Ugly, but a win is a win

Let's start with the big picture: the Demon Deacons beat Clemson, are now 4-1 overall and 2-0 in conference - the only undefeated team in the Atlantic division. Regardless of how we got there, it's a pretty good place to be.

It's a popular phrase at the moment, but it's true: Wake is in the "driver's seat" of this division, and more than likely they could even afford a loss and still be just fine.

Now let's get back to last night. Wake beat Clemson 12-7. Not exactly the most exciting game I've ever seen, in fact I imagine it was pretty boring for anyone who wasn't a Wake or Clemson fan. If winning ugly is what it takes to win, though, you won't hear any complaints from me.

Starting with positives, the entire defense gets a huge thumbs up. I don't think anyone could have asked for a better performance. Before the game the Block-C guys asked me who to watch out for on defense, to which I answered "Phonz and Curry." No doubt both of those guys stepped up. Phonz came up with a big interception which led to field goal number two, and Curry led the team with 9 tackles. My "sleeper" was Boo Robinson, who had a huge game. I have trouble believing the official stats - which only give him 4 tackles, since I'm pretty sure he had about that many tackles in the first quarter. John Russell also deserves lots of credit for two big sacks and a good night all around. Clemson had 21 rushing yards for the game on 23 attempts. Through the air they only came up with 177 yards. The defense held them to less than 200 yards total offense. That's amazing. I could never ask for anything more.

Riley deserves a lot of credit for the way he bounced back from the Navy game. He completed 22 of 34 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown. Even more important, he didn't throw a single interception. If all of that isn't enough, he also led the running attack with 73 yards on the ground.

In fact, the running game as a whole was better. 156 rushing yards is easily the best performance of the season (Baylor was close - but only because of C.J. Washington's last minute long run). That doesn't mean the offensive line and running backs are as good as we'd like them to be, but this was a much better performance all around.

I liked how quick Skinner was to pull the ball down and run. I don't know if that's a strategy that we'll see carry over to future games, or if it was just a vulnerability the coaches found watching film of Clemson, but either way it was very effective. The wildcat or, if you prefer, wild Deacon formation was pretty effective when run from the middle of the field, but I hope we don't see it ever again on first and goal from the one. It can be very effective when there's plenty of space to work with, but you can't let a defense commit to the run like that inside the 5.

It was great to see D.J. Boldin finally get a touchdown catch after leading the receivers in every other category all season long. It was another solid night for the receivers all around.

Shane Popham wasn't perfect, but for a guy kicking for the first time in his career he did a fine job. The first miss wasn't his fault at all - either the snapper or holder's fault. The other miss was bad, but since we still won I'm happy to give him a free pass. All of that being said, I hope Swank is back out there at Maryland.

It wouldn't be fair not to mention a few negatives, so let's hit those quickly.

There's still work to be done in the running game - I'd like to see a bit more consistency. The progress is great, but it's not there yet.

Although the playcalling was pretty good on the whole, I think Lobo needs to rethink things down in the redzone. It's really hard to watch the team drive down to the 15 with ease and then stall there almost every time.

I think those are pretty much the only negatives I can point out, though. They're pretty important, as they're the difference between winning a game like this 28-7 instead of 12-7, but a win is still a win.

I'll definitley be watching film of this one and doing a full analysis, but it will take me a few days to get there. Stay tuned. Otherwise, enjoy a happy weekend of football watching.