it all good.

There aren't any excuses left. There aren't any rose colored glasses. There aren't any silver linings, either. The Deacs were dominated by Maryland in every aspect of the game, with no one to blame but themselves. Okay, sure, had Swank been available to play Wake scores at least 6 points in the first half and maybe things play out differently, but I don't think anyone can honestly say that Sam Swank would have been enough to turn this one around.

The defense didn't play as well as they did against FSU and Clemson, but I don't think it's fair to expect that kind of performance from them every week. At some point the offense has to be able to put points on the board.

Perhaps the hard part about this one is that there isn't any one place to lay the blame. There isn't an easy fix where we can hope for one change to make a big difference. Skinner was not at his best, but he didn't throw a bunch of interceptions. The receivers dropped passes, the offensive line missed blocks, and the running backs didn't help themselves out. It was just a terrible performance by every measure.

It's not surprising that it has left many fans somewhat hopeless. Where a week ago people were thinking about making reservations for Tampa and/or Miami, now people are wondering if this team can win a few more games and stay on the east coast for bowl season.

Certainly Wake could go down to Miami on Saturday and have a great performance that changes everything, but that is nothing but wishful thinking at this point. This offense cannot put points on the board. It's never easy to win games that way.

As usual, let's see what the answers to the burning questions were:

1. Will the defense keep up the near-perfect performances?
Nope, not this week. That's not to say it was a terrible performance. They were on the field for the entire game and did some good things, but it was far from perfect. Aaron Curry seemed to have an off day, Maryland game planned effectively and stayed away from Alphonso Smith, and the defensive line wasn't able to get any pressure on Maryland's quarterback. It may have been a fine performance, but the level of expectation this defense created for itself in two previous ACC games was certainly not met.

2. Will the red zone play calling improve?
Usually you ask a question like this assuming that at least sometime in the game you'll be in the redzone. At least once. Wake never got closer than Maryland's 23. I'd have much rather seen bad red zone play calling than no red zone play calling. Perhaps playcalling in general was poor?

3. Is Saw Swank going to play? Will the rest of the team stay healthy?
No Swank. No Points. We need Swank back in the worst of ways. Maybe he could jumpstart the scoring. Maybe he could go out there and block. Something, anything. The rest of the team did stay healthy. That's nice, I guess.

Predictions: I predicted 20-13 Wake. Maryland had their 13 points in the first half. The Deacs are still looking for any of theirs.

I'm pretty sure I'll have the chance to watch some film of this one and try to figure out where some of the offensive problems are coming from, but that doesn't mean I'll have any solutions. We'll see what we come up with.