One year ago, it was narrowly and technically true that Notre Dame was an ACC football member. It was a special situation under historically unprecedented circumstances for the conference. The pandemic created an adjusted reality in which Notre Dame didn’t merely play ACC teams; it played conference games and reached the ACC Championship Game. For one college sports cycle, Notre Dame was both a football and basketball member together.
So, with the Irish no longer an ACC member in football for the 2021-2022 college sports cycle, they can’t claim to have had the best combination of football and basketball seasons in the league.
That distinction belongs to the school whose basketball team beat Notre Dame on Saturday.
Wake Forest came from 12 points down to beat Mike Brey’s Irish in a battle of the two most pleasant surprises in ACC hoops this season. Wake Forest had already won Research Triangle games against rivals North Carolina and North Carolina State. Beating a Notre Dame team which is contending for the ACC lead — and which had already established itself as one of the best turnaround stories in 2022 — gives Wake Forest’s own transformation even more meaning and significance.
Steve Forbes was viewed to be a high-quality hire when he came from East Tennessee State, but the reality has exceeded the hype. Forbes had to prove himself in the ACC, and with this win over Notre Dame, the doubts about Wake Forest and its bona fides continue to recede. Wake Forest will be an NCAA Tournament team. Lawrence Joel Coliseum is once again one of the tougher road stops in the ACC.
When one combines Wake’s basketball resurgence with its football run to the ACC Championship Game, it’s quite clear that the Demon Deacons own the best football-basketball cycle in the ACC. Pitt, which won the ACC title in football, has obviously not performed up to par in hoops. It’s not even a close call: Winston-Salem is the home of the best revenue-sport teams this academic year.
How many people predicted that on Labor Day of 2022? How many people predicted that on Thanksgiving weekend of 2022, even when it was clear that the Deacs had a shot at the ACC football championship?
Dave Clawson has established a reputation over many years as a coach who maximizes resources, creates team-wide cohesion, and develops players at Wake Forest. Steve Forbes is well on his way to the same gleaming distinction.
