In an effort to bring some of the Web 2.0/social networking flexibility and features to fellow Wake Forest Demon Deacon sports fans, I have created a Wake Forest sports page at FriendFeed.  The new FriendFeed design allows for a seamless integration of news content and message board discussion- things that have traditionally been separate.

It is and will remain a work in progress, as I and hopefully others locate and import relevant news feeds for centralized reading and to serve as discussion starters.  I have added a few Deacon sports-related news feeds.  Others will be added, and some will likely be dropped over time as we zero in on the best feeds for content and discussion purposes.

The thing I like about this structure is that discussion threads, resembling traditional message board threads, can be started by any user, via the message box at the top of the page.  Additionally, each news item has an associated comment box beneath it.  If I can get a critical mass of WFU fans to give it a try, I think people will really like the flexibility inherent in the FriendFeed design.

 
Here’s the message box, where users can create discussion topics.  You 
can add photos and/or links to your post.  You can also select to push
any post you make to Twitter, Facebook or other external sites.

  
Here’s the way discussion threads display.  Yes, it’s different
from traditional message board posts, but the ability to import
all kinds of relevant content and to view discussions on the same
page creates a vastly improved experience.

And here is the way news stories appear.  Note that you can
“Like” a news story and/or start a Comment (e.g., discussion
thread) below the story.

I hope some other WFU fans will join me in my efforts to create a new and improved news and discussion experience.

Go Deacs!

The Deacs opened the season Thursday night at Baylor.  It was a rare and welcomed opportunity to see my team in person.  Here are some photos, using Flickr’s new embeddable slideshow feature.

I guess Buzz Bruggeman was mighty happy on Sunday when his boy J.J. Reddick got to experience winning a game at Wake Forest for the first time ever. This loss won’t do much to increase the WFU hat quotient.

I’m going to explain that loss in three words. It’s about recruiting.

I’m not trashing Wake’s players. Wake has some great players that compare well to most other teams in the country. Teams that actually have to recruit players, that is.

If you follow college basketball recruiting you know that Duke can generally select the recruits it signs. Take a look at the recruting databases on Scout.Com or any major college sports network and you’ll see blue chip prospects with offers from tons of schools with a notation that the kid has “medium interest” in those schools. Then there’s Duke with a “no offer” notation and an indication that the player has “high interest” in the Blue Devils. Usually this means these kids are waiting to see if Duke will “select” them. Duke doesn’t recruit, it selects.

So think about it this way. Let’s say we decide to play basketball or soccer or croquet or red rover or whatever. And let’s say that rather than take turns picking our team, I get to pick my entire team first. In that case, I should win almost every game, right? In fact, if I don’t it’s the result of either a failure on my part to pick the right people or a tremendous effort on the part of you or your team.

When you think about it that way, it says a lot about Skip Prosser and the WFU team that J.J. Reddick took 4 years to win at Wake.

After beating ECU for win number one in this soon to be written off season, the Deacs took on Maryland this afternoon in the Deacs’ Homecoming game. Not too many people came home if the crowd on TV, particularly early, was any indication. The Deacs lost a game that was only within reach because of Maryland mistakes 22-12.

Rather than rehash how bad we looked, how predictable our offense is and how we couldn’t throw the ball in the ocean from the shore, I think I’ll jump right to my conclusions:

1) Like everything in college sports, it comes down to recruiting. Some optimists at ACCBoards.Com love to bash recruiting rankings and claim such rankings are skewed and don’t matter. Here’s the only problem with that: it’s utterly and completely wrong. While rankings are certainly part art as well as part science, it has been empirically proven by the ACC Area Sports Journal on more than one occasion that the teams that get the higher ranked players will win more games than those that don’t. I’m not bashing our players by saying that- I am simply stating a fact.

2) The fact that WFU generally battles Duke for the lowest ranked recruiting classes in the ACC requires Jim Grobe to do things to compensate for the talent differential. At first, he was able to close that gap by running a lot of misdirection and orbit plays (I don’t know where that overused and never successful shovel pass came from- it was on almost as much as the commercial for that stupid golf movie). The problem is that other teams, especially the other ACC teams, have figured it out. The smoke and mirrors quit working and while the coordinators have not distinguished themselves this year, there’s only so much they can do. The way to win more games consistently over the medium and long term is to recruit players as good or better than most of the other teams you play. I don’t know if that’s possible at WFU, but trying to pretend it’s not necessary is a recipe for failure. You simply can’t count on sneaking up on people to get you to a bowl every year or five.

3) The talent differential also makes it easier for other coaches to implement halftime adjustments than for Grobe to do so. The second half trends this year bear that out. Grobe appears to be getting outcoached at halftime, but again there’s only so much he can do.

4) WFU does not have a single real threat at wide receiver. Part of the reason Ben (who ain’t jamin’) Mauk looks so bad out there (and he does look really bad out there) is because his receivers can’t get open. And even when they do and he actually throws the ball to them instead of tucking it for yet another QB keeper (if I were the running backs I wouldn’t even bother running on the option plays because Mauk never gives them the ball), they often drop it. If we had better receivers, Mauk would look less bad.

5) Now for the thing I’m the most certain about- the coaching staff does not have confidence in Mauk. They can say they do, but their game plans make it obvious they don’t. Grobe said earlier this year that Mauk does not have the green light to audible out of plays except in certain situations (which must mean that all the pointing and walking around pre-snap is some sort of head fake designed to fool any defensive players who didn’t read that interview). If that’s the case, then the play calling makes it abundantly clear that the staff views Mauk’s arm as the weapon of last resort. Whether this is because of him or them, I don’t know. But if this is so obvious to me, it’s also obvious to other coaches, which is exactly why other teams keep daring Wake to pass the ball.

