Wake ranked No. 20 in AP poll

WINSTON-SALEM – Wake Forest is ranked No. 20 in the Associated Press top 25 poll headed into Saturday's game against Ole Miss.

The Demon Deacons are the sole ACC team in this week's poll. Clemson and Virginia Tech were ranked in the AP preseason poll, but were not voted in by media members after both teams lost their season-openers.

It is the first time in school history that the Deacs are ranked in the AP poll without an ACC peer.

The last time Wake was the highest ranked conference team was in 2006 in the final AP poll where they finished 17th and were selected to the Orange Bowl. The highest the Deacs have been ranked is 11th on Oct. 20, 1947.

The news of the Deacs' latest ranking came nearly an hour after coach Jim Grobe finished his weekly news conference. 

Pleased with Wake's 41-13 victory over Baylor in its season-opener on Aug. 28, Grobe acknowledged that his team played well in a lopsided victory, though resisted too much praise of a team that produced 376 total yards and limited their opponents to two third-down conversions.  

"I don't think that much can be made out of our win over Baylor," Grobe said. "Probably not too much can be made out of other team's early season losses."

He said the truth about his team may not be clear until the fifth game of the season, after the Deacs have faced Florida State (Sept. 20), Navy (Sept. 27) and Clemson (Oct. 9). 

"We're in a mode, we don't know how good we are," Grobe said. "Nobody that's played one game has any clue how good they are right now."

Grobe highlighted his defense and special teams, and noted the solid play of the offensive line, a group that lost several key starters and was the focus of much attention heading into the first game. The group had struggled to create push up front during preseason scrimmages, but found its strength against Baylor.

Grobe spoke highly of offensive tackles Joe Birdsong and Jeff Griffin and center Trey Bailey, but mostly talked about the team's overall effort. 

"There probably weren't a lot of guys that stood out," Grobe said. "In a first game, that's pretty good. Usually, it's the wrong way. They're standing out the wrong way."

The Deacs (1-0) face Ole Miss (1-0) in their home-opener on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.