Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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GAME PREVIEW: WAKE FOREST ment in 2012 under third-year head coach Brian Kelly. SACK ATTACK Entering its bye week Nov. 7, Wake Forest ranked 124th among 127 Foot- ball Bowl Subdivision teams in sacks allowed with 31 for minus-197 yards. What is amazing is that despite that, freshman reserve or "co-starting" quarterback Kendall Hilton still led the Demon Deacons in rushing with 316 yards during the 3-6 start, high- lighted by a 69-yard touchdown scam- per in the 35-17 loss to North Carolina State Oct. 24. Meanwhile, sophomore starter John Wolford rushed for a 70-yard touch- down in the opener against Elon, but has only 74 rushing yards total this season. Hinton has been thrown for 107 yards in losses, while Wolford has lost 118 yards via sacks. Wolford has been "on the run" since his freshman year last year when he was sacked an extraordinary 48 times, similar to Jimmy Clausen's freshman year at Notre Dame in 2007 when the hapless Irish finished 3-9. Wake For- est's young offensive line, featuring mostly redshirt freshmen, remains in a developmental stage when it comes to physical prowess. The run game has actually improved from an anemic 40 yards a game last season (second to last in the country) to 110 yards and 3.1 yards per carry, thanks in great part to the dual-threat abilities of Hinton, who was rated the No. 26 dual-threat quarterback nation- ally by Rivals and also seriously con- sidered attending West Virginia, North Carolina State and Duke, among oth- ers. Unfortunately for Wake Forest, no running back on the roster rushed for more than 256 yards and 3.6 yards per carry through the first nine games. Compounding the problems, the Demon Deacons have committed 18 turnovers — five of them in the 20- 19 loss to Louisville Oct. 31 — while generating only seven on defense. The minus-1.22 turnover margin per game ranks 119th nationally, while the seven turnovers gained are 125th. Meanwhile, only 11 of the 24 red zone chances by the Wake Forest of- fense have resulted in a touchdown. NO. 1 VS. NO. 124 At the end of last season, among 128 Football Bowl Subdivision teams, Notre Dame's all-time winning per- centage in football (.732) ranked No. 1, while Wake Forest was No. 124 with a .408 figure. Only UNLV, Kent State, Florida International University and Georgia State were behind the Demon Deacons. Wake Forest's struggles shouldn't be too much of a surprise. It is the smallest school among the Power Five conferences and the sixth small- est in the FBS in undergraduate en- rollment. Former head coach Jim Grobe (2001- 13) did a remarkable job while going 77-82, highlighted by the ACC cham- pionship and Orange Bowl bid during the 11-3 campaign in 2006. He was up for the Nebraska job in 2007 and, in retrospect, has commented that he