Instant Analysis: Wake Forest-Florida State

Last week, Auburn and Mississippi State filled the game film with a cringe-inducing display of Saturday evening slop. This week, Wake Forest and Florida State created the newest batch of Football Follies material, littering Doak Campbell Stadium with another heaping helping of foul-ups, flops and flubs.

Under normal circumstances, the headline story from an early-season conference game as big as this one would usually feature the triumph of the winner and the devastating nature of the defeat experienced by the loser. Had the Demon Deacons and Seminoles produced a more pedestrian brand of ball, the night’s top story in Tallahassee would have been Wake’s ability to establish itself as Clemson’s main contender for the ACC Atlantic Division crown. On a day when Virginia Tech took control of the ACC Coastal, this night fight in the Florida panhandle should have been an occasion to celebrate the continued excellence of Wake Forest.

But after this ugly affair, it’s hard to give the Deacs their due, even when their nine-point win over Florida State made Jim Grobe’s group just the second ACC team to beat Bobby Bowden’s Noles in three consecutive seasons. No, after the gobs of goofs and gaffes provided in this painfully poor pair of pigskin performances, one can only say that the Deacons won this game by default. On a night when Wake’s shaky and shank-filled play would have resulted in a loss against many FBS opponents, the Noles improbably managed to muster up even more miscues.

This touchdown-free contest had a simple back-and-forth flavor: A Florida State quarterback would throw an interception (once in a while, the Noles would cough up a fumble), and then the Deacons would drive into enemy territory, only to find a way to avoid scoring. Wake fumbled at the FSU 1 on one drive, got stopped on downs inside the red zone on another, and watched decorated kicker Sam Swank shank two chip-shot field goals (of 27 and 32 yards) on two other drives. With all the turnovers and good drive starts that fell into Wake’s lap, this contest could have been a rout. But with their boatload of blunders, the Deacons amazingly kept the Noles in the thick of the fight—down just one possession at 9-3—until the final two minutes of play. Only when Swank avoided another short-range miss, finally giving Wake a two-possession lead in the game’s dying moments, could an unsettled Grobe finally relax. He knew his team tempted fate far too many times. But because Florida State proved to be even more inept, the visitors from Winston Salem were able to survive their trip to Tally.

Yes, Wake Forest is in position to challenge Clemson for ACC Atlantic Division supremacy. But without a better brand of ball, the Deacons will have to say their prayers as their conference season unfolds.