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Three weeks ago sporting a 6 and 1 record, the Wake Forest football team rose to a Top 10 ranking in America.
There was reason to believe this team could somehow win out and, if Clemson lost two league games, win the Atlantic Division and go to the ACC championship game for the second year in a row. There was talk about them going to, at least, the Orange Bowl. There was talk of their quarterback, Sam Hartman, being a legitimate candidate to win the Heisman Trophy.
All they had to do was win the rest of their games – just keep running the unstoppable and incomprehensible delayed run-pass option mesh and they would finish the regular season at 10 and 1. This not only seemed doable; it seemed probable.
That was three weeks ago, a lifetime ago when things were better, different, more engaging, and less sad.
Three weeks ago we had a dream season locked up. Wake Forest alums started emailing about hotels to stay at in South Florida for the Orange Bowl.
From upside to one extended downer – in 21 days.
Three weeks ago there was so much to be excited about, so many friends to join over the holidays in the warm Florida weather. Wake Forest, a football team rising on the national stage, had become a real nationally revered program that everyone was starting to respect virtually across the board because they were just so damn consistently good and that offense – man, that offense — could not be figured out by any defensive coordinators.
Three weeks ago.
Then three weeks ago the team traveled to Louisville. To say that game was a total disaster is missing the point. It was a joke. It was the theatre of the absurd, a carnival act gone awry. Eight turnovers in the second half. With everything at stake, with everything to lose, Wake handed the game to the other team. They couldn’t stop the Louisville blitz and the delayed RPO mesh disintegrated to delayed RPO mush.
Dumpster fire.
The harsh truth is the way Wake played was a national embarrassment. The team wanted to win, of course, but could not have done more to give the game to the other team had it actually strategized to do so.
Only three weeks ago.
Then two weeks ago, NC State, emboldened by how Louisville obliterated Wake, blitzed and pressured our quarterback. Three more interceptions. NC State stampeded all over the delayed RPO, rendering it a gimmicky relic, something that used to be something but was becoming nothing.
Then last night. Carolina could not be stopped offensively. You thought to yourself: Is Drake Maye a better quarterback than Patrick Mahomes, the best QB in the NFL? Is he the next Tom Brady? When he receives the Heisman Trophy, what will he say in his acceptance speech? Is he better at this stage of his college career than Michael Jordan was as a Carolina basketball player?
Answer: yes.
Total domination by a guy who would be one of the best NFL quarterbacks right now, playing against two- and three-star defensive backs who just can’t make the athletic plays to knock down balls against four- and five-star receivers Maye kept throwing to. They’re fast and good athletes, but they’re not versatile or coordinated enough to be defending effectively against an elite NFL quarterback’s accuracy and more athletic wide receivers. It’s a mismatch. Always has been. Since football began.
Then the killer. In the final minutes, A.T. Perry makes a circus catch to get the team in field goal range to win the game. Immediately your eyes look for the flag on the field because this has been the season that, far too often, when Wake makes big plays they’re called for holding. Since the first game, this team has been holding far too much and making illegal procedure penalties. It has never stopped through the 10th game.
This I blame on the head coach, Dave Clawson, whom I adore but can’t give a pass for this. Dave, teach your offensive lineman to stop holding when they block or you’re never going to be an elite program. If one player can’t stop doing it, take him out of the game. Insert someone who won’t hold when he blocks. The holding penalties cost you the game last night and screwed up several other games this season.
Don’t hold, kick a field goal, and win. Hold, get pushed back 60 yards, and lose. Last night, this is what happened.
This isn’t complicated. Stop holding. Or keep losing.
Ah, losing. Three straight. Losing has a counterintuitive emotional effect sometimes. Last night watching the game I wasn’t uptight like I would have been had the team been 8 and 1 and not blown the last two games. The big season we all thought was going to happen three weeks ago had burned up. Whether Wake won or lost last night was of little consequence other than, of course, always wanting to beat Carolina. For Wake, from a bottom-line standpoint, last night’s game was about going to one meaningless post-season bowl game versus another meaningless bowl game.
Meaninglessness doesn’t excite.
Honestly, I believed the whole game Wake would ultimately lose. Why wouldn’t I think otherwise? They lost two in a row, their secret sauce offense was no longer working as well, and the team blew two second-half leads against Carolina the past two seasons.
I love this team and this program and all the excitement it has brought me. But I didn’t get emotionally invested last night because they’re worn me out. I just don’t care whether they win or lose as much as I did three weeks ago. I’ll always be a fan, but I’m feeling less invested, and less caught up in how they do and how they perform.
It just doesn’t matter as much. Maybe it never should have.
In some ways, it’s a relief losing three straight.
Three weeks ago I felt uptight about whether they would keep winning. But now – just three weeks later – Wake could lose the last two games and I’ll feel somewhat indifferent.
Emotionally, I’ve checked out.
Do you feel the same?
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Sammy Sportface, a sports blogger, galvanizes, inspires, and amuses The Baby Boomer Brotherhood. And you can learn about his vision and join this group's Facebook page here:
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