Wake 14, Duke 13

Look at that score again. Wake 14, Duke 13. Wake beat Duke - Duke - by one point. How does that happen?

I missed the game - I was at the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance trade show in Orlando, FL. During the lunch break I got to see UNC give Virginia Tech all the Hokies could handle . . . for about 3 minutes. Then the cosmos righted itself and the Hokies ran away with it.

The Wake-Duke game wasn't on TV. What programmer in his right mind would broadcast Wake-Duke? Even if the teams were better, the schools have the smallest alumni/fan bases of any in the ACC. Blame the academic standards. The football programs would have to be as good as Duke's basketball program to earn serious TV time.

So I didn't see the Wake score until the trade show was over for the day at 5, and I adjourned to the nearby bar. I watched Clemson and Boston College play a whale of a game, a double-overtime heartbreaker for the Tigers. I watched the ticker scroll through the Top 25 scores three times before it showed the Wake score. Wake 14, Duke 13: I almost fell out of my chair.

How does that happen? I found out Monday that Wake had to come from behind, and still needed to block a last-second Duke field goal attempt to seal the deal*. How does that happen? How does a team that beat Syracuse by 10 - and Syracuse gave a top-20 Iowa team all they could handle the next week - scrape by Duke by one point?

I wasn't there, so I won't speculate. All I know is we got shellacked by UConn at home in 2003, and this Saturday we go up there to face them. They're currently first in the NCAA in rushing, 2nd in total offense. It may not be pretty.*

Meanwhile, Tom Sorensen has a great column in the Charlotte Observer about college football in the Carolinas: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/sports/colleges/15523478.htm His advice for big-time college football fans in the Carolinas? Drive north on I-77 towards Blacksburg, VA, or south on I-85 toward Athens, GA. Ouch. It hurts because it's true.

* My dad was there, and said the blocked FG was one of the most exciting plays he's seen in years. He said the crowd went nuts like Wake had just won the Sugar Bowl. I'm sure I would have been, too, if I had been there, but at a distance, all I can think is how very, very sad that is.

* Although it can't possibly be as not-pretty as NC State's upset loss to the mighty Akron Zips. And that loss wasn't nearly as not-pretty as State coach Chuck Amato's postgame comments about the advantage Akron had because they play 'academic non-qualifiers.' Those are players who have to sit out their first season for academic reasons; the ACC doesn't allow them. John Delong, in the Winston-Salem Journal, pointed out that reporters kept pestering Amato, trying to provoke this kind of remark; it wasn't like Amato came out whining. Even so, the reporters kept after Amato because they knew they could eventually provoke him, as Delong admits. Amato will probably last the season, but not much longer than that. His hot seat's getting hotter. The latest rumor involves NC State alum Bill Cowher's new house in north Raleigh: this is Cowher's last year in his contract with the Steelers, and Amato's last year in his contract with State. Like Cowher's going to leave the NFL for State.

It's interesting to compare Amato's situation with Jim Grobe's. Amato has more wins and more bowl games, but his job is in serious jeopardy while Grobe seems to be sitting pretty. Part of the problem is expectation: Amato came in with a lot of hype from his days as a FSU coordinator, and made a lot of promises about 'restoring' NC State football to national prominence (I didnt't know they'd ever been nationally prominent). He sold the fan base on a multi-million dollar renovation and expansion of their home field. Then Phillip Rivers left and the wins were harder to come by. Throw in the bright red shoes, the constant sunglasses, the chest, and the voice, and Amato became harder and harder to rally around.

On the other hand, I have yet to hear or hear of Grobe saying anything stupid or provocative. He's a smart guy who clearly knows what he's doing, appears to appreciate Wake's academics and even its small size, doesn't dress or talk funny, and seems to get the most out of his talent. Every football commentator I've ever heard has nothing but good things to say about him; most Wake fans are scared to death that if he does lead the Deacs to a breakout season, he's going to get lured away to a bigger program.