Preview for Tuesday night's game can be found here.

Programming: I'll be there with full coverage.

Predictions:

- WF commits fewer than 12 turnovers.

- WF makes at least eight 3-pointers (I'm just going to die on this hill, I think).

- Cameron Hildreth leads WF with at least 20 points.

As the November wheel spins on for Wake Forest.

I don't have all that much to add for this one. The Deacons are 4-5 with what I think is a guaranteed loss, at Miami, next weekend. So if they're going to make a bowl game, in all likelihood Wake Forest needs to win at UNC this week and beat Duke in the regular-season finale (or win one of those games and scrape into a bowl game at 5-7 if there aren't enough bowl-eligible teams).

UNC has been better of late, too, so this one is going to need a strong game for the Deacons to pull it out.

Here was the story on Wake's loss to Cal.

And there goes whatever momentum Wake Forest had.

The Deacons are 4-6 and barring a couple of upset wins -- or one of them and some APR-based help -- they're not going to a bowl game for the second straight season.

I'm not sure what else to say here. If I can get to it, I want to get a My Take done this week on the future of Wake's program. The hiccup that was last season could've been turned into a blip on the radar of a successful program; doing a lot of the same things wrong this season is obviously a sign that the issues go much deeper than the QB position.

As for this week's game ... yeesh. If Miami were still undefeated, I'd actually feel better about Wake's chances of catching Miami sleepwalking. Maybe that still happens. But I think it's more likely that Cam Ward throws for 400ish yards and 4 touchdowns and the competitive portion of this game is over by the midway point of the 3rd quarter.

Programming: I'm not going to Miami, will have remote coverage of the game.

ICYMI: Story from Saturday night's loss at Miami.

Something new this season.

Because it's inevitable this comes up, I'll post and pin this thread to track how Wake's transfers are playing this season. It's going to be heavily focused on guys who were on Wake's roster last season because, well, do you really think of Carter Whitt as a former WF player? (before you ask, yes, he's still playing college basketball)

So, here's the list of the transfers out of WF from last season's roster and where they're playing this season:

Andrew Carr - Kentucky
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Kevin Miller - SMU
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Zach Keller - Utah
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Damari Monsanto - UTSA
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Matthew Marsh - Oregon State
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Abramo Canka - Stetson
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Aaron Clark - Pepperdine

Preview for Saturday's game at Xavier can be found here.

Programming: I'll be monitoring remotely as best I can -- Duke has a home game at the same time.

Predictions:

- This is the game WF breaks free of the shooting slump, makes at least 10 3-pointers and does so while shooting at least 35%.

- Hunter Sallis has another 20-point game.

- Xavier scores its lowest point total of the season (previous is 78).

We'll start this thread with Wake's first commit of the class:

Locklan Hewlett, a QB from St. Augustine, Fla.

Running down some quick takeaways:

- Always good to get the first commit of a class going into their junior season.
- This *should* do it for QBs in the class but there's always the chance Wake adds another.
- It's an extensive offer list that includes Miami, Texas A&M, Rutgers and many others.

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I like the way that's written out, Week 11 ... 8 p.m. ... on 11/8.

Freaky Friday type stuff.

Wake Forest comes out of its second off week with a game against Cal on Friday night. The petition to move this game to Berkeley must have fallen flat because the Deacons are playing at home, where they've lost 4 straight.

Cal was also off this past weekend and might have the worst luck of any team this season, at least in the ACC. All four losses have come by a combined 9 points, including a blown 25-point lead at home against Miami and FG woes that cost them wins against FSU and N.C. State.

As I've alluded a couple of times -- and wanted to write about this past week when I thought I'd have enough time -- this month sets up as a crucial one for the future of Wake's program. Not to heap too much importance on four games. Winning 2 of 4 and making a bowl game would, IMO, accomplish the main goal of this season, which was reestablishing positive trajectory for this program and setting it back on an upward trajectory. Questions have been answered about Wake's offense, the QB play is decent, they like their future with Jeremy Hecklinski after Hank Bachmeier and Michael Kern depart. Wake's defense has to improve but, in the last two games, it has survived for road wins. That is ... something that can be a building block to take into this month.

Going 2-2 or better in this month would be a great turnaround after a 1-3 first month, and it'd be a wave worth riding into December. Going 1-3 or 0-4 this month would, IMO, bring about some discussions about the future of this program with Dave Clawson as its coach.

Programming note: I'll be there with full coverage.

ICYMI links:

Pre-November grades for Wake's offense.

Pre-November grades for Wake's defense.

Preview for tomorrow night's game can be found here.

Programming is ... up in the air. I'm in Atlanta tonight for Duke's game, staying overnight. If I can make it out of Atlanta in the morning, get home relatively early in the afternoon tomorrow, I'm going to make it to the Joel. But if I get bogged down in traffic, I'm going to be watching from home.

