Wake Insider: Headed to bowl on sour note

The Demon Deacons will have plenty to absorb heading to a bowl game after losing 41-7 to Vanderbilt in the regular-season finale. It put a damper on Wake Forest's bounce-back season. The Demon Deacons lost four of their final five games and they'll go to a bowl game with a 6-6 record and in danger of finishing under .500 for the third year in a row. "We were a football team that didn't have a spark," coach Jim Grobe said. The outcome against Vanderbilt might not have affected the Demon Deacons' bowl destination. Wake Forest, a small private school with a limited fan base, doesn't have much clout in terms of bowl ticket sales. The most likely bowl assignment will be to the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., on the day after Christmas. In some ways, any bowl ought to seem like an upgrade for a team that won three games in 2010. Yet the end of the season was a step in the wrong direction, if for no other reason than the Demon Deacons won a road game against Vanderbilt in 2010. Wake Forest's seven points marked a season low, which was previously at 17 points on two other occasions. NOTES Wake Forest's 27-7 halftime deficit against Vanderbilt was the biggest halftime hole for the Demon Deacons since they faced the same score last year at Maryland. Coincidently -- or not -- first-year Vanderbilt coach James Franklin was Maryland's offensive coordinator last year. And in both cases, the final margin was larger than that halftime gap. Wake Forest received the opening kickoff in all 12 regular-season games. Its first possession didn't end well against Vanderbilt as a fumble less than a minute into the game resulted in a change of possession and set up Vanderbilt's first field goal. Wake Forest announced attendance for seven home games this year at 223,769, marking a school record. The Demon Deacons went 4-3 in those games. KEEP AN EYE ON: WR Michael Campanaro -- He's generally a standout in the offense, but his production is sometimes overshadowed by record-setting WR Chris Givens. Still, in four of the last five games, Campanaro has led the team or shared the team-high in receptions. In that five-game span, Campanaro has caught 34 passes to Givens' 28 receptions. LOOKING GOOD: P Alex Wulfeck hammered a few of his punts and he was one of the bright spots against Vanderbilt. He had two punts that went for more than 50 yards and finished with an average of 43.3 yards per punt for the game. STILL NEEDS WORK: The defense is punctured for big plays on a regular basis. The Demon Deacons surrendered more than 400 yards of offense in each of their last three games. In the regular-season finale against Vanderbilt, the Commodores passed the 400-yard mark in the third quarter. PLAYER NOTES Redshirt jurnior WR Chris Givens continued his climb up the records charts. By catching four passes for 69 yards, he pushed his receiving yards to 1,276 for the season. That moves him into fourth place on the ACC's all-time single-season list for receiving yards. He's the school record-holder in that category. RB Josh Harris didn't move back into the main rotation at running back after holding the starting role for the first part of the season. He's coming off a prolonged hamstring injury and he was used on kickoff returns against Vanderbilt. CB Merrill Noel had one pass breakup against Vanderbilt. That gives the redshirt freshman a school-record 19 pass breakups for the season. The previous mark of 18 was set by A.J. Greene in 1987. RB Brandon Pendergrass had 12 carries for 74 yards in his home finale. The senior had a total of 46 carries in the previous two games, but Wake Forest had only 32 rushing attempts in the game against Vanderbilt and 10 of those came in the fourth quarter. WR Chris Givens sprained his ankle in the first half against Vanderbilt. He played through the pain in the second half, though he noticeably limped at times. He said he expects no long-term problems with the injury and he should be plenty ready for the team's bowl assignment. S Joe LaBarbera, a key player on special teams, changed his number from No. 25 to No. 26 during the Vanderbilt game because the Demon Deacons used RB Josh Harris as a return specialist. Harris also wears No. 25. QUOTE TO NOTE "Offensively, we had nothing all (game). When you're a throwing offense and you're not throwing and catching real well, it can make for a long evening." -- Coach Jim Grobe, on Wake Forest's 183 passing yards against Vanderbilt. It marked the third time in the last four games that the Demon Deacons didn't reach the 200-yard mark in passing yards.