WFU, Duke different from a year ago

Neither Duke nor Wake Forest bear much resemblance to the teams they fielded at this time a year ago.

For the Blue Devils, that's a cause for celebration going into today's game against Wake Forest at 3:30 at BB&T Field.

For the Deacons, it's a cause for concern, if not despair.

Duke was 1-6 going into its eighth game, having just been walloped at home by Virginia Tech 43-14. The Blue Devils were bearing down hard on a 1-11 season.

Wake Forest, on the other hand, had rebounded from losses in the first two games with five straight victories, and was well on the way to a 9-3 season capped by a victory in the Meineke Car Care Bowl against Connecticut.

Both teams are 4-3 this season, though Wake Forest is 2-2 in conference play and Duke 1-2. But the Blue Devils are riding high off a 10-7 upset at Vanderbilt, while the Deacons are attempting to rebound from two straight losses and three setbacks in their past four games.

The difference at Duke, where David Cutcliffe has replaced Ted Roof as head coach, is inescapable. What does Grobe see when he rolls the videotape?

"Certainly confidence," Grobe said. "I think Coach Cutcliffe and his staff have done a really, really good job with these guys.

"And they're a pretty veteran unit. A lot of these guys have been playing a lot of football for a long time. I think Ted Roof and his staff brought in some really talented players, and they're all maturing right now."

Wake Forest is not the team it was a month, much less a year, ago. The Deacons played their first six games in the spread formation, but switched to an I-formation for last week's 16-10 loss at Miami.

Grobe said the goal for today is to incorporate the gains in the rushing attack at Miami, where they ran for a season-high 195 yards, while regaining some of the passing prowess they enjoyed earlier in the season. At Miami, quarterback Riley Skinner completed just three of eight passes for 57 yards.

"We've probably got to be a little more balanced," Grobe said. "I was really disappointed at Maryland. We were primarily all spread and we dropped about a million passes and didn't get any possession time.

"Our thoughts with a good Miami team were to play good defense, try to be good in special teams and take good care of the football. For the most part, what we thought would happen did happen and we gave ourselves a chance at the end of the game, and just didn't get it done.

"We've got a chance to be OK. We got more physical up front."

Grobe has made no secret this season of his preferred style of play. Featuring one of the deepest, most experienced and talented defenses in school history, Grobe wanted to win games with his defense and special teams and not lose them with his less-experienced offense.

But as offensive coordinator Steed Lobotzke noted earlier this week, one of the Deacons' main weapons was lost when kicker Sam Swank pulled a quadriceps and was sidelined against Clemson, Maryland and Miami. Barring an unexpected recovery, Swank will miss his fourth straight game today.

"Sam being down really throws a kink into our plan," Lobotzke said. "That really showed up on Saturday. So we're trying to work through our plan right now and figure out what's the plan without Sam.

"Maybe the plan has to change a little bit now that Sam is down and not looking to come back any time soon. We're trying to work around that problem. But in the end we still don't want to turn the ball over, no matter what we do offensively. We're trying to do better."

Junior tackle Jeff Griffin said he and the other linemen relished the newly found emphasis on rushing the football.

"I think every lineman's dream is to run block," Griffin said. "You don't want to be patty caking somebody. You want to get at somebody.

"Even if they're hitting you hard, it feels good."

The Deacons' task of changing offensive approaches midway through the season was complicated by a depleted offensive line. Center Trey Bailey broke his ankle at Maryland, prompting Grobe to move guard Russell Nenon to center and insert freshman Joe Looney at guard.

Then junior tackle Joe Birdsong missed much of the Miami game because he was ill, forcing the Deacons to rush redshirt freshman Michael Hoag into the fray.

Regardless of who plays, Griffin said, the season will come down to the play of his unit.

"I think it's going to be on the offensive line," Griffin said. "We've got to be able to pass block and run block. We haven't been able to.

"Some weeks we've been pass blocking well. Some weeks we give up sack and Riley's been scrambling out there. It's got to be on us. More than just the play call, we've just got to be able to execute."

■ Dan Collins can be reached at 727-7323 or at dcollins@wsjournal.com.