FOOTBALL TALK AT LEAGUE MEETINGS
Deacons' title puts heat on rest of ACC
If Wake Forest can win it, folks say anyone can
KEN TYSIAC
ktysiac@charlotteobserver.com
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AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. --
Jim Grobe doesn't appear to have many enemies.Wake Forest's football coach is charming enough to convince freshmen who are eager to play immediately that they should redshirt.
He is generous with his time with members of the media and admired by many fellow coaches.
He had North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams giggling like a teenager while describing Grobe's sandbagging on the golf course Monday during the ACC spring meetings.
But Grobe didn't do his colleagues any favors by winning the ACC championship to earn the conference's automatic bid to the Orange Bowl last season. Wake Forest has modest football facilities and doesn't often sign recruits in the national top 100.
If Wake Forest can win the conference, what will people think?
"Anybody can do it," said Clemson coach Tommy Bowden.
That will give players confidence against any opponent. But what will fans say to ACC coaches?
"If (Wake Forest) can do it, why can't you do it?" Bowden said.
Bowden and Grobe said Wake Forest's win illustrates ACC football's level playing field. In two years, four teams -- Wake Forest, Georgia Tech, Florida State and Virginia Tech -- have played in the championship game.
The last ACC champion to finish undefeated in conference play was Florida State in 2000.
"The teams are getting closer and closer together from top to bottom," Grobe said. "With Wake Forest winning the ACC championship, it proves there is some equity in college football now."
North Carolina coach Butch Davis said Wake Forest's formula for success will be difficult to duplicate. The Deacons won last season with veterans on defense and 40 of 44 players on the final two-deep chart who redshirted.
Davis said Nebraska won under Tom Osborne with a similar system in the 1980s and 1990s. But many top freshmen now are unwilling to redshirt, and North Carolina is an example of how transfers and dismissals for rules violations can prevent players from reaching their senior season.
North Carolina went 3-9 after beginning last season under John Bunting with just 13 fourth-year players remaining from a highly regarded 2003 class of 22 freshmen. And this season?
"We only have 10 seniors," Davis said.
As a first-year coach, Davis isn't under as much pressure to win immediately as Tommy Bowden, Duke's Ted Roof and Virginia's Al Groh. In eight seasons, Bowden has never posted a losing record, but he has yet to win an ACC title.
He said he answered tough questions during 17 spring speaking engagements on the booster circuit, but said enthusiasm has never been higher.
Enthusiasm also leads to high expectations, which are in vogue everywhere now that Wake Forest has won the ACC.
"The longer you stay, the more (a conference title) becomes a goal that you need to reach," Bowden said. "After eight years, that's something you've got to do. I don't care what school you're at."
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