Predictions:

- Maybe I'm a sucker, but I think this team gets hot from 3s at some point, so give me one of two things: They either make 12 of them or shoot 40% (or better).

- Parker Friedrichsen hits two 3s.

- WF scores 90 points for the first time this season.

Going to pin this thread to (attempt to) keep track of all developments -- visits, offers, pending commits -- on the basketball recruiting front.

To start things off:

Wake Forest doesn't a commit in the 2023 class yet and that should be alarming to absolutely nobody. If you read the State of the Program breakdown of recruiting (linked here), you know the changing landscape of recruiting and Steve Forbes' thoughts on the situation.

Forbes isn't going to panic and take players just to take players. That is, bluntly, one of the reasons he's coaching at Wake Forest and Danny Manning isn't. Forbes looks for who fits in his system, at the school, and who can play in the ACC ... and he's not lowering the basket to squeeze players into that criteria. If he can't get recruits that fit, he's going to scour the portal -- which has proved quite fruitful (invest in Andrew Carr, Ty Appleby and Jao Ituka stock now).

You've also got to note that Wake Forest -- at least right now -- doesn't line up to be in need of a large recruiting class entering next season. Daivien Williamson and Appleby are the only players who are out of eligibility after this season, and there's an open scholarship. So that's 3 current vacancies to account for in the 2023-24 season. Will that number stay at 3? Unlikely. Can Forbes go out and oversign? Well, yes, but only if he plans on running off current members of the team.

Frankly, I don't see that last part happening, though.

Realize how late this is but here's the thread for today's game against Michigan.

Between dealing with a bug that's had me sidelined most of the last 3-4 days and going to a wedding yesterday, I wasn't able to complete the preview. But I got a chunk of it done and will throw it into this thread.

Preview for Wake's second game can be found here.

Programming note: I'll be there with full coverage.

Predictions:

- Wake Forest makes double-digit 3-pointers and its percentage is at least 12 points higher than Monday night (which was 24.5%).

- Parker Friedrichsen makes at least three 3s.

- Tre'Von Spillers has a double-double.

Thank God, IT'S BASKETBALL SEASON.

Preview for tomorrow night's game -- including a My Take to start things off.

Programming note: I'll have remote coverage of this one as best I can.

Predictions:

- Hunter Sallis scores at least 18 points on fewer than 10 shots.

- WF outrebounds Coppin State by at least 12.

- Deacons make at least 10 3-pointers.

Wake Forest arrives at its second off week 4-4 and 2-2 in the ACC.

As go things in moderation, a couple of ways to look at that. One, given the narrow losses to UVA and Louisiana, the Deacons could be 6-2 and already bowl eligible with remote chances of really throwing a wrench into the top of the ACC standings. Even if they had won one of those, they're 5-3 and with a decent November, would have one of the better seasons in program history.

But on the other side, WF has had some true escapist moments in the last couple of weeks and this could also be a 2-6 team with little hope for the future.

At risk of repeating myself: This season has always been about getting the program back on track. There were no illusions of competing for an ACC championship after last year's debacle. The goal was simple: Win 6 or 7 games, get back in a bowl game, reset the trajectory, move forward into 2025. After this week, I kind of think that goal will either be achieved or it'll fall flat.

As a programming note for off week coverage: I'll have PFF game grades up sometime tomorrow (hopefully morning but my Mondays get bogged down in a hurry). I think I'll write something along the lines of a My Take about resetting the board entering November for this team. I missed doing mid-term PFF grades in between the Clemson and UConn games and with basketball season fast approaching (here already, really), I'm going to knock out a PFF season grades check-in this week. It'll be wonky, having quarter-season PFF grades and then two-third PFF grades ... but it's just kind of what I'll have to do, given the schedule.

Here's the story on Wake's win over Stanford.

And here's one note from Twitter on WF in one-score games:

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I know you said there wouldn't be much baseball until Jan or Feb.

But after watching all the fall schedule I have a couple of questions you may be able to shed some light on.

Jimmy Keenan caught today against WV but did not hit. As best as I can tell, he didn't take an at bat all fall. Is there some injury there?

Also Chris Levonas, unless I missed it, he didn't pitch any this fall. He ran through PFP yesterday and he was doing long toss during pitcher warmups (where he looked AMAZING), but no pitches. What's the situation with him?

Winnay didn't run today. Lewis didn't play all weekend.

I assume all of this is health related. Is it possible to get a health update on the team at large going into winter offseason?

You can't win five coin flips in the second half of a season if you don't win the first one.