This all adds up to a long season for the Deacs. I’m not sure if there is an answer, but if there is, someone on the WFU board at ACCBoards.Com will come up with it.

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Last week I predicted that Wake would lose at Nebraska by 10 or less. Silly me, I forgot that the game was on national TV. A nationally televised game guarantees a WFU embarrassment and that’s what we got. I suspect that at some point the networks will notice this and, but for any games mandated by the ACC TV contract, we won’t see any more Deacon football on national TV.

In a game in which Nebraska’s bad offense made Wake’s mediocre (which, by WFU standards, means “pretty good”) defense look very good for a half, Nebraska spanked the Deacs 31-3. WFU is now 0-2 for the season, with 5 top 25 teams among the 9 games that make up the rest of the season. It’s going to be tough to match last years’ 4-7 record. That’s what losing at home to Vanderbilt will do for you.

Ben Mauk, who was an amazing high school QB but was (maybe not so) curiously not recruited by the big boys, looked absolutely awful (and that’s being kind). Micah Andrews looked OK, but lightning didn’t strike twice (not another 250+ yard game). The special teams looked, well, not very special. If there’s a worse kicking team in America, I don’t know about it. As far as I can tell, we have no WRs.

Here’s my thing: Jim Grobe has been riding the benefits of taking a typically 3-8 team and turning it into a typically 5-6 team for a couple of years now. That’s a fine accomplishment, but at some point Wake needs to actually win some games. Clearly, Bill Callahan made much more effective halftime adjustments than Grobe. I’m still a Grobe fan, because I believe that if anyone can win at Wake, it’s Grobe. But itsy bitsy baby steps and moral victories are no longer enough for me. I want some tangible evidence in the only place where it matters: the won-loss column.

Playing in the ACC, you simply can’t afford to let winnable games slip away. Vanderbilt (at home, no less) was a gimme that Wake lost. Nebraska, who has an anemic offense and struggled with Division I-AA Maine last week, was winnable. Many of the remaining games are simply not winnable absent a major upset. Wake plays better when it has no chance, so expect some close losses (as long as the Deacs are not on national TV).

Some folks will rightly call for Cory Randolph at QB after Mauk’s performance. I can understand that (believe me I can), but Grobe should either stick with Mauk or, if there is a younger QB with potential, maybe give him a shot. This year is over bowl-wise, and Randlolph is a senior. We need to give next year’s QB experience this year. There’s always next year. It’s just that with the Deacs, next year will probably look a lot like this year.

Come join the post-game party on the WFU message board at ACCBoards.Com.

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college football, wake forest

In a clash of the titans that resonated throughout college football, my two alma maters met in a gridiron war tonight. In the first live college football game televised on ESPN-U, Vanderbilt (my graduate school) beat Wake Forest (my undergraduate school) 24-20.

I care about Wake Forest and follow the Deacons football team closely, even though I know from 40+ years experience that it will almost always be painful and frustrating. I don’t follow Vanderbilt athletics at all, so the fact that this was a game between my alma maters is more trivia than conflict.

Jim Grobe has been anointed the savior of Wake Forest football, and he may be (to the extent it can be saved). Wake loses games by a few points now, whereas it used to lose by a lot of points. Vanderbilt, who was 2-9 last year and is even more entrenched near the bottom of the SEC than WFU is near the bottom of the ACC came into Wake’s home stadium and beat the Deacs again, raising Vandy’s record against Wake to 7-3 (a better record than either team has had since 1992). Next week, the Deacs travel to Nebraska. Let’s do some projections: Wake loses to a traditionally pitiful Vandy team at home by 4 then travels to play a traditionally good Nebraska team. Hmmm…. Sounds like a recipe for moral victory (Wake has a lot of those). Mark it down- Wake will lose by 10 or less next week. For sure, the Deacs will lose, but they will look good doing it. Otherwise we Deac fans would just write off the season and try to recoup our emotional investment. An investment that has had consistently poor returns over the years.

Here are my thoughts on tonight’s game.

Yes, Vandy’s Jay Cutler is a good QB (276 yards passing). But to try to rationalize this loss on the fact that the opponent has a good QB is simply a canard. If it hadn’t been the QB it would have been a RB, WR, kicker or equipment manager.

Like every other year, the Deacs seem utterly unable to put any pressure on the QB. With 11 seconds to throw, Harpo Marx would look like Johnny U.

I thought we were in for another year of horrible special teams play after a few of those squib kick-looking kickoffs, but Swank later sent one out of the end zone. Maybe he was just messing with us on the first few, setting expectations low and all that.

The Deacs still have trouble throwing downfield, but I think this year that has more to do with the inexperienced receiving corp that the QB or the system.

Granted, it was against Vanderbilt, but the offensive line looked very good and Micah Andrews (254 yards rushing) looks like a player. Wake has good pass/run balance and that should help keep the loss margins in the single digits.

I sure hope Jon Abatte (Wake’s best defensive player and the anchor of the defense) isn’t hurt. He was not on the field much, if any, in the second half (at least as far as I could tell). Without him, our defense would be much less effective against the run. Granted, the run defense was pretty good tonight until Vandy’s final drive, but the Deacs don’t play Vandy every week (much to Vandy’s dismay).

Yes, I sound frustrated. That’s because I am. But make no mistake, I love the Deacons. I just keep expecting them to become the good team they are allegedly on the verge of becoming. If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t care.

Few of us picked our colleges based on how good their sports teams are. Obviously, I didn’t. There are many, many reasons to love Wake Forest that go beyond and above its football record. But it sure would be nice to have one more reason to love my school.

If you want to talk about the Deacons, visit the WFU message board at ACCBoards.Com. It’s hopping tonight.

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college football, wake forest