Wake Forest NCAA 12 Dynasty: Competitive Football Would be Nice!

[waytofailself]

Quote: Originally Posted by Knickerbocker91

7 INT's?! Damn!

Yep, pretty much! Some of it was me forcing the ball, other times it was Holt floating the ball or being wildly inaccurate.

Gotta love QB play holding a team back!

[waytofailself]

Update from Around the Nation

I know a lot of you all like seeing how the rest of the college football world is going during Dynasties, and I normally update more with what's going on. Chalk it up to me being excited about finally having time to start a dynasty. So I blew through a few games, it happens. Next season will have a bit more updating to give some context to what is going on in the country. But for now, here's a look at what's happening in the BCS, the ACC, and the Heisman race.

NCAA Football Rankings - BCS Rankings - Updated: Nov 19, 2011
RK	LW	TEAM (VOTES)	W	L	POINTS
1	1	Alabama	10	0	1.000
2	8	Stanford	9	1	.992
3	3	Ohio State	9	1	.992
4	4	South Carolina	9	1	.983
5	6	Nebraska	8	2	.975
6	5	Auburn	8	2	.969
7	2	Oregon	9	1	.958
8	7	Texas A&M	9	1	.958
9	9	Oklahoma State	8	2	.953
10	10	Oklahoma	8	1	.953
11	11	Boise State	8	1	.953
12	12	Michigan State	8	2	.930
13	14	Illinois	9	1	.923
14	16	Miami	8	2	.906
15	15	Air Force	9	1	.905
16	19	Wisconsin	7	3	.889
17	18	Georgia Tech	9	1	.887
18	13	Mississippi State	7	3	.881
19	20	NC State	8	2	.860
20	23	Ohio	10	0	.855
21	22	Arkansas	6	4	.853
22	17	Penn State	7	3	.845
23	21	Baylor	6	3	.844
24	24	Notre Dame	7	3	.841
25	NR	Utah	8	2	.813

With the season winding down, the BCS picture gets a significant shake up with Stanford upending the Oregon Ducks. Meanwhile, Air Force continues to stay consistent in the BCS rankings. The Falcons first rocketed up after upsetting Boise State a few weeks ago, and both MWC teams have managed to stick around in the BCS standings. That said, Alabama looks to be the clear favorite, so it is just a matter of who is going to challenge the Tide.

Interesting that two of the teams Wake defeated are hanging out in the top 25. Wake Forest is 3-1 this year against the Top 25, and 0-2 against the team sitting in last place in the ACC.

ACC Atlantic Conference Standings - Updated: Nov 19, 2011
TEAM	REC	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STRK
#19 NC State	8-2	.800	4-2	315	172	W5
Maryland	6-4	.600	4-2	248	210	L1
Florida State	6-4	.600	4-3	369	259	L1
Boston College	5-5	.500	4-3	259	223	L3
Wake Forest	4-6	.400	2-5	195	200	L1
Clemson	2-8	.200	1-6	209	310	W1

With Boston College and Florida State both stumbling, NC State has taken charge of the the Atlantic division. However, Maryland still has a shot at catching or surpassing the Wolf Pack if the Terrapins can take care of business in Winston Salem this week.

ACC Coastal Conference Standings - Updated: Nov 19, 2011
TEAM	REC	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STRK
#16 Georgia Tech	9-1	.900	6-1	274	147	W6
#15 Miami	8-2	.800	6-1	334	186	W3
North Carolina	7-3	.700	3-3	277	177	L1
Virginia Tech	6-4	.600	2-4	270	124	L1
Duke	3-7	.300	2-4	272	324	W1
Virginia	3-7	.300	1-5	227	274	L7

With Georgia Tech upending Miami, the Yellow Jackets now control their own destiny in the Coastal division. Meanwhile, both UNC and VT must be disappointed with how their seasons have turned out -- so many missed opportunities in conference play.

