From the "If you think it's bad, someone else has it worse" department, Clemson blog Block C had this to say late Saturday night:

F*CKITY F*CK F*CK F*CK

You can check out the whole post here, but I think we can all agree that Clemson fans do have it worse than we do right now. I'm not saying that we should feel the least bit bad for them. But at least we can enjoy the fact that they're in much much worse shape than we are. At least for another 9 days, anyway.

Another thing that might make you feel better... Out in Palm Springs, California (which could make you feel better all by itself if you're a golfer) they're calling Wake Forest a "giant." A fallen giant now, but a giant nonetheless.

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Much of yesterday seemed like a bad joke, kind of like the pun in the title. The first half performance was so bad that I literally laughed out loud a couple of times. A glimmer of hope in the third quarter only made the final 24-17 defeat at the hands of the Naval Academy that much more painful.

The most obvious place to start with this one is Riley Skinner. Obviously he couldn't keep avoiding interceptions all season long, but I can't say I expected him to throw four today. After last week's poor performance at Florida State I thought Skinner would bounce back, but it wasn't to be. I've never seen him throw so many poor passes in a game. His fumble only made matters worse. Skinner is still the quarterback of this team. He had a bad day, which happens to everyone from time to time. There's no chance of him being replaced any time soon, but yesterday he just wasn't good enough. It wasn't fun to see.

Skinner's performance stands out the most, but no one else on the offense made his job any easier. The offensive line had another rough afternoon, and weren't helped by Joe Birdsong getting ejected and Jeff Griffin getting hurt. The running game was once again awful and showed no real signs of improvement. The "Wild Deacon" formation used a couple of times didn't look ready for a real game situation. When you have a quarterback who can't throw accurate passes and a running game that can't move the ball, it's going to be hard to win a game.

The defense actually played pretty well. The first half was a bit of a struggle to handle the option, and the injury to Kaipo helped them out a lot, but they only gave up seven points in the second half and spent a lot of time on the field. All things considered, it was a reasonably good performance.

I would have liked to see the Deacs go for it on one, the other, or both fourth and shorts in the fourth quarter. Wasting a timeout to punt the ball was also poor clock management. I try not to act like I know as much as the coaches, but I have to question some of the actions that were taken both in clock management and play calling. I think it's fair to say that it was as much an off day for them as it was for the players.

I'm sure there's plenty more I can (and probably will eventually) say, but I want to get to the pregame questions.

1. If Wake has a run game, can it please show up?
Nope. Not yet, anyway. 45 rushing yards. That's it. I don't think there's much more to say about it. Terrible.

2. How well will Wake contain the option?
The defense struggled with the option early, but improved with experience. The pass defense may have actually been the most dissapointg part. We all know it's hard to prepare for Navy's offense, but I think the defense can be satisfied with it's performance. It wasn't as perfect as last week, but it was pretty good. Kaipo's injury helped, and there were some pretty glaring mistakes, but that's what an option offense will do to you from time to time.

3. Injury avoidance is key - can the Deacs stay healthy?
I asked this question with the basic assumption that a win was more or less inevitable. At that point, we'd just want to get out healthy. Turns out, the win was definitely "less" inevitable... much less. Jeff Griffin was hurt, but otherwise everyone was fine. Still, the loss looms much larger than health after a game like this.

4. Will the parents pack the stands?
Not a good weather day, but the crowd was pretty good and stuck around despite the conditions and the poor performance on the field. Family weekend has been less than successful recently. Same thing happend two years ago against Clemson...we all know what happened in that one.

5. Will the Wake fans honor this Navy team like they did Army last year?
Yep, all good on this front. Fans and players were all very respectful, and I must say that it's pretty cool to see all the cadets stand at attention for the national anthem. The alma maters after the game were nice as well, even if they weren't much fun. Still, very classy all the way around.

Predictions: I look foolish once again. 31-17? Not exactly. One team scored 17, but it definitely wasn't the right one. Navy took care of business. Rough.

As much as I'd like to forget this game quickly, the bye week isn't going to make it easy. I'm sure we'll spend plenty of time breaking down the game. The good news is, it wasn't an ACC loss. Any hopes of going to a national championship game may have gone down the drain, but the Orange Bowl is just as likely as it was before. With others around the conference dropping games all over the place, I have to think Wake is still the favorite to come out of the Atlantic division. I guess that can be today's silver lining.

