WAKE FOREST DEMON DEACONS O:9 D:10

Not much has gone right for the Deacons football program since they won the Seattle Bowl back in 2002, but Head coach Jim Grobe is very optimistic about his teams chances of getting back to the post-season in ’06. The team is finally his as the roster is littered with all of his recruits, and the talent level is as deep and as strong as it's been in recent memory. The biggest change is on the defensive side of the ball where the Deacons have ranked near the bottom of the ACC in recent years, but this season, it should be an asset. Ten starters return, and 13 of their top 14 tacklers are also back. Every facet is stacked with depth, experience, and talent and this is clearly HC Grobe’s best defensive squad yet. The offense loses its stud RB, but Micah Andrews should do a solid job filling in behind a very stout O-Line. The WR corps has plenty of experience, but no game breakers to cause any defensive coordinator to lose sleep the night before. QB Ben Mauk needs to become more decisive with his throws as the offense will need some semblance of a balanced attack to keep defenses honest. Hopefully there’s drastic improvement in his junior campaign. They do suffer a huge loss on special teams with the departure of Dan Plackemeier, but should still rank amongst the middle of the pack. The key to Wake getting back to the post-season depends ultimately on how they fare against their non-conference opponents. They have a solid shot of sweeping the board if they bring their “A” game to every battle, and would enter ACC play very confident if that was to happen. Look for Wake to be a very sharp thorn in the side of the ACC elite this season, and lace up its bowling shoes for the second time in the Grobe era.