Shedding Demons: Wake Takes Aim At Carolina, Duke, and Bowl Berth

I am specifically thinking about a college football game a few years ago in Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina against the University of North Carolina.

You remember I remember, Dave Clawson remembers what happened over there a few years ago – it’s impossible to forget – when Wake was riding higher than it ever has as a football program, with nine wins and no losses plus ranked ninth in America, and well ahead in the fourth quarter.

We were on our way.

Then blew it.

I mean really, really blew it.

A cockamamie and unnecessary unsportsmanlike penalty propelled Carolina to a comeback that hurt so much more because they were having a mediocre season and didn’t really have much to play for that day and still ruined Wake’s perfect season.

At least once a week I think about that fourth-quarter crash, wondering if we had won if we would have gone undefeated and finished in the Top 7 nationwide. Still stings.

I don’t know if I’ll take those feelings to my grave as Clawson often says he will about devastating losses, but I’m still haunted many hundreds of days later and that’s something to make a mental note of. Why football makes us feel this way isn’t clear to me.

When we get over to Kenan Stadium, Wake will probably have a bowl game berth at stake and possibly the opportunity to extend its winning streak to four games. Confronting what haunts me, I will go over there, sit in those obnoxious baby blue chairs, and watch what happens. We have to confront what troubles us in order to overcome it.

If I leave that stadium knowing Wake has redeemed itself against cross-state nemesis Carolina, I’ll swerve into the nearest Bojangles and order two large chicken breasts, large mashed potatoes with gravy, four Bo Berry Biscuits drenched in icing, and sit there in bliss. The Demon Deacons will have eradicated my demons and yours and Clawson’s.

There’s one more thing I’m looking forward to with the ravenousness of biting into a Bo Berry biscuit. It will be November 30th when Duke travels by bus over to Winston-Salem to take on Wake. Duke’s winning a lot of games this season but I’m not convinced they’re as good as their record suggests. But that’s not even the point.

Remember last Fall when Wake was going to beat Duke but instead trashed the situation with an unneeded unsportsmanlike penalty that gave Duke an easy field goal for the victory? In a season flooded with failures and embarrassments, that penalty last season became the lowest moment of all which is saying so much for a team that finished 4 and 8.

The bottom of the emotional barrel that penalty and loss were.

Football abyss flowed into our souls.

I’m now thinking about erasing that mind-crushing memory when Duke plays Wake in a few weeks. Feels like an opportunity to prove to the nation that Duke isn’t all that, nor all this, nor all anything special plus one of their basketball players, Flipotripski, acted like a jerk after Wake beat them in hoops.

Payback victories over Carolina and Duke will make everything we went through last season and early this season more easy to accept and forget. Winning both will position Wake for a bowl game and possibly knock Duke and/or Carolina out of a bowl berth, which means you, me, and other Wake fans will get together and tailgate someplace and have fun talking about the resurgence of Wake’s football program after a slippery slide last year and earlier this Fall.

We could meet in D.C. for the Military Bowl of NYC for the Pinstripe Bowl, two settings where many of my homies are as well as fellow Wake Forest alums I dig hanging out with.

If we beat Cal or Miami in addition to Duke and Carolina we could get elevated to a slightly more prestigious bowl maybe in Nashville which I hear is a perfect place to guzzle soda pop. My guy Kunk lives there and hopefully, he would organize a pre-game tailgate filled with goodies.

I would be thrilled no matter what the bowl is and am especially intrigued by the Pop Tart Bowl because the winning team stays on the field as a giant Pop Tart gets cooked. Once warmed up right, all players, coaches, and me who would be on the field feast on it – blueberry, strawberry, whatever flavor will be great – in a breaking bread feast like no other.

Nothing tastes better than a Pop-Tart except upcoming football wins over Carolina and Duke.

Get ready, Carolina and Duke. You may think Wake Forest football is on a downward turn. But we remember what you did to us. I wouldn’t underestimate how much we want to take you out.

In case you didn’t notice, Wake took out Stanford yesterday and NC State a few weeks ago.

The championship of the state of North Carolina is now on the agenda.

And we remember.