Heisman Trophy Update

Heisman Watch - Updated: Nov 19, 2011
NAME	POS	SCHOOL		SEASON STATS
R. Tannehill	QB	Texas A&M		174-293, 2394 Yds, 19 TD 7 INT
T. Pryor	QB	Ohio State		174-255, 2330 Yds, 34 TD 7 INT
A. Clark	HB	Air Force		215 Car, 1307 Yds, 18 TD
A. Luck	QB	Stanford		207-330, 2871 Yds, 34 TD 6 INT
R. Burkhead	HB	Nebraska		154 Car, 878 Yds, 13 TD

The surprise entry has to be Asher Clark, who has helped push Air Force to new heights out of the option attack. Pryor and Tannehill remain locked out in front, while Andrew Luck remains lurking in 4th place when he arguably has had the strongest season.

(ed note: I am playing with default, auto named rosters, but I am using the player's real life name to make following the race easier.)

[waytofailself]

Week 12
vs
Is this Football? Guess Someone Had to Win

Eleven first half turnovers. Five by Wake Forest. Six by Maryland. On a clear, sunny day in Winston Salem, NC, both teams did everything they could to hand the game to their ACC opponent. Turnovers happened on long drives. Turnovers happened immediately after turnovers. Fumbles and interceptions nearly outpaced the points scored in the first half.

The game started with a quick fumble by Maryland, followed by a quick interception thrown by Holt. It would not be the first of such an exchange, but at least Wake Forest was able to move the ball on the Terrapins. Unfortunately, their drive stalled at the goal line, and out trotted Wake's kicker. The kicking game has been a struggle nearly all year, but today might have been the lowest of the low.

Gray shanks another field goal very wide right. This time from 20 yards out.

With no cross wind, and with no late game pressure, Gray pushed the ball straight forward instead of to the left and in the goal post. The game would get uglier, with neither team able to move the ball effectively. Unsurprisingly, the first score was made by Maryland returning an interception for a touchdown.

The returner? John Lamb. Well, Lamb might want to send Holt a basket or a gift card, because Lamb's four interceptions put him in a tie as one of Holt's leading receivers on the day.

But the Maryland offense continued to sputter. In fact, the Terrapins finished a terrible 0-10 on third down for the game. Meanwhile, the Demon Deacons were able to twice take advantage of a short field courtesy of Maryland turnovers to take a 14-7 advantage into half time.

But problems arose in the 3rd quarter. Although the Wake defense remained firm, the offense started off the second half with two Holt turnovers. To the surprise of many in the BB&T crowd, Coach Shapiro then inserted Matt White back into the field. Don't forget, this is the same White who Shapiro publicly criticized a few weeks ago for a lack of work ethic and preparation.

What is more surprising? White managed only one turnover for the rest of the second half. Does anyone need three guesses to figure out that it was a fumble after being sacked? Of course, it helped that Wake Forest was busy grinding away the clock instead of taking risky passes.

Mitchell shoves aside a Maryland defender en route to a first down.

And in the end, a very ugly game that finished with 16 turnovers had an equally surprising result. Maryland, who entered the game heavy favorites with a shot at making it to the ACC Championship, will be leaving BB&T field crushed. Wake Forest, who dropped contests to Duke and Clemson, took advantage of enough Terrapin mistakes to leave the field with an unconvincing but lopsided 35-7 victory.

