Wake Forest

Well I have to assume after watching the way we started this week that the Noles players and coaches spent their open date just like I did. They clearly escaped town as the storm approached and left for more relaxing pastures. They ate an absolute metric ton of terrible food and generally did nothing productive to prepare for the second half of the season. I did all of the above - some of it in Baton Rouge - and I can confirm that I was not a terrific fan at kickoff either. Although Osceola got airborne for the first time all year, and the band was flawless on a sun splashed October afternoon, I was listless. Late leaving the tailgate and obsessing over the 9,000 students who did not show up with their free ticket, it took me about 10 minutes to get me back into the flow. Finally, putting on my game face, on a key 4th down, I sent a text down to #99 and asked him he could get a key sack here and turn this garbage around. He simply responded "Done". And we were off…

Not to spend too much time too in pregame, but one more observation for those who might be fans from afar. We have lived for 40 years with the same general routine. The kids wander out at their own pace as they get taped until about the 45:00 mark and then after stretching, we have about 21 minutes of well organized team drills. Now our players dance around until team stretch at the 31 minute mark and then after a roughly 6 minute drill session, head to the locker room. Six minutes to warm up for a college football game. This may have nothing to do with us coming out looking like a frozen slug, but it can't help.

Coach Barnett knows what he is doing. After taking some body blows early, mostly struggling with tempo substitution issues, his unit took over. This Wake offense goes super fast, and the QB gets rid of the ball now. But dumping any semblance of a zone which allows quick easy reads, and trusting his talented back end to do their job, the Deacs got nothing for two and half quarters. Asante and Stanford have both been physical and that effort paid off with an oskie that turned into the first lead of the game. Playing without Fred Jones, the interior led by Big Marv, much bigger Coop and tiny Corey Durden (at a mere 300 pounds) kept the middle intact which allowed Burns and Kaindoh to do their thing. Joshua did have a huge brain fart in the 4th which will cost him the first half against Clemson playing paddy cake with the QB's helmet up by 21. I loved seeing Emmett Rice get back into real action for the first time since leaving the Bowl game last year. On his first play, he shot out of a cannon and got a sack. He is bigger, more physical and rangier than anyone we have at his position. We have been trying to flip pancakes with an appetizer fork at LB. Getting a spatula would be a lovely plus.

What a moment for Janarius Robinson in the third quarter. He got a sack, immediately raised his arms and then just dropped to his his knees, his teammates banged his helmet and the Noles not wearing uniforms all over the stadium rose at once. This kid lost everything a week ago, and maybe with the largesse of FSUNation, may have his family back on their feet sooner than he ever hoped. This was a tough week for everyone in the Panhandle. From just losing power to losing everything you have ever known, nearly everyone in Doak knew someone who was affected, and seeing this kid have a moment was just awesome.

Folks, it is not a Fox News flash that this offensive line is not very talented. But, Coach Frey has somehow cobbled together two games where Deondre has not been sacked. Not to say that he has avoided hits, because he probably will not get out of the ice bath until Wednesday. But, give some credit when the national narrative has apparently already been written that we are incompetent on offense. Without far and away his best player in Dickerson (who was not even on the sideline this week), we functioned and at times flourished. That is a story. We have four guards and a center out there, and found another way to win. The aforementioned center had an awesome block on Cam's dash to the end zone (which may contribute to his non-dash back to Mississippi), and our Freshman guard playing RT rose from an injury to tough out another game. Next week will not be a barrel of monkeys with this group - but there is hope - and after we were walking out of the Carrier Dome a month ago, that is an emotion that I don't think we could assign to the OL any time soon.

We got good Noonie this week. His grandmother got on the video board early, so inspired by her moves, he showed the same type of big screen moxie. In a season where Gavin and Terry have seemed to be the main attraction, Noonie leads the team in grabs and yards. But, the future is not a problem if we get to see a little more of Treshawn Harrison. Peter Warrick was on the sideline, but a bigger version of Pete was on the field in the 4th quarter. #88 hit the spin cycle and then dead-stepped to his left and left two dudes grabbing air on his way to paydirt. Phew. McKitty had a key drop, so Upshur comes in and snags 2 straight. Goodness, we are three stud OL recruits from being everything we want.

My readers know I have a special place for Logan Tyler. Do yourself a favor and watch him after he punts. He is a missile if the returner happens to break away. He now has three special teams tackles, and almost got a targeting call. How can you not root for a punter that narrowly avoids a targeting call? Ricky continued his roller coaster season with a nice 49 harder followed by a doink of a chip shot.  I still think our special teams coach needs to find someone on kickoff return who can learn to raise their hand. We give up way too many yards every game with ego. It has to be a horribly low, flat kick to consider a return with the new rules. Take the 25 and move on. C'mon Coach.

We are a 17 point dog at home this week. Seventeen. Holy guacamole. I love it. If we had held on to beat Miami 3 weeks ago, our game would have been at 8:00 and the national narrative would have been entirely different. But, we defecated in our derby in that one, so let's make the country look at us this week. Bring it on!  See you at Doak way before dark.