Wake Forest is an awful football team.
I say that to ward off any natural feelings of smugness or over confidence that might be seeping into the Wolfpack fanbase after a 38-3 thumping of the sorriest team in the ACC, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
State rebounded from a lackluster loss to Clemson last week by leading Wake Forest in a trip behind the ole woodshed. As an aside, thanks Clemson. Thanks for not being able to keep Florida State from scoring in 53 seconds. I know its tough to call the Atlantic division title chase a race, since it resembles a fat camp fitness walk more than an Olympic sprint at this point. But State totally appreciates your ability to choke your balls off and let FSU hang around the hunt for the Atlantic crown. Really...you guys couldn't have at least waited to lose in overtime?
Anyhoo, the Wake game was dangerously close to competitive in the first half, with Wake's rushing offense succeeding in keeping the ball out of Russell Wilson's hands. Wake's total rushing stats are weighed down by sacks their quarterbacks took, but it was overall a pretty decent day for the Wake's run offense. They kept the game close in the first half, and State's offense, when it did get on the field, looked rather sluggish on their way to a 10-3 half time score.
Wake Forest is a truly awful football team.
I have no idea what Tom O'Brien said to his team in the halftime, but if I were in his shoes, I would have just started yelling, “IT'S WAKE FOREST GUYS! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!” Whatever he said or whatever adjustments his coordinators put in place worked, because State came out of the gate swinging in the second half, taking only two minutes and three seconds to 76 yards for a touchdown.
It only got worse from the Deacs from there. After a week in which State let Clemson hang around and around and around until they eventually came back and won, State made sure to stick it's foot right down on the underdog Deacs' necks. State scored touchdowns on three of four drives in the 3rd quarter. In contrast, Wake didn't get a first down all quarter, and managed a grand total of two in the 4th quarter. It was all State, with Nate Irving leading a fired defense that simply refused to allow Wake another inch of the field.
Wake Forest is a legendarily bad football team.
Without trying to read too much into a game against a team this bad, that onslaught in the 3rd was the exact sort of thing State didn't do last week, and I'm really big on personal growth. They had an inferior team that was hanging around and they drove a stake through their heart. It's what good teams do.
State still controls its destiny, and only has to win road games against UNC and Maryland to get that Virginia Tech rematch. The up and down rollercoaster that is NC State football under Tom O'Brien still has the inside track on a division title, with a tie breaker on Florida State and with Maryland yet to have beaten a winning team. It's looking more and more like NC State will be playing for a right to go to the Orange Bowl and beat up on a sorry Big East champion.
And it's for that very reason that I wake up every day convinced they'll lose to Maryland.
But remember State fans: before you start booking your hotels in Charlotte already, and dreaming of a Virginia Tech upset, you should stop and consider the single most important fact of the weekend, one which overrides every other lesson that might have been learned from this past slate of games. And that fact? Say it with me:
Wake Forest is a horrendously bad football team.
