Wake Forest Living Right, As Usual

The Jim Grobe era:

        TO_Margin   Rank
2001      -.27       72
2002      1.38        5
2003       .58       20
2004       .64       18
2005      -.18       70
2006       .93        6
2007       .69       18
2008      1.56        2

This season, Wake Forest leads the nation in turnovers forced with 28, and they've been +2 or better in six of nine games.

Wake Forest has had to throw the ball more than they typically have in the past in order to compensate for their poor ground game. In fact, Wake's rushing production has been steadily dropping for years:

        Yds/Rush    Run%/Pass%
2001      4.0         71/29
2002      4.4         73/27
2003      4.3         70/30
2004      4.3         68/32
2005      4.1         64/36
2006      3.9         65/35
2007      3.4         58/42
2008      2.8         57/43

Through the first six games of this season, their run/pass split was right at 50-50, which is probably the most balanced a Jim Grobe Wake Forest team has ever been. They've gone more run-heavy of late, and that's probably how Grobe would like to keep it, regardless of the mixed results. With their defense, in a league that's an offensive dead zone, a careful, opportunistic offense is enough. Not that they should have any qualms about throwing the football considering Riley Skinner has been INT-free in eight of nine games.