I liked Wake Forest a lot more when they were going 2-9

Gameday inches closer. Today, we learn that, yes, Wake Forest is pretty good at running the ball and it might be a good idea for NC State to stop said running game. That W-S Journal piece is not short on barbs:

Next comes Wake Forest, a team that is masterful at the kinds of things that have given State's defense fits. The Deacs specialize in counters, misdirections and all the other plays that work well against undisciplined defenses. Wake Forest leads the ACC in rushing, averaging 205.1 yards a game, and tailback Chris Barclay is the league's leading rusher at 112.8. And that's against fundamentally sound defenses such as Florida State and Boston College.

That's harsh, man. But also accurate. I hope the Wolfpack's defensive coaching staff is too busy to read the newspaper. The implications from the above paragraph are pretty clear.

Apparently, Wake's Cory Randolph is hurt, and according to the article, could miss Saturday's game. Considering Randolph is listed as probable, I'm not holding my breath. It would be a break for State if Randolph doesn't start; the Deacs are much less interested in running the option when Mauk is under center. Although Wake doesn't need the option in order to be effective on the ground, it'd be nice to have one less thing to worry about. I'm not sure we've seen the option all year, and, well, yikes.

On the other side of the ball, Wake has probably the weakest secondary we will see in conference play. There is no better time for Jay Davis to halt his regression and start playing like he did in the first couple of games of the season.