It’s hardly a shock to see Wake Forest off to a 2-0 start, but it is surprising the Deacons are getting by with such relatively modest rushing punch. That has to concern Wake coach Jim Grobe.
There’s ample time to make corrections before the next game — Sept. 20 at Florida State. But it’s going to take some improvement over the 81 yards on 31 rushes in Saturday’s 30-28 escape against Ole Miss and maybe even the 156 on the ground in a 41-13 win at Baylor on Aug. 28.
Wake is averaging 3.2 yards per rush, exactly the same as its opponents. Cary’s Josh Adams, a preseason all-ACC pick, is averaging 40 yards per game and freshman Brandon Pendergrass is averaging a yard or so better. That’s a far cry from 2007, when Adams rushed for 953 yards and 11 touchdowns as the team routinely dominated opponents on the ground.
It’s an indication the offensive unit misses former interior blockers Steve Justice, Matt Brim and Louis Frazier more than wideout Kenny Moore.
Grobe feared as much in preseason when he said, “The biggest key to our running scheme is our blocking scheme. It may take a while for the new folks in there to figure things out in game situations.”
More than most teams, Wake relies on influence blocking. It’s a complicated tactic that’s often based on the ability of linemen to surprise defenders by attacking from disguised angles. When it works, it’s magic. When it doesn’t, gains of more than 2 or 3 yards are fairly rare.
Justice, Brim, Frazier and another departee, guard Chris DeGeare, had 114 combined game starts at the end of ‘07. Those guys understood the blocking strategies almost as thoroughly as the coaching staff.
What’s more, Justice, the center last season, usually called the blocking assignments to his fellow linemen. That procedure frequently has to be done a second or two before the snap at the line of scrimmage. In Grobe’s system, the blockers read the defensive alignment almost as much as the quarterback. It’s why Grobe redshirts virtually every offensive lineman in his program.
But enough already on the downside. In Riley Skinner, the Deacons have the quarterback they thought they once had in Ben (The Appeal) Mauk. At a time when most quarterbacks find it almost impossible to correctly recognize opposing pass-coverage assignments, Skinner again is completing roughly 75 percent of his throws and hasn’t yet been intercepted this season.
There’s more than one way to skin a schedule. Thus far, the Deacs are finding one.
Give Grobe credit for that, too.
“If you find yourself running into a brick wall, you better have a plan in place to go over it rather than through it,” he said.
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Wake runs
Mon, 09/08/2008 - 17:06 — deac5978 (not verified)Couple observations re: above 1-Ole Miss way better then people know. Watch them. Their qb was as good as any i've seen in watching 30 years of ACC football. Even as good as our own Saturday. 2-Wake calls it "hidden yardage"... began using the phrase in 2006. You remember that season - a lot of doubters, lots of vulnerable spots in Wake. Um - fumbled on their way to a 10 pt fourth quarter lead in the Orange Bowl.. Fumbled three times in fact. Which, is part of that hidden yardage stuff. Check it out. Wake's punt returns,versus opponents. Same for kick offs, ditto turnovers and field goal percentage. A lot of hidden yards, alot of hiddden points. Boring stuff. But stuff I've understood since I played at Wake in the late 70's. Difference, as you correcntly point out - is these guys get an extra year to figure it out and then live by it - and win by it. And the coaches learn too. Last year at Virginia, trailing by one point with 1:26 left, at their own 20 - sound familiar? Skinner got Wake within a 47-yard field goal with first down and :44 left. Grobe downed the ball and ran the clock down to a last play - a 47 yard fg by Sawnk to win - never even ran left to put it in the middle of the field. That's asking a lot, even of Swank. He missed. Barely. Saturday vs Ole Miss... they had first down, :36 ticks, a 47 yard fg. What did they do?.. Threw on first down for 6 more. And threw twice more. Those 6 yards , and a year meant a lot. You're right about the run game. The blocking is not sharp, and they're smaller than a year ago, and there's no plow back to move the pile on his own. But - they don't turn it over. They force the others to do just that. Skinner knows Sawnk is worth 3 points any time he crosses the opposing 40. Its college football. These are kids, and their coaches are not nearly as smart as their salaries might indicate. Wake will lose a tight one, and might even lose a big one, but man, will they win a lot of close games. They already have won 22 of their last 28 in fact. Look it up - see how many can say that?