Wake Forest started the second half of its season with a win at UConn over the weekend. The Deacons have several more winnable games over the next 6 weeks, including one this week at Stanford. And hey, for a team that's 2-0 on the road this year, hitting the road again might give you some faith.

Programming note for this week: I'm not heading out west, so I'll have a remote story on the game.

ICYMI, remote recap of Wake's win at UConn.

I'm not sure I can promise much content here until January or February, but here is at least Wake's fall baseball schedule, per news release:

Scrimmages:
Saturday, Oct. 19 - at St. John's
Sunday, Oct. 27 - vs. West Virginia

Intersquad scrimmages:
Friday, Sept. 27 - First pitch 4:00 p.m.
Sunday, Sept. 29 - First pitch 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 5 - First pitch 3:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 6 - First pitch 1:30 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 11 - First pitch 4 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 13 - First pitch 1:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 26 - First pitch 3:30 p.m.
First pitch times are subject to change.

Alright, here goes ...

I'm just back from Wake's open-to-media practice this afternoon. I've got one story I want to get up tonight, kind of a theme/overview type, and then I've got content for several others in the days to follow.

But I want to get something up in the meantime, so I'm going to bullet point some general thoughts. Some of them might wind up getting repeated with stories; if so, oh well. I'm trying to juggle a lot of things right now and just want to get *something* posted about today before moving forward on other things.

- Today was the last day of summer practices; they're off for about 2 weeks before coming back for the fall semester. Two of the guys we talked with -- Cam Hildreth and Parker Friedrichsen -- were thrilled to be going home.

- Hildreth talked about his wrist injury not needing surgery, thought that was interesting. I doubt anyone other than staff and teammates has a full grasp of how much pain he was in last year, but he said it hasn't bothered him for a while.

- Talking to Hunter Sallis about his decision to come back was interesting. What exactly he has to improve on has been alluded to and such -- ball-handling and initiating offense -- and there was more of that today. But there was also a little more directness, I think Hildreth mentioned that Sallis will be playing some point guard.

- Also on the agenda for Sallis to improve is leadership/vocality. That's not really who he is ... but it's what WF needs him to be.

- Today was the *first* day that Omaha Biliew could participate in contact stuff and that was just in halfcourt drills. "He moves different" was a Forbes quote, referring to his athleticism and size. Forbes lauded how much he attacked his rehab, which is why he was able to get back today.

Biliew hit a corner-3 and Forbes had everybody on the court clap to show him love, able to finally participate in practice.

- Juke Harris had probably a better summer entering his freshman season than any other incoming freshman has had under Forbes. That's not the largest sample size, given how many transfers have entered, but it does mean he's been as good, possibly better than Friedrichsen was last year.

Not to break my arm patting myself on the back ... but I tried to tell yall as often as I could that Juke wouldn't be coming in and riding the bench for a season. He's 6-7, can score at all three levels, is long and athletic, has some really good basketball IQ, and has a lot of coachable characteristics. I doubt he's a starter, but he's also not on the very end of the bench.

- Speaking of ... I don't know if this team is going to be as deep as it appears now. But the indications -- AT THIS POINT, can't stress that enough -- are that they'll have 11 playable players. Every time today I found myself thinking that Churchill Abass or Marqus Marion would be difficult to find minutes for, they'd do something good.

- They're not going to replace Demetris Nichols on staff, nor are they going to sign a player for the 13th scholarship. So the assistant coaches are Jason Shay, Matt Woodley, BJ McKie and Antanas Kavaliauskas, and director of player relations Darnell Harris (has been in that role for a year, played one season at Northwest Florida for Forbes) will be the team's fifth coach on the floor in practices.

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That's all I've got for now. Check in later tonight for an in-depth story and keep checking in the following days for more content.

Welllllllllllllllllll,

Things obviously went from bad to worse with Wake Forest's loss to Louisiana. It felt like a game WF needed to win to have a halfway decent shot at making a bowl game. Instead, the Deacons lost to a Sun Belt team and have lost 8 straight games to FBS teams.

I don't know where things go from here. Pretty quickly, WF is staring down the barrel of a 1-5 start, given how scarce wins in Raleigh have been for this program given Clemson has made its opener look like an aberration.

But we'll press on with coverage here. And in Raleigh, as the programming alert comes that I'll be there for Saturday's game against N.C. State. Here are some links to get you caught up -- and as a reminder, the PFF grades and input will come Monday morning and be posted on the Louisiana game thread.

Preview of the Louisiana game.

Story off of the Louisiana loss.

Here comes a third straight noon kickoff, in Wake's seventh game of the season ... and the first time the Deacons are leaving N.C.

What a weird scheduling quirk. Wake Forest takes its first flight of the season, heading to UConn, and then next week will fly across the country for an ACC game against Stanford. Four of Wake's last six games are on the road, three of those requiring flights (Miami on 11/23 is the other).

