Another non-traditional power gets into the BCS mix. Wake Forest Demon Deacons enjoy celebration of BCS berth
By Aaron Beard
Associated Press
CHUCK BURTON/Associated Press
Wake Forest cornerback Riley Swanson and the No. 15 Demon Deacons will face No. 5 Louisville on Jan. 2 in the Orange Bowl at Miami.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Riley Swanson just won't take off the ballcap that proclaims Wake Forest's stunning Atlantic Coast Conference championship. The Demon Deacons' cornerback isn't shedding his wide smile, either.
"It's just incredible," he said. "I can't believe we did it."
After weeks of always turning their attention to the next game, Swanson and the No. 15 Demon Deacons are finally getting the chance to enjoy the amazing run that will end with a trip to the Orange Bowl to face No. 5 Louisville on Jan. 2. Until then, the players are finishing exams and getting some time off to rest and heal before preparing for the Cardinals.
Along the way, they're just savoring all the attention that comes with reaching a BCS game.
"I would say I've been better," coach Jim Grobe said with a smile, "but I don't know when."
The Demon Deacons (11-2) are coming off a 9-6 win over Georgia Tech that clinched the school's second ACC championship and first since 1970. That capped a regular season that included a shutout win at Florida State, a road win over Maryland to earn a division title and the first sweep of in-state rivals Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State in 19 years.
Not bad for a program that had just six bowl appearances and had never won more than eight games in its past 104 years of football.
"It really hadn't set in because we'd been in that normal routine, week after week after every victory going, 'OK, that was a win. Let's get ready for another,"' senior defensive tackle Jamil Smith said. "This week, I don't think it's set in for me yet, but it's coming slowly."
It's just part of a successful fall sports season for the school, which also won ACC championships in men's soccer and field hockey. The field hockey team reached the NCAA tournament finals, while the men's soccer team reached the national semifinals. But football's rise seems to have elicited the most passionate response at the small, private university with an enrollment of just more than 4,000 undergraduates.
It's clear these are special days here. The players fondly recall what it was like to return to campus after the ACC title game and see a few hundred fans waiting to greet them.
Days later, toilet paper still dangled from the trees lining the quad in front of the school's Wait Chapel. It also hung in trees lining the Demon Deacons' practice field and the football offices, the remnants of a weekend party that celebrated the stunning climb from league basement dweller to champion and Orange Bowl participant.
Of course, you won't have much trouble finding oranges just about anywhere on campus - including a Wake Forest football helmet filled with the fruit in the lobby of athletics director Ron Wellman's office.
Then there was the unusual sight of seeing the customary bright orange blazer of an Orange Bowl committee member attending Wake Forest's weekly football news conference earlier this week - a sight that would have been unfathomable just a few months ago.
"It's the Cinderella story," said Larry Wahl, Orange Bowl committee member. "It's the school that has never been to a BCS bowl game, the little engine that could, I guess.
"From what I've seen here and what I've heard, it seems like everybody in town is going."
The celebration hasn't been confined to campus. Swanson and safety Josh Gattis even were recognized during a church service in Winston-Salem the day after beating the Yellow Jackets.
"Toward the end they said, 'We have some ACC champs in the building,"' Swanson said with a smile.
It's something that these Demon Deacons won't get tired of hearing any time soon.
"There are a lot of championship hats walking around our office right now," Grobe said. "And what's fun is we're able to enjoy it a little bit right now. ... Now it's nice to catch our breath a little bit and see what we've done."