For a season opener, Thursday night’s 41-13 victory over the Baylor Bears leaves little to complain about. No matter who the opponent is, a convincing road win to open the season can’t do anything but help a team.

It wasn’t a perfect showing, but it was pretty dang good. Riley Skinner had an excellent start, completing 27 of 36 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns. He found D.J. Boldin more than anyone else – seven times for 33 yards, but had the most success throwing to Ben Wooster (six catches, 90 yards, one touchdown) and Chip Brinkman (three catches, 29 yards, two touchdowns).

The rushing game struggled, although the final total of 165 yards wouldn’t show it. Were it not for C.J. Washington’s two carries for 63 yards on the final drive of the game, that number wouldn’t have been nearly as impressive. Josh Adams carried the ball 14 times for 37 yards and a touchdown, and Brandon Pendergrass’s 14 rushes only went for 34 yards and a touchdown. Neither had a run longer than 10 yards, and averaged 2.6 and 2.4 yards respectively.

Sam Swank looked very solid, making field goals of 40 and 42 yards, all five extra points, and causing three touchbacks on eight kickoffs. His punting was pretty solid, too, averaging 39 yards and putting three of four punts inside the 20, once all the way down to the four.

It was great to see Skinner avoid throwing any interceptions, however four fumbles (two were lost) aren’t going to cut it in the future against stronger opponents.

Defensively, Aaron Curry led the way, making seven tackles and half a sack. He made some great hits and just looks like a leader on the field. Hunter Haynes, Chantz McClinic, and Boo Robinson all recovered fumbles, and Alphonso Smith and Alex Frye had their first interceptions of the season.

Baylor’s offense could never get much going. They were held to 94 rushing yards and 156 passing yards. Freshman quarterback Robert Griffin showed some promise for Baylor, but with Art Briles’ new offensive scheme and his lack of experience he just wasn’t able to get anything going.

Obviously there’s a lot more to a football game than statistics and numbers, so let’s take a look at the questions I asked in Wednesday’s preview:

Will we see a noticeably different defensive scheme this year?
I’m going to have to review the film to give a good answer to this question, but my quick answer is that it’s not all that different, just better. I didn’t see anything in the actual scheme that stuck out to me as “different,” but I did see some very effective play from the defensive line, linebackers, and secondary – in other words, everyone. We all know this, but I’m going to say it anyway: Alphonso Smith’s technique is flawless. His defense on the pass to the corner of the endzone was absolutely perfect, and that wasn’t the only example. His heads-up interception was great as well. Still, I’m not convinced the defensive scheme is any different.

How will Steed Lobotzke balance the pass and run?
This one went almost exactly how I expected. I’d have to go back and look at some numbers from last season to see how different the pass/run numbers actually were (given the fact that the offense ran the ball a lot in the fourth quarter to kill the clock there may not actually be a statistical difference), but it was clear that this offense is going to rely on the passing game. Riley Skinner is definitely up to the challenge, and although they weren’t particularly consistent, the receivers showed a lot of promise. D. J. Boldin looked great, but had a case of the drops, particularly on plays that required him to jump to catch the ball – he just couldn’t hang on when he hit the ground. Chip Brinkman wasn’t flashy, but he was definitely effective when it mattered. Ben Wooster is definitely a go-to target for Skinner and does a good job getting yards after the catch. If it weren’t for a few very unnecessary drops and the fumble by Marshall Williams this group would have been nearly perfect.

In pass protection the offensive line did a very good job. They only allowed one sack and I was pretty impressed. When it came to opening up holes for the running backs, however, things started to break down. There just wasn’t a significant enough push to really get anything going. If they’re having those kinds of problems with Baylor’s defensive line I don’t want to imagine the problems they could have with teams like Clemson. Josh Adams and Brandon Pendergrass have the ability to do some really good things this season, but I think they’re going to need some more help to really have outstanding seasons. Even though it was with and against the second string, C.J. Washington was probably the most impressive running back on the field in his two carries. It will be interesting to see if that performance leads to any first team carries next weekend. He definitely made the most of the opportunity.

All of that is a very long answer to the question, but I think the takeaway is that the offense should and will rely heavily on the passing game this season, and the talent is there to make that strategy work.

