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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Having hung out at practice today I can safely say that we would be lucky to have such beautiful weather come September 6th. 77 degrees with a few clouds around is nearly perfect for football.

On the field, the Deacs once again practiced in shells for about two hours. That's two days in a row without full pads; I'm curious to see if they'll wear them again before Thursday's game - possibly on Monday, but I don't know. I don't think it makes a big difference at this point, just sort of interesting to see how they manage that type of thing.

Based solely on the coaches' attitudes on the field today I'm confident they were more pleased with today's practice than yesterday's. Just about everyone was doing his job and I only saw the coaches get animated once. I think that's a good indication that the problems yesterday were just a concentration lapse. The guys just need to make sure not to have another one of those next Thursday.

Practice followed a pretty typical schedule, including individual and special teams periods to start, some first string vs. second string time, and then plenty of work running scout offense and defense of Baylor. They're also working on some situational stuff - 3rd and short situations in 11 on 11, or quarterbacks and receivers practicing what they need to do in scramble situations.

The coaches are constantly warning guys to avoid contact, but sometimes it's unavoidable. Junior Petit-Jean gave TE Ben Wooster a pretty good pop, meeting him at the exact second Wooster caught the ball. Stanley Arnoux also put a pretty good hit on a scout offense player (missed who it was). Everyone got up just fine, so it was nice to see a couple of good hits.

Several plays and players stood out today. Marshall Williams had a handful of really good catches along the sidelines. On one screen pass to D.J. Boldin it looked like there was nowhere to go, but Boldin made one quick juke to get past and managed to get a decent chunk of yards.

Brandon Pendergrass had a particularly good day, bouncing one run outside and beating the defense (I don't think he was ever touched) for what would have been a long touchdown run. A short while later Riley Skinner hit Pendergrass with a 50 yard touchdown pass on a beautiful throw and a great catch.

Defensively I was impressed by CB Michael Willliams' effort against the first team. He broke up a couple of passes and did a good job staying with receivers. On the defensive line I saw Michael Carter make a good move to get past a linemen for what would have been a sack.

The offense spent one period working on third and short situations and I was impressed by the offensive line's ability to pick up blitzes; I'm getting more and more confident about the first string. The second string still struggled however, including a couple of issues with snap counts that had the coaches pretty unhappy. That was really the only time I saw coaches upset today, a pretty good indication of a good practice.

Tomorrow is a day off for the team so there won't be any practice report. I have had the chance to talk to Jim Grobe and Riley Skinner and I'll post those interviews tomorrow.

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If you're the observant type, it only takes a minute at practice to notice that a pretty significant change is occurring. The various stickers and logos have been added to the players' helmets, a clear indication that we must be getting close to seeing some real football.

This afternoon's practice lasted just over two hours and was conducted only in shells. The team started with some individual work and a lot of special teams. Instead of working on the standard special teams units, some "special" special units were in use (confusing, huh?).

Swank and the punters were working on stopping 35 yard punts just shy of the goal line and Brandon Ghee and the return team were working on blocking punts, plus just about every other special teams unit got some work.

The team also spent a significant portion of the day working on redzone offense and defense. It's important for them to get this kind work in, as things get a lot more cramped down there and things look different than they do when there's plenty of field to work with.

The ball-catchers (WRs and TEs) had a rough day. Not only were they dropping balls, but they were consistently getting in trouble for running the wrong routes. There was clearly confusion - sometimes receivers nearly collided. I noticed Andrew Parker and Ben Wooster had particularly bad days, with several drops each.

The lack of concentration in catching balls would have been enough to make the coaches mad by itself. The wrong routes receivers ran only made them even angrier. Several times I heard coaches remind players that these mistakes could potentially cost them the game next week at Baylor. It got bad enough for the coaches to make all receivers stop and do pushups for awhile.

Riley Skinner's passing looked crisp and accurate. Josh Adams and Brandon Pendergrass were both running well.

