No moral victories For Wake Forest

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Wake Forest certainly had its chances to knock off historical super power Notre Dame on Saturday night at BB&T Field. But the Demon Deacons made a few crucial second-half mistakes, and instead of going to Clemson next week riding on a high and building up its battle for Atlantic Division supremacy in the ACC, it will limp to Death Valley after its worst performance of the season a week ago and its most disheartening loss of the campaign on this night. Wake gained the respect of its visitors despite losing 24-17. The Deacons were tougher than the Fighting Irish expected, they were faster, and their creativity blended with those attributes gave the Irish fits at times. Tanner Price not only slung the ball around almost effortlessly on some possessions, but he scrambled Steve Young-style a few other times. Chris Givens' amazing athletic ability, Michael Campanaro's dependability, and a nastiness from the defense at times revealed that the Deacons aren't so far away from the Irish, regardless of what the masses believed coming in. But there aren't any moral victories in the ACC, especially when you lead 17-10 at halftime and put yourself into position to make winning plays, but don't. Wake's program is so far away from what it was before Grobe arrived late in 2000, that losing to Notre Dame by a touchdown brought no satisfaction to the 100 or so people in the Demon Deacons' locker room. They beat Florida State earlier this season, and one can certainly argue the Seminoles are more talented and a better club than the Irish. FSU also has two national championships since Notre Dame's last one, which came in 1988. This defeat was tough for the Deacons to take, especially because they held the outcome in the palms of their hands. "We had the turnover down inside the 10 and then took a sack off the 10 an 11-yard sack," Wake coach Jim Grobe said. "That can be the thing we look at There are going to be some things that we look that we don't feel real good about, but I thought the effort was really good today." The Fighting Irish quickly darted down the field and score touchdowns on their first two possessions of the second half. So effortless were the drives, it seemed like a blowout might ensue. But a third-quarter interception and 54-yard return by Wake's Josh Bush, which added 15 yards after a Notre Dame personal foul, gave the Deacons the ball at the visitor's 24-yard-line. Four plays later, Brandon Pendergrass fumbled inside the 10, and the Irish recovered. And capping off a fourth-quarter drive that saw Wake march from its 31 to the Irish's 10, were a sack losing 11 yards, a pass reception that lost four yards, and a missed 42-yar field goal with 5:24 left in the contest. Those were the missed opportunities that essentially drew the line between victory and defeat. But to Grobe there was more, much more. Among the things he cited were Wake's kickoff coverage (29-yard return average for the Irish) and the lack of protection for Price, who was sacked three times and hit probably a dozen more. "They did a pretty good job of scouting our offense and knowing our instincts," Givens said. "They played a better game and that's why we lost." This was Wake Forest's second consecutive defeat in wildly different fashion. North Carolina crushed the Deacons a week ago, 49-24, and then the near-miss against the golden domers. And now they must turn their attention to Clemson, and realize goals can still be achieved. Wake is 5-4 overall but 4-2 in the ACC. Clemson is 8-1 and 5-1. If Grobe's team can pull off a surprise next weekend and then knock off Maryland, they will win the division title and play for the ACC championship. "We've lost to some very good football teams, and I think Notre Dame is a really good football team," Grobe said when asked about overcoming these last two defeats given what's at stake next weekend. "Even though we're disappointed that we lost, we feel like we're capable of beating good football teams. So I think we'll take that down to Death Valley." And maybe learn something from such golden missed opportunities.