| WINSTON-SALEM — The biggest roar from
the crowd all night was when Clemson’s victory over North Carolina was announced. And the second biggest reaction from the
folks who filled maybe half the seats at Groves Stadium came when they were informed of
Alabama’s stunning upset of Florida.
But the Wake Forest Demon Deacons
didn’t mind that there was precious little noise in their house.
Victories have been rare enough
during Jim Caldwell’s seven-year coaching reign that the Deacons (3-1) aren’t
ever bored by winning — even when that win is as uninspiring as Saturday’s 17-10
nonconference sleepwalk over hapless Rutgers.
Rutgers (0-4) isn’t exactly
on college football’s who’s who list. Sure, there was that unbeaten season that
the Scarlet Knights posted in 1976, and there was that scintillating 5-0 shutout of North
Carolina in 1894, but most of Rutgers’ past hasn’t been a blast.
They’ve had zero winning
seasons since 1992, a fact which made them the perfect opponent for Wake, which
hasn’t posted a winner since 1992, either.
For much of this struggle, it
appeared no one would win — or even wanted to.
“We definitely weren’t
fired up like we were last week (in a rout over N.C. State),” said Deac defensive end
Brian Ray. “It was slow out there, sluggish.”
Incredibly, the teams combined for
700 yards, but had an awful time converting mileage into points.
The highlight of a scoreless first
quarter was a 70-yard Rutgers punt. The lowlights were a miss on a gimme field goal by the
Deacs and Caldwell’s insistence on running Morgan Kane (11 first-quarter carries, 25
yards) into a sea of Knights.
No wonder the kids on hand were
starting to look with longing toward the tilt-a-whirl at the Dixie Classic Fair across the
parking lot.
Things picked up in the second
quarter when Rutgers got a field goal and a 62-yard scoring pass for a 10-0 lead.
Finally, with 1:52 left in the
half, the Deacs (3-1) retaliated with a 90-yard drive that ended with a Kane touchdown.
In the second half, the Deacs were
better. The Knights weren’t.
“We got more physical in the
second half,” said Caldwell.
The Deacs got control for good in
the third quarter when QBBen Sankey hit Jammie Deese for 46 yards to set up a 1-yard
scoring plunge by Kane for a 14-10 lead.
Then in the fourth quarter, Matt
Burdick, who was not called upon on the first field goal failure, knocked through a
30-yarder for a 17-10 cushion.
Burdick’s kick finished off a
methodical 18-play, 83-yard march by the Deacs that consumed two-thirds of the fourth
quarter.
Then the Deacs sewed up the game
when Fabian Davis made a flying recovery when Rutgers muffed a punt with 1:30 left.
Kane finished with 120 yards
— with most coming on that one late drive. Deese had 106 receiving yards, while
Sankey threw for 167.
The bottom line is that the Deacs
are off to their best start since Bill Dooley’s 1987 team opened 5-0 on its way to a
7-4 campaign.
“It’s a win,” said
Ray, “so who cares what the score was. But if we play like this next week, Maryland
will kick our butts.” |
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