Matt Woodlief came up with an impressive interception during red zone 7 on 7. All of a sudden he had an arm in the air tipping the ball to himself for a pick. Devon "Y'lou" Brown was the only receiver I noticed making any impressive catches.

Aside from the helmets, the biggest indication of the transition from preseason to regular season was the amount of time dedicated to scout time. At least half of the practice was spent preparing specifically for Baylor.

As far as I'm concerned, it's about time.

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For the second straight scrimmage the Wake Forest defense had an impressive performance. Not only did they combine for 11 sacks, but they flew to the ball and provided great pressure all afternoon long.

Matt Robinson single handedly had three sacks, as well as another tackle for loss and five total tackles.

Aaron Curry and Gelo Orange also had five tackles, and John Russell, Anthony Davis, and Kyle Wilbur all had 1.5 sacks.

The only way the offense could get anything done was through the air. Riley Skinner completed 13 of 21 passes for 142 yards with one interception and one touchdown. The interception came on a deep pass to Ben Wooster which was just barely under-thrown and tipped by Josh Bush for an interception. Later Wooster and Skinner got it right and hooked up for a 10 yard touchdown shortly after Skinner had scrambled for a 30 yard gain.

Devon Brown, D.J. Boldin, and Wooster all had four catches on the day. Two of Boldin's catches were one-handed grabs across the middle, and Marshall Williams also had a nice catch coming across the middle which he was able to turn upfield for 10 extra yards. Andrew Wright dropped the first three passes thrown to him, but later in the scrimmage he had a 50 yard catch and run for a touchdown that was called back due to an illegal formation, the product of some of the new formations and motion packages the offense is putting in.

Unfortuantely, the running game continued to struggle this afternoon. Josh Adams had six caries for 19 yards, and Brandon Pendergrass had 19 yards on four carries with one touchdown. The offensive line just isn't getting enough of a push yet, particularly the second string. The first string is showing improvement and I'm confident they'll get the job done, but there just isn't any depth at all. I'm sure the scrimmages are not any fun for Brett Hodges, who constantly has to scramble to avoid pressure.

The only injury of note was to Ryan Britt who went down with a knee/leg injury. I'm not sure of his status.

After two scrimmages I'm still pretty worried about the running game, particularly if the team ever has any injury problems on the offensive line. The second string is nowhere near ready for a real game situation. Even though it wasn't Skinner's best day ever, he still looked fairly good and is definitely ready to lead the offense this season. I think the offense is going to throw the ball a lot more this year, and Skinner will probably need to be ready to scramble some in the process.

The upside to all of this is that the defense continues to look very very good. When all is said and done this year I would not be surprised if they are one of the top units in the nation.

The overall progress is good, but the offense will need to improve even more over the next two weeks to be ready for Baylor.

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The Deacs were back at it today with two-a-day number two out of five. Once again the double practices were used to keep working on conditioning and stamina as the team prepares for its second scrimmage tomorrow.

As everyone has probably figured out by now, most practices follow a pretty typical schedule, including individual drills, 7-on-7, 11-on-11, and special teams. For two-a-days, the teams wears shoulder pads and helmets only (they call it "shells") for the morning practice and full pads in the afternoon. Nothing new there today.

The thing that really stood out today were the wide receivers and the job they were doing against the defensive backs in 1-on-1 drills. The receivers were running very crisp routes and working hard to get themselves open. They definitely impressed some people, and it's another sign that this unit is improving and is ready to step up when the season starts.

Not totally sure why, but tight end Ben Wooster sat out both of today's practices, perhaps he hurt something yesterday, but I'm pretty sure it's nothing major and he'll be day-to-day. Freshman tight end Andrew Parker was apparently hurt in the morning practice, tried to come back and practice in the afternoon, but was not able to finish. I imagine he's just day-to-day as well.

Chip Brinkman and Anthony Williams are also getting better, and I think we may see them back on the field as soon as Friday. Cameron Ford was also jogging again today, so it appears he's well on the road to recovery.

Tomorrow's scrimmage is at 3:30, and I'll have a report on it tomorrow night.

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