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Does Wake Forest make a bowl game in 2013-2014?

Does Wake go bowling this year

  • Total voters
    284
  • Poll closed .
We have all this talk about how many bowl games grobe has taken wake to but for really anyone but Grobe there haven't been 34 bowl games to fill and 6 wins didnt get the job done. It has been significantly easier in terms of availability of spots for Grobe to get his teams into a bowl than his predecessors. I think Grobe is a good coach in terms of recruiting and practice field coaching. I think he is a terrible game day coach who makes no adjustments and constantly stands behind his terrible OC and questionable DC. Way to conservative on game day. There is no hair burning on the wake sidelines anymore.
 
Shorty said:
We got absolutely hammered in Raleigh last year. I realize the game is in WS this year but I just don't see us being that much improved to where we beat State.
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We haven't lost to State at home since 2001, even after awful road games in Carter Finley like in 2010.
 
Can we just go ahead and debunk this nonsense of it being easier for Grobe or that quoting his bowl appearances is misleading? First of all, college football is seeing less - not more - parity. This isn't the NFL. Sure, there are a lot of bowl games. An ACC Championship is still an ACC Championship. His record at Wake will be .500 after our first game this year at 74-74.

Caldwell went 26-63 in his career here. One winning season and he got a bowl game. Dooley is your guy for putting up 2 winning seasons (with Groh's players) and not making a bowl, but then he put up 1 total ACC win in the next 2 years. Then you have Groh. 2 ACC wins or fewer in 5 of his 6 seasons, no bowls. Snuck in one 6-5 season but was 3-4 in conference. Mackovic got a bowl for his one winning season but won 6 conference games total in his 3 seasons.

What, we need to go back to the 30's to make this argument relevant?
 
iodeac said:
We haven't lost to State at home since 2001, even after awful road games in Carter Finley like in 2010.
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The players who played the games in 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009 won't be playing in the game this fall. What happened in 2003 has no bearing on 2013.

As others have posted, I think it all depends on how well we play in the four games prior to Clemson. If we are 1-3 before we get blown out at Clemson, I'd be worried.
 
Probably the 40's with Peahead Walker.

Just ran the numbers by assigning point spreads and converting that into win probability for each game. We are right on the fence for a bowl *surprise*.

Last year this system projected Wake to go 5.46-6.54 (5-7), while going 3.16-4.84 in the conference (3-5), which was obviously spot on. We have similar numbers this year.

http://www.bloggersodear.com/2013/7...ake-forest-football-win-this-year-in-football
 
Never understood the need to downplay Grobe's accomplishments either. He is the only coach who has moved the needle for Wake being above a bottom feeder over a significant period of time in modern football history.
 
DCDeac said:
First of all, college football is seeing less - not more - parity.
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Uhhh .... you're gonna have to support that argument with something. Because seeing how successful our former ne'er-do-well counterparts like Baylor, Northwestern and Vandy are doing, I don't buy what you're selling for a second
 
PhDeac said:
What do you disagree with? Your post suggest you ignored the seeds, not that you think they weren't there.
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The offense did not perform very well throughout, which obviously was a growing concern. The defense and special teams covered that up by playing way over their heads of what anybody expected. Those teams were very talented defensively and that is why we won so many games over the 3 year span.

I guess I "overlooked" that because we were winning more games than we had ever won in our history en route to three straight bowls, something never done before by Wake Forest.

So sure, I ignored the seeds because we were being extremely successful on the field with the coaching staff and players that we had.

We have now leveled out to winning 5 and 6 games (happened 3 times over the last 4 years), which means we have been competitive given our schedule, despite some bad losses score-wise to teams we have played. That doesn't mean we have played good football, but ideally 4-5 wins is our floor and our ceiling is 7-8 wins in any given year.

I think we have stabilized out where we won't see any more 1-2 win seasons. Hopefully we continue to get better and take the next step to becoming a bowl team every other year or so before more sustained success. It's a process and I feel that we have been on the right path under Coach Grobe. Whether or not he is the guy to take us to more sustained success is a legitimate question, and that will sort itself out soon enough in my opinion.
 
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It can be (and, in fact, is) simultaneously true that it has never been easier to make a bowl game and Grobe has been our best football coach ever. The latter doesn't mean he has done a good job of late though, which is what matters.
 
The college landscape has changed over the years. Coaches get a 5 yr contract with a 3 year window. Programs that were doormats 20 years ago are now competitive (KSU,N'western, Vandy) and high flyers then have come back to earth (Tenn, Penn St,Iowa). Wake is the second worse program in the history of college football, and if Bill Snyder coaches til he's 100, KSU will pass us. We need to be a consistent competitor, and we have been under Grobe. But last year, Grobe might have lost the team. Nikita's post-season blow up might have shown that. We could win 9 games or lose 9 games. It could be that kind of season. And if it's the later, he might clean out the coaches offices.
 
