Deacs' defeat ends bowl hopes

All hopes for the kind of football season Wake Forest has come to expect were gone with a Seminole wind yesterday at BB&T Field.

Florida State, led by relief quarterback EJ Manuel, gashed the Deacons almost beyond recognition in the first half, and the Seminoles cruised down easy street to a 41-28 victory. The damage was total for Wake Forest, which sealed its first losing season since 2005 with its fifth straight loss.

The Deacons fell to 4-7 and 2-5 in the ACC. FSU improved to 5-5 and 3-4.

The day began with a ceremony honoring Wake Forest's 22 seniors and ended with the realization that for the first time since the Orange Bowl season of 2006, the Deacons will spend the Christmas holidays at home instead of at a bowl.

The emotions all but overcame senior quarterback Riley Skinner afterward, when he choked back tears until he had to leave the interview room to compose himself. He returned, eyes glistening, to describe the disappointment of his final home game as a Deacon.

"It's crazy to think about it's been 4½ years," Skinner said. "I never thought it'd come to an end like this. It's been fun, and unfortunately this isn't the way we wanted to end it here, like this.

"But I guess it can't always go the way you want."

Manuel, a redshirt freshman pressed into action when regular starter Christian Ponder was sidelined last week with a separated shoulder, completed 15 of 20 passes for 220 yards and carried 10 times for 45 more. With sophomore tailback Jermaine Thomas on the way to a 149-yard performance on 25 carries, the Seminoles marched 81 and 68 yards for touchdowns on their first two possessions.

Bobby Bowden, the Seminoles' embattled head coach, breathed a sigh of relief.

"Doggone impressive," Bowden said. "He's a redshirt freshman, and you're always leery about starting a freshman no matter what. He's showed qualities that he's going to be a pretty good one."

The Seminoles met little resistance in either of their first two drives. Ty Jones sprinted 9 yards untouched into the end zone for a 7-0 lead. After Josh Adams scored on a 3-yard run for Wake Forest, Thomas broke a tackle and crossed the goal line standing up for a 6-yard carry that gave FSU a 14-7 lead.

"During the first half we saw they were moving the ball pretty easily," freshman cornerback Kenny Okoro said.

Skinner completed 25 of 40 passes for 227 yards and a touchdown that tied Jay Venuto's school record of 21 touchdown passes in a season. But he also threw two interceptions, both of which cost the Deacons greatly.

Linebacker Kendall Smith picked off the first at the Wake Forest 44 and returned it 17 yards, which set up a three-play drive that resulted in Manuel's 1-yard sneak, extending the lead to 21-7.

Dustin Hopkins tacked on a 47-yard field goal, and Greg Reid returned a Greg Popham punt 68 yards for a touchdown for a 31-7 lead with 3½ minutes left in the half.

Skinner's second interception all but negated any hopes of a Wake Forest comeback.

The Deacons rallied to pull to 31-21 on Kevin Harris' 12-yard touchdown out of the Wildcat formation, but the Seminoles answered with a 42-yard field goal by Hopkins and a 9-yard touchdown pass to Jarmon Fortson. Wake Forest made a bid to crawl back into contention by driving to the FSU 1, but on second-and-goal Skinner rolled right under pressure and left a pass to Mike Rinfrette short in the end zone.

Ochuko Jenije intercepted, and the Seminoles exacted some revenge for their three straight losses to Skinner and the Deacons.

"Certainly our seniors are disappointed because they had a little bit to live up to after the last three years," Coach Jim Grobe said.

And the younger Deacons were disappointed for not sending the seniors out on a better note.

"The last home game for the seniors, it's an emotional one," Okoro said. "As a freshman I put myself in their shoes.

"We tried to go out there and play hard for the seniors. It's pretty tough. It's a heartbreaker to lose for the seniors."

The challenge facing Wake Forest now is to take a week off and regroup for its final game of the season, at Duke.

"There are no excuses," Skinner said. "We really felt like on offense we definitely missed some chances and should have played better and put our defense in tough positions.

"If we could have this game back, we'd have it back in a heartbeat. But we've got to live with it, and we've got to correct our mistakes and get ready in the off week for Duke."

dcollins@wsjournal.com | 727-7323

Florida State 14 17 3 7 -- 41

Wake Forest 7 7 7 7 -- 28

First Quarter

FSU--T.Jones 9 run (Hopkins kick), 9:24.

WFU--Adams 3 run (Newman kick), 2:43.

FSU--Thomas 6 run (Hopkins kick), :19.Second Quarter

FSU--Manuel 1 run (Hopkins kick), 12:48.

FSU--FG Hopkins 47, 4:52.

FSU--Reid 68 punt return (Hopkins kick), 3:40.

WFU--Adams 20 run (Newman kick), 2:12.

Third Quarter

WFU--K.Harris 12 run (Newman kick), 6:57.

FSU--FG Hopkins 42, 4:01.

Fourth Quarter

FSU--Fortson 7 pass from Manuel (Hopkins kick), 11:04.

WFU--Givens 4 pass from Skinner (Newman kick), 3:01.

A--33,411.

TEAM STATISTICS

FSU WFU

First downs 23 27

Rushes-yards 43-217 29-227

Passing 220 227

Comp-Att-Int 15-20-1 25-40-2

Return Yards 85 21

Punts-Avg. 2-54.5 4-32.0

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 6-75 3-30

Time of Possession 30:53 29:07

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Florida State, Thomas 25-149, Manuel 10-45, T.Jones 4-21, Pryor 1-3, Reed 1-3, Team 2-(minus 4). Wake Forest, Pendergrass 5-60, Adams 8-59, K.Harris 9-38, Skinner 4-36, Brown 2-35, Team 1-(minus 1).

PASSING--Florida State, Manuel 15-20-1-220. Wake Forest, Skinner 25-40-2-227.

RECEIVING--Florida State, Reed 5-81, Fortson 3-60, Owens 3-42, Reliford 1-12, Easterling 1-11, R.Smith 1-7, Thomas 1-7. Wake Forest, Givens 6-67, Brown 6-23, Adams 4-27, Ma.Williams 3-42, Rinfrette 3-31, J.Williams 2-22, Bohanon 1-15.