Maryland (6-4) at Wake Forest (4-6)
Nov 19, 2011 1 2 3 4 F Maryland 7 0 0 0 7 Wake Forest 0 14 14 7 35 Top Performers Maryland J. Lamb, 5 Tak, 2 Solo, 4 INT, 1 TD N. Hughes, 8 Tak, 5 Solo, Sk, FF, FRec Wake Forest D. Taylor, 8 Tak, 5 Solo, 4 TFL, 1.5 Sk, FF A. Hall, Tak, TFL, INT, FF, FRec	Team Stats Comparison MD Wake First Downs 8 13 3rd Down Efficiency 0-10 8-15 4th Down Efficiency 0-0 1-1 Total Yards 125 281 Passing Yards 82 178 Rushing Yards 43 103 Penalties-Penalty Yards 2-20 1-5 Turnovers 9 7 Time of Possession 10:58 21:02
Scoring Summary FIRST QUARTER SCORING MD Wake 0:01 (MD) J. Lamb, INT Return 9 Yds 7 0 SECOND QUARTER SCORING MD Wake 3:27 (Wake) P. Mitchell, 32 Yd Pass from B. Holt 7 7 0:53 (Wake) B. Parrish, 9 Yd Pass from B. Holt 7 14 THIRD QUARTER SCORING MD Wake 3:05 (Wake) M. White, 3 Yd Run 7 21 1:35 (Wake) J. Little, 1 Yd Run 7 28 FOURTH QUARTER SCORING MD Wake 1:29 (Wake) C. Broussard, 1 Yd Run 7 35
Maryland PASSING C/ATT YDS TD INT A. Patton 8-23 82 0 4 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD J. Hodges 15 78 5.2 0 A. Patton 6 -33 -5.5 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD J. Hodges 3 25 8.3 0 C. Smith 3 32 10.6 0 R. Cooke 1 12 12.0 0 C. Gibson 1 13. 13.0 0 Wake Forest PASSING C/ATT YDS TD INT B. Holt 6-17 104 2 5 M. White 6-11 74 0 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD P. Mitchell 16 43 2.6 0 C. Broussard 12 34 2.8 1 B. Holt 4 24 6.0 0 M. White 3 1 0.3 1 J Little 3 1 0.3 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD B. Parrish 4 70 17.5 1 T. Huggins 4 37 9.2 0 G. Bailey 2 29 14.5 0 M. Dunbar 1 10 10.0 0 P. Mitchell 1 32 32.0 1

Coach's Take: You get wins how you can get them. We made mistakes, but we made them make more mistakes. But we can take care of the ball better, we just need to execute. Our defense rose to the occasion, because our offense put them in many bad spots. That's not going to cut it in the future, but today it gets us one game away from .500. I'll take it.

What's Next: Wake Forest (5-6) closes out the season against (not recognized in game) rival Vanderbilt. Maryland (6-5) travels to Raleigh to play NC State.

[Adam14]

Love the dynasty. And, love how BC walloped on ya. Haha.

[WizKhid]

Nice win against Maryland

[waytofailself]

Quote: Originally Posted by CJ-Titans

Love the dynasty. And, love how BC walloped on ya. Haha.

LOL. yeah, probably the worst beat down of the year. I don't mean necessarily by score margin (though I think it is), but really just by one team dominating the other the whole game.

Quote: Originally Posted by WizKhid

Nice win against Maryland

Thanks! I was very surprised by the final score. But man White is a terrible QB and Holt is a terrible QB. I'm amazed I don't thorw more INTs to be honest -- I'll have a receiver open, and he'll just decide to throw way to the left or right or under throw or float a bullet pass. It's frustrating but keeps it interesting.

Holding Steady into Rivalry Week

NCAA Football Rankings - BCS Rankings - Updated: Nov 26, 2011
RK	LW	TEAM (VOTES)	W	L	POINTS
1	1	Alabama	11	0	1.000
2	2	Stanford	10	1	.992
3	3	Ohio State	10	1	.992
4	4	South Carolina	10	1	.983
5	5	Nebraska	9	2	.975
6	6	Auburn	9	2	.972
7	8	Texas A&M	10	1	.961
8	9	Oklahoma State	9	2	.958
9	10	Oklahoma	9	1	.958
10	11	Boise State	9	1	.958
11	12	Michigan State	9	2	.941
12	14	Miami	9	2	.922
13	15	Air Force	10	1	.920
14	16	Wisconsin	8	3	.915
15	7	Oregon	9	2	.903
16	18	Mississippi State	8	3	.892
17	17	Georgia Tech	10	1	.888
18	13	Illinois	9	2	.886
19	24	Notre Dame	8	3	.878
20	NR	USC	7	4	.873
21	25	Utah	9	2	.846
22	NR	Houston	10	1	.835
23	NR	UCF	9	2	.827
24	NR	Pittsburgh	7	3	.822
25	NR	Syracuse	8	2	.813

Unless you are a Duck, the sky isn't falling on any of the top 12 BCS teams. As for Oregon? Dropping game #2 in a row, this time to unranked USC, is not a recipe for success. What's worse, the loss kills any possible hope the Ducks had of sneaking into the Pac-12 Championship (they lost to Stanford last week).