In what way has Kansas State not already passed us? Higher all time win %, more major bowls, more bowls, and more conference titles.
 
deacfan, I'm not sure what you disagree with then. You seem to agree with my assessment about the seeds. Your only point seems to be that you think you're a better fan because you ignored the problems while we were winning.

I'll expand on your idea that Grobe has "leveled" into being a 5-6 win coach. That's not recent. That's been the norm. Let's take out that 12th FCS game and see how many regular season games Grobe has won each year. I'll add on any significant late season finishes.

6-5
6-6
5-7 (0-3 finish)
4-7 (0-3 finish)
4-7 (0-2 finish)
------------------
9-2 (5-1 finish)
8-4 (2-0 finish)
7-5 (1-2 finish)
------------------
4-7 (1-5 finish)
2-9 (1-9 finish)
5-6 (1-4 finish)
4-7 (0-3 finish)

Grobe's going to get you 4 or 5 wins against FBS competition and tack on an FCS to possibly get to bowl eligibility provided the heavy lifting was done in September and early October. We had two outliers provided by Caldwell's players and the FRESH DEACS. We're looking at 5-7 or 6-6 unless Grobe can recruit comparable players.

Now is this better than 1 or 2 wins? Sure.

Is it worth $2.3 million a year?

Grobe's contract runs out in 2016. Should we give him a contract extension if we go 5-7 and 6-6 the next two years?
 
Stop making it seem like I'm making the "better fan" argument because I am not. I agree that I overlooked a lot of the problems moving forward because at the time we were being extremely successful. Kudos for you seeing the writing on the wall. That is all I am saying.

If Jim Grobe goes 5-7 and 6-6 then I believe we need to assess where we are with the players that we have and determine whether or not he has taken us as high as we can go with him.

$2.3 million is a lot to spend to win 4-5 games a year against FBS teams, but I don't know that it's too much given where we were as a program historically. Something drastic needed to be done and we found a coach that got us out of the funk that we were in and to heights we had not experienced before. We then rewarded him with a contract that would keep him here. I'm not totally against that, but if it would cost another $2.3 million to keep him after another 5-6 win season with the experienced players that we have then I would say to think a lot about it.
 
At the time of the extension it seemed rational and even necessary. Now, it appears extreme. Surely no one thinks that the same money would be paid today.
 
mebanedeac said:
At the time of the extension it seemed rational and even necessary. Now, it appears extreme. Surely no one thinks that the same money would be paid today.
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Oh it was definitely necessary to show we were willing to play with the big boys to keep a coach. I don't know about what others think. Grobe is 61. He may be looking for an extension to coach past 65. Would he take an extension for less money? Would Wellman pay him the same or more for the same results?
 
I can't really see Grobe being our coach past 2016.

He certainly doesn't seem like the type who has to coach. I'd imagine he's already communicated to RW that he's planning on hanging them up by at least then
 
AsheboroDeacon said:
We have all this talk about how many bowl games grobe has taken wake to but for really anyone but Grobe there haven't been 34 bowl games to fill and 6 wins didnt get the job done. It has been significantly easier in terms of availability of spots for Grobe to get his teams into a bowl than his predecessors. I think Grobe is a good coach in terms of recruiting and practice field coaching. I think he is a terrible game day coach who makes no adjustments and constantly stands behind his terrible OC and questionable DC. Way to conservative on game day. There is no hair burning on the wake sidelines anymore.
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The criteria for getting into a bowl is finishing .500 (although not a guarantee at .500) now, which is easier than in the past. Jim Grobe has finished .500 or better 6 out of 12 years (with 5 bowls). In the 50 years preceeding Jim Grobe and since the establishment of the ACC, WFU has had only 12 out of 50 .500 or better seasons and been bowl eligible by today's standards. Jim Grobe has made WFU bowl eligible at a rate more than twice that of the previous 50 years, using today's standards. I hope this puts to rest the idea that the only reason Grobe has more bowls is because of the relaxed standards.
 
DEACS76 said:
The college landscape has changed over the years. Coaches get a 5 yr contract with a 3 year window. Programs that were doormats 20 years ago are now competitive (KSU,N'western, Vandy) and high flyers then have come back to earth (Tenn, Penn St,Iowa). Wake is the second worse program in the history of college football, and if Bill Snyder coaches til he's 100, KSU will pass us. We need to be a consistent competitor, and we have been under Grobe. But last year, Grobe might have lost the team. Nikita's post-season blow up might have shown that. We could win 9 games or lose 9 games. It could be that kind of season. And if it's the later, he might clean out the coaches offices.
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What did Nikita say? Thanks.
 
Easier to get on a bowl. Grobe is the best coach we have had. We will not get in a bowl this year. It is time for young blood and we should do better than 4 or 5 wins with our schedule.
 
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