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Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009

With late-game losses, luck low for Deacons

ATLANTA — The Wake Forest Demon Deacons offer plenty of evidence that luck can have a lot to do with athletic success,

This year’s version of the Winston-Salem, N.C.-based team has seen its share of struggles and near misses, losses and disappointments.

Just 4-5 overall with a 2-3 ACC record entering Saturday’s conference showdown against host Georgia Tech at Bobby Dodd Stadium, the Demon Deacons will be out to change their fortunes.

“I think a lot of (their troubles) can be attributed to just bad luck,” Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson said.

After watching film of Wake Forest’s games this season in preparation of Saturday’s televised contest, Johnson believes the Demon Deacons’ losses have mostly been the product of untimely calamity.

At home against Miami last week, they were leading by a touchdown with less than two minutes remaining when the Hurricanes came up with a dramatic drive that ended with 1:08 left on a 13-yard touchdown pass from All-ACC candidate Jacory Harris.

Losing starting quarterback Riley Skinner just moments prior, Wake Forest had backup Ryan McManus in the game on its final possession, and he was unable to get the team in field goal position. The Demon Deacons went on to lose 28-27.

Add that to Skinner’s game-ending overtime fumble against Boston College five weeks ago, and it seems that 2009 has not been Wake Forest’s year for success.

“Our guys, with some of the tough losses that we’ve had, the nature is — even when you’re playing really, really good — you’re kind of expecting something to go wrong,” Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe said during Wednesday’s ACC coaches teleconference. “Although we’ve got some guys who have been a part of some really good football teams here, you still have a concern — especially when you’ve lost so many games late as we have — you start to wonder a little bit if you’re capable of winning.

“My guess would be that our guys are not all caught up in that, but at the same time, we’ve had about six games go to the wire and (the opposing teams) won a couple of them. I think that’s a concern with confidence when you’ve lost some games and especially when you’ve lost some as tough as we have.”

Four of Wake Forest’s five losses have been decided by a combined 10 points.

“Sometimes, those things happen,” Johnson said.

Aside from a slew of inconvenient injuries defensively, Johnson has not had to worry about a similar string of misfortune. His 10th-ranked Yellow Jackets are 8-1 overall, sit atop the ACC’s Coastal Division and are in good shape to reach the conference’s title game Dec. 5.

“They’ve had some good things happen to them, and they’re going out expecting to win,” Grobe said.

Adding to the Demon Deacons’ frustrations is the news this week that they may be without Skinner as they play their second consecutive nationally ranked team.

The senior left Saturday’s game with a concussion and has been listed as questionable for this week’s game. Seeing limited action Tuesday, it was Grobe’s hope Wednesday morning that team doctors would increase Skinner’s activity during the next few days.

“We’re hopeful that they’re going to let him do a little bit more (Wednesday afternoon),” Grobe said. “In fact, I would say the best thing is that he has a chance to play Saturday, but it’s kind of day to day right now. With guys who have had concussions in the past, we’ve thought they looked pretty good for Saturdays, and then they go kind of backwards after a practice.”

One of the ACC’s stars, Skinner has already passed for more than 2,200 yards this season and is among the conference’s leaders in total offense.

A four-year starter who played against Georgia Tech in Wake Forest’s 2006 ACC championship victory, Skinner is an invaluable piece to the Demon Deacons’ puzzle because of his experience.

“It certainly hurts us if he can’t go because he’s got so much experience. I like Ryan McManus because he’s backed up,” Grobe said. “Ryan does some really good things for us but just doesn’t have the game experience. So we’ll decide from Riley’s ability if we can have him in there. The experience will be a real issue.”