Wake gets last chance in Music City

The Demon Deacons will want to make amends for a miserable stretch to finish the regular season when they play in the postseason for the first time since 2008. Wake Forest is headed to the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn., to face Mississippi State. Both teams are 6-6. Given that Wake Forest nose-dived down the stretch, the Demon Deacons are thrilled with the destination after losing four of their final five regular-season games. "It's a good thing we have that next game," senior linebacker Kyle Wilber said of the regular-season finale, a blowout loss to Vanderbilt. "After this, I wouldn't be surprised if anybody would want us." But the Demon Deacons, with five Atlantic Coast Conference victories, couldn't be bucked out of the bowl pecking order by North Carolina (which played in the Music City Bowl last year anyway). Wake Forest will have one more chance to get it right and finish with a winning record for the first time since 2008. "We're going to get refreshed physically and mentally," quarterback Tanner Price said. The offense will need to re-establish the type of efficiency that allowed it to upend North Carolina State and Florida State. For the most part, the offense set the tone for the Demon Deacons this season, with receiver Chris Givens earning the reputation as one of the biggest threats in the ACC. "Nobody expects us to be where we are right now," Price said of the Demon Deacons, who doubled their win total from 2010. "We're definitely good enough to be a bowl team." The defense made strides from a year ago, but there continue to be glitches with that unit finding a way to get off the field. The Demon Deacons haven't defeated a team with a winning record since topping Florida State on Oct. 8. And if they do win the bowl game, that won't fit that category because it would send Mississippi State to a losing mark. Five of Wake Forest's losses have come against teams that will play in bowls. "We didn't close the regular season the way we wanted to," coach Jim Grobe said. "This is a football team we've got a lot of mileage out of." It will be another trip to Nashville, Tenn., where Wake Forest is scheduled to visit every other year in non-conference games with Vanderbilt. This year, that game was home for Wake Forest, resulting in a 41-7 loss to end the regular season.