In my opinion, this is the difference between Wake under [Redacted]/Manning and Wake prior to that (under Gaudio, Prosser, and Odom). It was extremely rare for Wake to lose to bad mid-major programs prior to [Redacted]. I remember road losses to Marshall and Davidson, but there weren't many others and they only occurred every few years. That changed under [Redacted], when we started losing often, and at home, to teams like Stetson, Presbyterian, Delaware State, etc.
In my opinion, the reason this occurred is because our defense, especially at the beginning of games, was not nearly as intense under [Redacted]/Manning. Under Odom, Prosser, and Gaudio we would start games against inferior opponents with very intense defense and it would set the tone for the game. It let inferior teams know they weren't going to win, and it often got us a cushion to work with. Now, that intensity rarely lasted throughout the game, but the key is that it was present at the start so it set the tone. We have lost that, and we have lost our mental edge over teams with inferior talent.
