Wake Forest Q&A with The Deac Machine

This week we are joined by The Deac Machine. You can follow him on Twitter at @TheDeacMachine.

Tell us about yourself and your account.

I’m a Deacon grad that lives within 30 minutes of Winston-Salem. I have season tickets to football and basketball and grew up as a fan and I graduated in the late 00’s. I created THE DEAC MACHINE in order to speak freely publicly about all things Wake Forest Athletics.

What are your thoughts on Wake Forest so far this year?

We knew this was going to be a transition year with the breaking in of a new QB in Mitch Griffis, who was simply handed the job by our coaching staff, but no one expected him / the offense to be this bad. We struggled against Elon, were lucky Vanderbilt threw up on itself and couldn’t stop the run, should have lost to ODU, handed GT 5 turnovers (+ a W), and wasted a great defensive performance vs Clemson yesterday in Death Valley. With an even average P5 Qb we’d be 5-0 right now.

Offense: While we have a good running game (Demond Claibrone is a special running back), our inability to throw the football (due to OL protection issues and no QB) puts us at a serious disadvantage. For whatever reason, our staff refuses to try out our 2nd string QB. There were instances yesterday where our staff was running on 3rd and medium at midfield because they don’t trust our QB. That’s a problem. We have great wide receivers (Jahmal Banks, Taylor Morin, Ke’shawn Williams, Wesley Grimes) but can’t get them the ball. That’s another problem. 

Our defense is in its 2nd year led by Brad Lambert who is in his 2nd stint at Wake Forest (he was the DC with Jim Grobe the first time before being named the head coach at Charlotte). They are an aggressive bunch led by DE Jasheen Davis, LB Jacob Roberts, and S Malik Mustpaha. The defense has been a problem the last few years but is the strength of the team this year. This unit deserved a W yesterday in Clemson. 

What do you think about Virginia Tech being assigned as a permanent ACC rival in the new schedule format? 

Honestly, it’s kind of a joke. That’s meant as no disrespect to Virginia Tech. Wake has 3 main rivals – UNC, NC State, and Duke. The ACC gave us Duke, Virginia Tech, and Georgia Tech. The conference ended one of the oldest rivalries in college football when they put Wake and UNC in separate divisions during the first round of expansion. They’re about to do the same with our NC State rivalry – one that’s been played for over 100 years. Virginia Tech is 2 hours away from Winston-Salem, so it was just a random assignment by the ACC. The conference never does Wake any favors. 

How do you view the current state of the Virginia Tech football program? 

Virginia Tech has a great fan base and a great program. The ACC banked on them being a national contender – and the Hokies were for the first decade in the conference before the recent downturn. In a lot of ways, I see what has happened to Virginia Tech football and compare it to what happened with Wake basketball. A program that was very strong in the 90s and 00s but one that has since lost its way. I don’t know a lot about Brent Pry and was surprised with that hire. Probably too early to make any judgement on him. 

What is your outlook for the future of the ACC?

The GOR keeps the ACC intact for a while. If a school wants to leave, get ready to pay millions upon millions. The SEC and Big 10 are a Power 2, if you can’t get in either of them, I don’t know why a school would try to leave. The ACC is 3rd with the Big 12 4th and the latter’s TV deal runs up soon. The ACC will continue to survive in some shape, form, or fashion despite potential member schools leaving. 

What conference do you see Wake Forest belonging to in the next 5-10 years?

As long as there’s an ACC, Wake Forest will be a part of it. It may look / feel a little different though. Despite all of Wake’s winning across all sports, I don’t see Wake being a candidate for the SEC or Big 10.  

What are your expectations for the Virginia Tech game?

In preseason, I wrote – in pencil – this game as a W. Given our QB play, I don’t expect that now. Lane Stadium is awesome and the fans are fantastic. I think we’ll probably see a similar game to our Clemson game yesterday. Low-scoring, sloppy, ugly football. Turnovers and special teams will be important. If Wake can get a run game going and take the homecoming crowd out of it, maybe we’ve got a shot. 

What’s your prediction for the game?

A happy Homecoming for the Hokies, VT wins 20-16.