Illinois also lost to Wisconsin, but otherwise most of the movement is from teams slinking up the rankings as other teams fall. But with some Top BCS teams facing off this week anything can happen.

[waytofailself]

Week 13
vs
Firing on All Cylinders? or Just an Aberration?

For the first time in months, Wake Forest finds itself on the winning side of a dominant victory where they were under control from wire to wire. Big plays were abundant on both ends of the floor, and in the end the Vanderbilt Commodores got booted out of Winston Salem by a final margin of 38-17.

After struggling with the run game for the past few weeks -- especially while playing from behind -- Patrick Mitchell finally had an opportunity to get back on track. His speed and lateral movement was too much for the Vanderbilt defense, and the Deacon O-Line constantly won the battle in the trenches. Of course, Vanderbilt had similar success running the ball by committee -- especially up the middle. The difference was that the Deacons were consistently able to translate their positive yards into points.

Scott McCrary watches a Wake Forest defender race down the field after an INT.

Vanderbilt found themselves in a hole early, and part of the reason was because Matt White, after a season of struggles, managed to only turn over the ball once over the course of the entire game. Meanwhile, Vandy faced some QB peril when Scott McCrary (yeah, really) went down with broken ribs midway through the 3rd quarter. When he left, Vanderbilt attempted to get their ground game back on track.

A solid, convincing win for the Demon Deacons lifts them to a final record of 6-6.

Vanderbilt (3-8) at Wake Forest (5-6)
Nov 26, 2011 1 2 3 4 F Vanderbilt 0 10 7 0 17 Wake Forest 14 14 3 7 38 Top Performers Vanderbilt B. Berg, 5 Car, 78 Yds, TD M. Brown, 11 Tak, 7 Solo, 2 TFL Wake Forest P. Mitchell, 20 Car, 142 Yds, 2 TD B. Graham, 8 Tak, 7 Solo, 2 FF	Team Stats Comparison Vand Wake First Downs 13 8 3rd Down Efficiency 7-14 4-11 4th Down Efficiency 0-0 1-2 Total Yards 261 332 Passing Yards 109 167 Rushing Yards 152 165 Penalties-Penalty Yards 3-20 0-0 Turnovers 4 1 Time of Possession 13:52 18:08
Scoring Summary FIRST QUARTER SCORING Vand Wake 5:36 (Wake) P. Mitchell, 2 Yd Run 0 7 1:16 (Wake) B. Larkin, 36 Yd Fumble Return 0 14 SECOND QUARTER SCORING Vand Wake 7:49 (Wake) P. Mitchell, 84 Yd Run 0 21 3:38 (Vand) A. Griffin, 36 Yd FG 3 21 3:24 (Wake) B. Hansen, 71 Yd Pass from M. White 3 28 0:23 (Vand) S. Chapman, 11 Yd Pass from S. McCray 10 28 THIRD QUARTER SCORING Vand Wake 3:23 (Wake) S. Gray, 32 Yd FG 10 31 2:25 (Vand) B. Berg, 39 Yd Run 17 31 FOURTH QUARTER SCORING Vand Wake 7:31 (Wake) M. Dunbar, 14 Yd Pass from M. White 17 38
Vanderbilt PASSING C/ATT YDS TD INT S. McCray 8-19 74 1 1 S. Pollard 3-7 35 0 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD S. Chapman 12 32 2.6 0 S. McCray 8 30 3.7 0 B. Berg 5 78 15.6 1 Q. Jackson 2 23 11.5 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD J. Jones 4 27 6.7 0 Q. Jackson 3 36 12.0 0 S. Chapman 2 25 12.5 1 S. Robinson 1 11 11.0 0 B. Taylor 1 10 10.0 0 Wake Forest PASSING C/ATT YDS TD INT M. White 11-17 167 2 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD P. Mitchell 20 142 7.1 2 M. White 7 21 3.0 0 J. Little 1 2 2.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD M. Dunbar 4 40 10.0 1 G. Bailey 2 32 16.0 0 B. Parrish 1 18 18.0 0 B. Hansen 1 71 71.0 1 P. Mitchell 1 2 2.0 0

