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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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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After yesterday's practice I talked about how impressed I've been by the offense. I don't necessarily think I spoke too soon, but today wasn't their day.

Instead it was the defense's turn to shine, but I get the impression that it wasn't so much the defense performing particularly well as it was the offense having some problems. Perhaps it was just a lack of focus for the offense, but receivers dropped way too many balls.

Still, it's good to see the defense have success. Not that anyone should have been worried at this point, but I think it's good for everyone to have some good days early on just to build confidence.

Coach Grobe agreed that it was a good day for the defense. "The defense had a good day today. Yesterday, I thought the offense had the upper hand on the defense. As typically happens, when one side or the other has a good day, the other side gets embarrassed a little bit and comes out and practices better the next day."

Grobe has also mentioned that it's unusual to start doing a lot of special teams work this soon after the start of practices, but once again the team was working on it. Not only did the punt team get some work tonight, but also the field goal unit.

The news on the injury front is not particularly good. Chip Brinkman, who sat out yesterday after being hurt Sunday, will probably be out a couple of weeks with a hamstring injury. It's the type of injury that he could probably return from more quickly, but I'm guessing that they don't want to create a situation where it will nag him for the whole season by bringing him back too early. Still, this is valuable time for a guy like him who is looking to have a big impact this season, and this definitely won't help.

Redshirt freshman tight end Cameron Ford has been injured as well and will likely be out for awhile with an ankle sprain. Also not practicing today were fulback Anthony Williams and tight end J.T. Dixon.

Photo by Bob Hebert

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Still having picture issues - not sure what the problem is. Sorry!

Not too many notes from practice today, and there's some mixed news on the injury front.

The good news: Devon "Y'lou" Brown practiced after sitting out yesterday and made some very good catches in Skelly. The offense continued to have the defense's number, making them look particularly bad in the red zone.

The bad news: Chip Brinkman did not practice and appears to have a thigh injury.

Even though the offense outperformed the defense, the defense did have one big highlight. Junior walk-on linebacker Lee Malchow, who usually gets most of his playing time on special teams, hit receiver D.J. Boldin hard enough to knock his helmet off. It was a huge hit and really fired up the defense.

Even though he took that big hit, Boldin continues to have a great preseason, catching everything in sight. He may not be the next Kenny Moore, but he's showing a readiness to step up and contribute in a big way.

Until today I've felt like it's been too early to really start analyzing things much, but I think we're getting to the point of being able to put some pieces together.

One thing I've noticed consistenly is that the offense has had a lot of success making headway against the defense in passing drills. This is great to see from the wideouts, who all seem like they're ready to step up and get the job done this year. I mentioned Boldin specifically before, but I think the entire passing game is going to be successful.

The other suprising thing about the offense's success is that usually the defense is well ahead of the offense at this point in the preseason. Considering how talented this defense is, the fact that the offense can get things done is very encouraging. I also don't see this as any indication of problems on defense, just a sign that both sides of the ball are very talented.

All of this analysis is based mostly on drills that don't involve the running game very much, so clearly we'll learn a lot more once we start seeing full pads and 11 on 11 scrimmaging, but these have to be good signs for an offense that has some question marks. If the offensive line is able to give Riley some time, I think we'll see some great things from the passing game this year.

Tomorrow the team should be practicing in full pads, which means we may start getting a better read on the run game and offensive line. Hopefully we'll see good things there as well.

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Following this afternoon's practice, left guard Russell Nenon checked in with these notes from practice:

• Practice had high intensity today for the first day in shells.

• The defense did real well in the team segment at the beginning of practice, but...

• The first team offense looked very good in the team segment at the end of practice.

• There were lots of installations of special teams today.

Other observers checked in with the following details:

• The defense in particular was excited to have some pads on and hit some people.

• At one point Devon "Y'lou" Brown took a hit from behind and sat out the rest of practice, but was still on the field watching.

• During 1-on-1 drills Chip Brinkman made a good grab on a deep ball but was tripped up by Chip Vaughn, landed awkwardly, and also sat out the rest of practice. Hopefully both Brinkman and Y'lou are fine, but we'll have to see if they practice tomorrow.

• Kerry Major practiced and appears to be just fine.

• During today's Skelly period (7 on 7) the offense had the upper hand except for a pick-6 by Alphonso Smith. Riley Skinner looked particularly good in this drill as well as 1-on-1 drills. DJ Boldin had some good catches, and Brandon Ghee looked good in coverage.

• Punt team work is starting up and looks more stable than it did in the spring. The snaps look pretty good so far.

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