The Most Indispensable Deacon
The first question I had for Riley Skinner after he walked out of the Wake locker room yesterday, his left shoulder packed in ice, was “How are you?’‘
``I’m good,’’ he said.
Skinner had just finished taking a fearsome pounding in a 38-3 loss to Clemson. He was sacked five times and running for his life the rest of the time. One blind side sack by reserve linebacker Andre Branch in the avalanche of a second quarter was probably the hardest lick I’ve ever seen him take.
“That’s where I got this from,’’ Skinner said, nodding toward the bag of ice taped to his left shoulder. “That one didn’t feel so good.’‘
Thankfully his eyes were clear and he was able to manage a rueful smile. He said the bruised shoulder will not sideline him at practice and that he’ll be available next week against Navy. He’d better be.
About the time I passed the Big Peach of Gaffney on that endless ride home, listening to another Jimmie Johnson waltz at Lowes Motor Speedway and trying to catch the Yankees-Angels on a static-popping AM band, I began mulling the question. Have I ever covered a team more reliant upon one player? I’m a Ryan McManus fan. What he has done since he arrived as a walk-on to make himself into a solid backup quarterback has been impressive. But McManus’ experience as a college quarterback consists of two mop-up stints against Elon and Clemson. And that’s it. No one else on the team has taken a snap. Whoever was pressed into duty would be replacing the best quarterback the school has had, a player the offense is built around.
In Skinner’s previous three seasons, the Deacons had Brett Hodges in reserve. Hodges is playing this season at Central Florida and was performing pretty well until last night’s loss to Miami. I know Coach Jim Grobe would love to still have that insurance policy.
The best indication, someone close to the team said, that Skinner is all right is that more attention was not being paid to his shoulder. He should be fine. And again, he’d better be.
More fallout from the loss: The 178 yards of offense was the lowest of the Grobe era and only the second time one of Grobe’s teams at Wake finished with less than 200. The last time Wake Forest managed fewer yards was the 159 it had in Jim Caldwell’s last season of 2000. The opponent was Clemson. The site was Memorial Stadium.
Also yesterday’s game marked the first time that Skinner has failed to complete a pass of at least 20 yards since his first game against Syracuse in 2006, when he replaced an injured Ben Mauk and completed the only he pass he threw for 13 yards.
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By Dan Collins on 10/18/2009 (3:03 pm)
Comments
If we can’t compete in games, then we can’t win games. Grobe basically re-stated what he did when he first got the job - we need to be competitive as a program and games will start to come our way. We may lose a few too, but the more competitive we are, the more we will have a chance to win and get shots at the division title, regardless of the talent disparity. We must win on playing smart, tough defense, limiting TOs, winning the special teams game, and playing with heart. Getting blown out is not an option when playing for Grobe - to quote Mike Singletary - “can’t do it.”
Nick on 10/19/2009 (11:25 am)
A good assessment, Lou. I think that Clemson’s dramatically superior athleticism was the difference in this game. (Well, that and the opportunity that Clemson had to prepare for Wake for two full weeks.) Wake has never had great athletes (except for Aaron Curry last year, who only became an exceptional athlete while at Wake), and so it is amazing that Coach Grobe has been able to do what he has done. Everyone had said during the offseason that the offense was going to be the stronghold of the team this year, especially with such an experienced offensive line. I never understood that because everyone said during the entire year last year that the offensive line was so lousy. (And just getting one season of experience and Chris DeGeare back from inelligibility was not going to be enough to make a bad line superior.) What’s most amazing to me is that Wake came back to beat a very good Stanford team and that they clobbered Maryland and handled N.C. State…and nearly beat a very good Boston College team at their place. I think a lot of those victories are thanks to the coaching staff. Wake will probably never get the kind of athletes that Clemson gets (or any of the bigger schools/programs with more notoriety). If Wake competes with almost everyone the way they have for the last several years I think that will be as well as they can play considering the circumstances.
Matt on 10/19/2009 (11:01 am)
Deacon fans, don’t think I’m reacting out of anguished emotion. You can look back to my last entry, after the opening loss to Baylor. I’ll condense my early season concern at this point.
This sports is not all about schemes, and game plans and passing routes. It almost always boils down to its original charm - the contact. The hitting. The physicality. No matter how often they soften the rules, it almost always comes down to which team out-hits the other. Did you see that mess yesterday? Do you have any further questions?
Each time this has happened in the last two years, Coach Grobe has taken note, and gone back to neanderthal basics (post Maryland, post Baylor). But you get behind, (Stanford, Boston College), you turn Riley loose, you see his talent, and… you shrug and go back to wide open football again. And - get away with it against NC State and Maryland, teams we now note in retrospect, are - soft. (and even State sakced Riley 6 times!)
Its simple. If you can’t block, you won’t be able to play with the big boys anymore. Same story on defense (where I thought i saw improvement, until Clemson’s offensive coaches exposed the youth again).
I don’t know quite what to make of Coach Grobe’s ominous remarks in Dan’s blog (“poking thru the ashes”) - but I’m pretty sure he saw the same things. One game past mid-season, and - changes to come.
Lou Williams on 10/18/2009 (7:32 pm)
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