And where this team is, I think a bowl is well within reach.

If you remove the Miami game, each of Wake's remaining games looks like a toss-up. Now, winning 5 straight coin flips is difficult; so is winning 4 of 5 -- but hardly impossible. To get the ball rolling on a strong second half, WF needs to beat a UConn team that has already exceeded last season's win total (3-9 last year, 4-2 this year) but has also lost both games to P4 teams (50-7 against Maryland, 26-21 at Duke).

ICYMI, here are links from coverage of the Clemson shellacking:

Buzzer story.

Analysis story.

Hey guys! Richie O'Leary here, publisher of The UConn Report aka the UConn-Rivals site. Just wanted to drop by and post our video from UConn Football HC Jim Mora's press conference today.

There is only a couple of Wake Forest questions / answers in there, so ENJOY!
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Let there be life!

Wake Forest's season undertook a different tone with a 4th quarter comeback in Raleigh. This was a game I said in the 3 glass-half-empty predictions would be a blowout loss, so I'll own that L.

I'd stop short of declaring Wake's season saved or anything but it's a good first step. More than anything, you can't help but feel good for the players who have maintained they knew they were close to getting one of these close games to go their way, that they weren't a fractured locker room, that they knew all it'd take was one or two big plays to score a win.

Now the focus shifts to a Clemson team that's righted its ship, blowing out three teams and winning the Grant of Rights Bowl last night at FSU. The Deacons are 20ish-point underdogs and it's hard to disagree, given Clemson's offense has been lighting people up through the air and Wake's defense has been gashed there.

I'll have full coverage this week -- albeit, basketball media days are in Charlotte on Wednesday and Thursday, so time is a bit constricted. And I'll have coverage of Saturday's game.

Here was the story from yesterday.

So, you just blew a two-touchdown lead in the 4th quarter. Who do you want to play next?

No. 5 Ole Miss probably doesn't rank too highly in the desired opponents.

This will be the thread for this week's game. Wake Forest has a 64-game losing streak against top-10 teams, the last such win coming in 1946.

Programming for this week will be pretty normal, coverage-wise. Player interviews via Zoom on Tuesday morning, Clawson presser Tuesday afternoon. I'll be at Saturday night's game for full coverage.

Getting you up to speed on links going into the week:

Buzzer story about the UVA loss.

My Take on the players who made the costly mistakes.

(PFF grades are coming Monday morning and those links will be in the UVA game thread.)

Wake Forest emerges from a newsier-than-expected off week to play Louisiana on Saturday. The Ragin' Cajuns are 2-1 and lost to Tulane 41-33 this weekend.

At risk of sounding too dramatic: This is about as much of a must-win game as you can have in September. At 1-2 and with a game in Raleigh and against Clemson in the next two, I'm not sure Wake Forest recovers from a 1-5 start to make a bowl. At 2-4, at least, there's a path to winning 4 of 5 between UConn/Stanford/Cal/UNC/Duke (and the game in Raleigh, I think, is not quite a foregone conclusion in the way the Clemson and Miami games are).

As a programming note: I've struck out on finding a stringer to cover this game. Since it's not an ACC game and I'll be in Durham for UNC-Duke, we'll have a remote story on Wake's game. It's not ideal, I hate missing home games ... but it's just where things landed, given the schedule.

Here are some links to get you up to speed:

My Take on the Ole Miss game

My Take on Wake's initial silence about scheduling | My Take to wrap up the scheduling of Ole Miss/Oregon State

PFF quarterly grades for Wake's offense | PFF quarterly grades for Wake's defense

Alright alright alright, time for a thread for a week that won't have a game at the end of it!

There's not exactly going to be a dearth of Wake Forest football coverage this week. I'll have PFF grades from the Ole Miss up tomorrow (and posted on the game thread), and have quarterly PFF grades up later in the week. I want to get a state of the program My Take done (time-pending, per usual) sometime this week.

Links to get you caught up until there's fresh content:

Buzzer story on last night's game.

My Take on a few different topics from last night.

News that Wake Forest has bought out next year's trip to Ole Miss.

Alright alright alright, firing up the Week 2 thread.

Kind of feels like a return to normal with the schedule -- player interviews and Dave Clawson's press conference will be on Tuesday this week and I'll be there. So I'll have something off of the presser, maybe a mini-feature on Wednesday, a Q&A with somebody who covers UVA on either Wednesday or Thursday, and then a comprehensive preview of Saturday night's game. Followed by full coverage of the game.

Getting you up to speed on links from the past few days (film review still pending):

Buzzer story on Wake's win over N.C. A&T.

My Take on Wake's QB battle.

PFF's grades for Wake's offense | PFF's grades for Wake's defense.