How many true freshmen will actually play?
This one’s easy. Two.

Joe Looney and Andrew Parker both got playing time early and fairly often. I’ll pay closer attention to them when I’m able to go back to the film, but neither did anything to really stand out positively or negatively. As expected, Kenny Okoro and Chance Raines did not play.

Is it safe to let Alphonso Smith return kicks?
For tonight, yes. I’m still not entirely convinced, but I’m becoming more and more agreeable to this idea, particularly because I understand that you can’t not do things that will help the team just because you’re scared of an injury. As I expected, Alphonso Smith was effective, and nearly looked like he would break a big one in the second half. I’m sure he will sooner rather than later.

Reflections on my prediction:
I predicted a 30-10 victory, and I was happy to see the offense greatly exceed my expectations. I had predicted a defensive/special teams touchdown (which didn’t happen) so the offense actually scored 18 more points than an I predicted. The defense did about what I expected, and I have no complaints there, although I’m sure the defense was glad they didn’t have to face Robert Griffin later in the season when he had a few more games of experience under his belt. If Wake continues to exceed my expectations like this throughout the season, they’ll have a pretty incredible year.

I know that's a lot from me, but what are your thoughts on the game right now? How does this one make you feel as we look towards the rest of the season?

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These days, with everyone concerned about hydration, heat, and humidity, two-a-days have almost completely disappeared from college and professional football. Thankfully they haven't been completely abandoned quite yet, and today the Demon Deacons endured their first of five scheduled two-a-days this fall.

It was apparent to those in attendance this afternoon that the double practice was certainly tiring. At times there was a want of effort and concentration from some players, annoying coaches and fellow players alike. Still, it's hard to blame them when they're nearing the end of four hours of practice for the day.

Wide receivers in general seemed to lack concentration, with more dropped balls than usual. Nonetheless there were some highlights, including a long touchdown pass from Brett Hodges to Jordan Williams, who was back in action today, as well as a great touchdown grab by Andrew Parker in double coverage.

On the whole it was another good day for the defense, with Aaron Curry looking particularly impressive.

One of the main focuses of the day was conditioning, which makes sense for a two-a-day. Everyone ran sprints at the end of practice and did other work in position groups, including lots of sled pushing for the linemen. There's no doubt that these guys will be in shape by the time the preseason ends.

That minor injury bug I talked about this morning continued to make the rounds. On his touchdown catch Andrew Parker came down awkwardly, but I'm not sure exactly what he hurt. Chris Givens also appeared to tweak something on a catch as well. Both sat out the rest of practice but did return to do some pushup-type work while the rest of the team ran sprints at the end of practice.

In other injury updates, Cameron Ford is out of the boot he had been wearing, and Chip Brinkman was doing some jogging today. Still going to be awhile for both of them, but it appears they are making progress.

Only one practice tomorrow at 4:00 leading to another two-a-day on Wednesday.

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As Old Gold & Blog enters its second school year covering Wake Forest athletics, it seemed a fitting time to update the look and layout of things. Hopefully you like the new design and don't have any problems using it, but if any issues arises please let me know. Don't worry, the header images will change on a seasonal basis; other sports will have their chance in the spotlight later in the year.

I also recognize that many of you have become new followers of Old Gold & Blog in the last few months, and I want to point you towards the subscription options over to the right. If you subscribe via RSS you'll be updated every time there's a new post. Subscribing via email puts Old Gold & Blog in your inbox once per day. There's no better way to keep track of the latest Wake Forest news and analysis.

On to the news...

Yesterday was the first day of practice for the Demon Deacons. Besides my report, the Nenon report, and this report from the official website there wasn't a whole lot of specific practice coverage.

Still, yesterday produced plenty of other Wake Forest links. I asked my three questions a couple days ago, but Heather Dinnich finally asks hers. The Raleigh News & Observer has a few questions as well. Dinnich also names Alphonso Smith and Sam Swank as two of the top five clutch players in the conference, and Swank makes it into the nation's top ten.

The previews keep pouring in, this time Dan Collins for the Sporting News.

Want to take a look inside Deacon Tower? Done.

Want to be amazed by Aaron Curry? He can power clean a lot of weight. 374 pounds to be exact. Check it out:

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