I wanted to take this opportunity to let you all know that I have begun a new blog at my new home with Deacons Illustrated, Wake Watch. It's just getting started and there are some kinks to work out, but we'll get things going and hopefully you will all come join me. For those of you who have been Old Gold & Blog subscribers, I'm working on getting RSS/email subscriptions available, but bear with me until I can figure out a way to do it.

The goal here is to fill the void left when I moved from here at Old Gold & Blog to Deacons Illustrated. Let me know what you'd like to see, and I'll do my best to accommodate. Thanks for hanging in there the last couple months while I got settled in with Deacons Illustrated. Hopefully this will let you get your daily Wake fix once again.

The new blog is completely free, but I want to remind you all that we're still offering a free 30 day trial of the premium content at Deacons Illustrated. This includes all the premium stories regarding recruiting, exclusive premium stories about the current teams and athletes, and access to the premium message board. To take advantage of this offer, all you have to do is visit this link, fill out your personal information, and enter the promotional code: DEACS30 (case sensitive).

Thanks everyone, hope to see you on Wake Watch!

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Greetings WF fans!

It's been a tough weekend, as I'm sure you all know well enough. The Demon Deacon football team suffered a very tough loss to NC State, which all but ends our hopes at heading to Tampa.

However, don't quit on the team! As I said in my first ever post on the site; either you fully support this team, or you can hop off the bandwagon.

The men's basketball team is off to a great start with a 94-48 thumping of NC Central. The Deacs have a few more tune-up games, before heading out West for the Anaheim Classic.

Also, don't forget about our men's soccer team who suffered their first loss of the season in the ACC Tournament. Sure it's tough, but the National Title is till the goal for this team.

So with that said, I hope you all have a wonderful week, and be sure to look for a Q&A with some BC folks this week!

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This week I was lucky enough to get in touch with Rob from The Good Ol' Blog, to do a Q&A question regarding the game this weekend. I hope you guys enjoy.

1. Virginia has had an down and up season? Can you explain what's going on in C'ville?

The early season saw way too much turmoil. After the starting quarterback was kicked out of school, Marc Verica took over the helm and struggled early. During that stretch, RB Cedric Peerman was also either out or hobbled, which put too much pressure on a green QB. But, once Peerman was at full strength and Verica started to settle down, the team started winning games again.

2. What should Wake do to defend against the UVA offense.

First off, take away Peerman. If Cedric goes off, it's obviously going to be a long day for the Wake D. Peerman is best at punishing off tackle runs where he gets into space, so simply being ready for these plays would be smart. String him to the outside, and converge. However, make sure you don't get torched by passes to the tight end if the linebackers are biting on play action.

So, you're hope is to make Virginia rely on Verica's passing. And that's not so easy either, as Marc has been very accurate this year and has a pair of playmakers in Kevin Ogletree and Maurice Covington. But the poison you want to pick is hoping Verica is not connecting downfield, which is higher in probability if Peerman has been effectively neutralized.

3. Do you think Virginia is thinking about last year's close game?

Probably -- they know that Wake is probably hungry for the win. Virginia needs its leaders to step up to create enough emotion to match (or come close) to Wake's home field plus revenge energy. The coaches need to make sure this happens. But if the Hoos are comparably flat compared to the Deacs, it will be a long day for the visiting team.

4. Who on defense will the Hoos rely on to stop the Wake offense?

First, Clint Sintim has been a beast this year, and they'll need him to have a big game policing the front seven. His fellow linebacker cohorts need to have one of their best games to harass Wake's quarterback. In the same vein, Ras-I Dowling needs to have a good game in coverage as do the other DBs. Starting CB Vic Hall is questionable, so Ras and the remaining defensive backs need to step up if Hall is hobbled.

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Hey everyone, I just wanted to check in.

I'm sorry about the lack of coverage this week. It has just been really hectic this week, as it's the last week of the season for me in Football.

I promise you guys the coverage will pick up on a daily basis starting on Monday when I have all the time I need, to devote myself to the blog, and keeping you guys updated.

I hope everyone understands, and Go Deacs!

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This weekend turned out to a pretty successful one for the Wake Forest athletic program. First off, I'm sure most of you are overjoyed by our 33-30 OT win over Duke this weekend. I was unable to see the game, but it seems as if Alphonso Smith had a huge game, and it's good to see him making an impact once again.

I'd also like to congratulate the mens soccer team. On Saturday night they defeated the Tar Heels of UNC, to clinch the ACC regular season title, and improve their record to 16-0-1. Congratulations to them.

Hopefully the win over Duke this weekend provided this team some momentum as they need it. This weekend the Deacs host a very very tough Virginia team. Gametime for that one is 3:30 PM on ESPNU.

Sorry I didn't get to see the game this weekend and give you guys some good in-depth analysis. I'm very happy that we won though, as this Duke team is no joke. Cutcliffe is making tremendous strides over there in his first year, and I don't think it should go unnoticed..

Tomorrow starts the work week, so I'll be back tomorrow night with some more news and notes. Also feel free to email me anytime at oldgoldblog@gmail.com, as I'm always open to your thoughts and suggestions. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and Go Deacs!

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