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...but I wish it was.

I spent most of last night trying to forget about losing to Navy, but the facts are the facts.

Dan Collins is so clever..."A sinking feeling..." nice.

I guess the Washington Post has a beat writer for Navy, so here's that perspective.

Heather Dinnich says Wake fell into its trap, which was apparently inevitable.

I'm going to stop the bleeding there, but not for long. My game review will be up in a bit.

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Today's live blog will start at 3:30. I'll be posting remotely from the stadium (assuming the rain stops) and Scott will be helping me out by managing comments and such. It's the first time we've done it this way so bear with us if we have issues. Hopefully things will go off without a hitch. Hope you'll join us!

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It's family weekend here on campus, and the weather probably couldn't be any worse. The temperature is hovering around 60 degrees, and I don't believe it has stopped raining all day. Nonetheless, the Demon Deacons will be playing football tomorrow afternoon, and even though there may not be sun, forecasts are predicting the rain will be gone by game time.

The Facts:
Date: Saturday, September 27, 2008
Time: 3:45 p.m. EDT
Location: BB&T Field, Winston-Salem, NC
Broadcast: ESPNU, ISP Radio Network

A win tomorrow means seven in a row for the Deacs, tying a school record. It'd be great to have that win in hand and be looking to set a new record against Clemson. A win would also be Jim Grobe's 50th at Wake.

I hope to never feel like the game is in question, and I'd really like to see the run game have a big day. I'm not totally confident we're going to see it, but we'll see. A well-run option offense is never easy to deal with, so I don't expect a flawless game from the defense, but ultimately I think Wake's talent level will make the difference.

Things to watch for:

1. If Wake has a run game, can it please show up?
I'm done saying "I think the run game will finally show up this week." Now I just going to hope they do. I'll keep hoping until it happens, but I won't get mad about it until it starts costing the team wins.

2. How well will Wake contain the option?
It's never an easy task, and for the first quarter of last year's matchup Navy was having a fair amount of success. It wasn't until an Aaron Curry hit knocked quarterback Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada out of the game that things started falling apart for the midshipmen. He's back this year and I think Navy could easily score a lot of points if the Deacs aren't prepared. I hope now that Paul Johnson is gone the option isn't quite as potent, but I'm not counting on that.

3. Injury avoidance is key - can the Deacs stay healthy?
There's so much potential for this season that it would be really terrible to see anyone go down this week. DT John Russell is listed as probable on the injury report with a shoulder injury. There's a bye week next week so hopefully things will be okay even if there's a minor injury of some kind, but it'd be great to emerge both healthy and victorious.

4. Will the parents pack the stands?
As I menitoned eariler, it's parents weekend and there will be lots of families in the stands. With questionable weather and one of the less exciting opponents of the season, It'll be interesting to see just how full BB&T field is.

5. Will the Wake fans honor this Navy team like they did Army last year?
I sincerely hope this is a rhetorical question. These guys are much more than football players and deserve respect from all Wake fans for the contributions they're making to our country. I loved the way the fan base, students included, cheered for Army last year, and I hope to see the same thing tomorrow. I also look forward to seeing the Wake players honor the Navy alma mater after the game. Always a classy touch by Jim Grobe teams.

Predictions: I come to this segment of the previous cautiously, as I looked pretty foolish with last week's 41-36 prediction. I expect a significant margin of victory this week, and I think the Deacs will put points on the board, so I'm going to go with 31-17. Navy is going to beat themselves, so Wake needs to get the job done.

One last thing - someone in last week's live blog (maybe Scott?) said they'd be willing to help out with a live blog tomorrow. If you or anyone else is interested, shoot me an email and let me know so we can try to get it set up.

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This week I had the pleasure of exchanging questions with The Birddog, an excellent Navy blog. I imagine blogging about Navy football isn't always the easiest or most glamorous thing to do, so I'm very impressed with the product over there. I'll post a link once he posts my answers, and his answers are below:

1. I know this has very little to do with the game being played this weekend, but I think my readers and I will find it interesting. What is it like to be a Navy football player? Clearly it can't be easy to balance football and life at the Naval Academy and everything that entails. How do these guys handle it?