Coach's Take: I'm proud of our team for pulling together and getting to six wins. A lot of people have been counting us out the whole season, but we're finishing our season strong. Yeah, I said finishing. We've beaten enough quality teams. Our guys deserve a bowl bid.

What's Next: Vanderbilt's (3-9) season is over, and Wake Forest (6-6) is waiting to hear whether they get a bowl invite.

[waytofailself]

Final Standings

ACC Atlantic Standings Conference Standings - Updated: Dec 1, 2011
TEAM	REC	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STRK
NC State	9-3	.750	5-3	455	258	W1
Florida State	8-4	.666	5-3	459	330	W2
Maryland	6-6	.500	4-4	289	330	L1
Boston College	5-7	.410	4-4	286	301	L5
Wake Forest	6-6	.500	3-5	296	245	W2
Clemson	3-9	.250	2-6	244	360	L1

Somehow, some way, the NC State Wolfpack have managed to pull out and win the ACC Atlantic by virtue of a tiebreaker victory over Florida State. Despite dropping its next to last game to Clemson, the Wolfpack knocked out Maryland clinch the title.

Wake Forest finishes around where it was predicted to finish in the ACC, but with its play out of conference the conference record is both disappointing and a little surprising. That's certainly something to look to turn around next year.

ACC Coastal Standings Conference Standings - Updated: Dec 1, 2011
TEAM	REC	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STRK
Georgia Tech	11-1	.917	7-1	394	258	W8
Miami	10-2	.833	7-1	450	240	W5
Virginia Tech	8-4	.666	4-4	342	176	W2
North Carolina	8-4	.666	4-4	332	257	W1
Duke	3-9	.250	2-6	306	389	L1
Virginia	3-9	.250	1-7	258	338	L9

Georgia Tech finishes on top of the ACC over Miami thanks to their win over Miami earlier in the year. Miami took the loss in stride, and won out the rest of their season after dropping a close one to the Yellow Jackets. Virginia Tech and North Carolina also finish the year bowl eligible, but both teams probably feel like they could have done more this season.

Champ Week BCS Poll Update

NCAA Football Rankings - BCS Rankings - Updated: Dec 1, 2011
RK	LW	TEAM (VOTES)	W	L	POINTS
1	1	Auburn	10	2	.997
2	2	Ohio State	11	1	.994
3	3	Stanford	11	1	.992
4	4	South Carolina	11	1	.983
5	5	Alabama	11	1	.972
6	9	Oklahoma	11	1	.972
7	6	Nebraska	10	2	.972
8	7	Texas A&M	11	1	.958
9	10	Boise State	11	1	.958
10	11	Michigan State	10	2	.945
11	12	Miami	10	2	.930
12	13	Air Force	11	1	.928
13	14	Wisconsin	9	3	.924
14	15	Oregon	10	2	.913
15	8	Oklahoma State	9	3	.905
16	17	Georgia Tech	11	1	.898
17	16	Mississippi State	9	3	.893
18	18	Illinois	10	2	.885
19	19	USC	8	4	.877
20	20	Utah	10	2	.858
21	22	Pittsburgh	9	3	.847
22	21	UCF	10	2	.841
23	24	Notre Dame	8	4	.834
24	25	Virginia Tech	8	4	.828
25	NR	Florida State	8	4	.826

Probably the biggest story is Auburn climbing to #1 after upsetting Alabama the last week of the season -- despite two losses. And with such a significant BCS rating advantage it seems like Auburn is unlikely to be supplanted -- especially since they WON'T be playing in the SEC Championship Game.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma spoils Oklahoma State's season by knocking them off in their rivalry game.

All that's have left is championship week to sort out who's going bowling where.