TBD: Boy, I don't know if I'm qualified to answer that question. It may sound a bit odd, but I don't think that "balancing" life is really an issue. Every minute of every athlete's day is so regimented that a lot of decision-making is kind of taken out of their hands. The real marvel is how well these guys handle stress. Imagine having a paper due on Wednesday, a Thermodynamics exam on Thursday, duties to perform as your company admin officer, and hitting the road on Friday for a Saturday game at a top-25 ACC powerhouse. A lot is expected of these guys, and they have a very high standard to meet. Needless to say, it takes a special person to handle the rigors of Division I athletics, a Naval Academy education, and military commitments. But if you can tackle all three, then there's a pretty good chance that you have what it takes to be a good naval officer.

One of the unique things about being a Navy fan is that it's easy to relate to the athletes' experience. They live in the same dorm as everyone else, take the same classes, go on summer training, and go through plebe summer like everyone else. Varsity athletes are in every company and have leadership roles within the brigade. They are truly representative of the student body, and I think that makes for a greater connection between fan and athlete that doesn't exist at a lot of other schools. It can create some friction sometimes, too; some people resent athletes due to perceived special treatment. But those guys are usually nerds.

2. Navy played reasonably well against Ball State and Duke but still lost, then has a nice win over Rutgers. I'm having trouble figuring out what this team is really going to do this year. Can it beat teams like Wake, Pitt, and Notre Dame? Do you think Navy will win any of these games?

TBD: I'm not sure what this team is capable of yet, since we're only now seeing the team at close to full strength. Rutgers was the first game where Kaipo was anywhere close to 100%, which makes a huge, huge difference. Eric Kettani was injured on his first carry against Duke, but was reasonably healthy against Rutgers. Navy is also breaking in four new starters on the offensive line, and they played what was by far their best game last week. The defense was also greatly improved. I wouldn't say that they're good, but they are at least no longer laughingly bad. If they played last year the way they played against Rutgers, the Mids might have won another game or two. Can Navy win any of those games? I think so. Navy definitely has yet to play their best football of the season.

3. Running Back Shun White has had a pretty impressive start to the season. How good is he and what is he capable of? Is there anyone on the team who may not be putting up big numbers right now but is making, or is poised to make, a big contribution this season?

TBD: Shun White is very good, and he's the team's best home run threat while Kaipo and Eric Kettani are still getting back to 100%. He's getting an unusual number of carries for a Navy slotback; he has almost as many carries through four games this year (63) as he did all of last year (78). He's the one player on Navy's roster that actually looks like a traditional tailback, and so far he's being used like one. He's averaging 10 yards per carry, thanks mostly to several 60+ yard runs he had against Towson, Ball State, and Duke.

Kaipo and Eric Kettani will get faster as they heal, but last week they clearly weren't at full speed yet. The next best big-play threat is wide receiver Tyree Barnes. He's big, fast, and isn't afraid to catch a ball in traffic. He has two touchdown receptions in the last two weeks, and had a 100-yard game at Duke. Obviously, that's a big deal for a receiver in an offense that rarely throws more than 10-12 times per game.

4. Where to you think Navy has a favorable matchup against Wake Forest? Where do you think Navy is likely to struggle?

TBD: Navy has no favorable matchups against Wake Forest. I'm not just blowing smoke, either. Wake is talented and experienced at every position. Now, that doesn't mean that Navy can't hold their own in this game. But if you're looking for a particular weakness that the Mids will be able to exploit... There isn't one.

Last week, Rutgers had a lot of success when they spread their formations and ran the ball. That's exactly what has been Wake's bread and butter for years. You know that Jim Grobe wants to get the running game back on track, and I suspect that's what he'll try to do. Unless there's been some kind of epiphany for the Navy defense, it'll probably work.

5. Do you have any predictions for Saturday's games - score or otherwise?

TBD: I cheesed out on making a prediction last year, and I'm going to cheese out on making a prediction this year too. I do think that this year's game will be a lower-scoring affair, thanks in part to the new clock rules and better defenses on both sides. Navy was able to go toe-to-toe with the Deacs last year (offensively, anyway) when Kaipo was healthy. When he left, the offense just wasn't able to keep pace. Navy's best hope is to limit the number of posessions in the game by forcing Wake to make long drives, and hopefully be within striking distance at the end of the game.

His point about the new clock rules is interesting and one I had not considered. With such a run oriented offense I imagine the new rules really do shorten Navy's games. I'm interested to see what impact that could have on the game.

I think these may be the best, most thoughtful answers of the year so far - big thanks to Birddog for taking the time. Make sure to visit the blog for more on Navy football.

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