Florida State and quarterback Xavier Lee remember well last year's game against Wake Forest.
On Nov. 11, 2006, the Demon Deacons shocked FSU 30-0 in Tallahassee, the only time the Seminoles have been shut out at Doak Campbell Stadium since Bobby Bowden took over in 1976. It was also the first shutout loss for the Seminoles since the 1988 season opener, a 31-0 defeat at Miami.
"You coach as long as I have, you've got a lot of low points,"Bowden said. "You can put that one in the book. It qualifies."
That win was a springboard for Wake Forest on the way to its first ACC title since 1970 and first 11-win season in school history. FSU, meanwhile, was on the way to a six-loss season.
"Wake Forest is having to wear the bullseye this year because they won the conference championship last year,"Bowden said. "So everybody is aware of Wake Forest."
Lee, meanwhile, was making his third career start in last year's game. And he had accumulated 570 all-purpose yards heading into it, with three touchdowns and no turnovers. That day? Lee produced 55 total yards on five completions and four rushing attempts. And he threw two consecutive interceptions deep in Seminole territory that resulted in 10 Wake Forest points. He was benched before halftime.
Lee then lost the starting job last year back to Drew Weatherford, and he just reclaimed it last week. In just more than six quarters of play this year (against Alabama and N.C. State), Lee is FSU's second-leading rusher with 73 yards. He has also thrown for more than 200 yards in each of the past two games and has completed three passes longer than 50 yards. Lee earned his first start of the season last weekend in a 27-10 win against North Carolina State.
Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe is expecting Lee to give his defense some problems.
"I coached defense for a lot of years, and the quarterbacks who gave us the most problems were the mobile running backs,"Grobe said. "... The unknown is his ability to pull the ball down and run with it.
Sometimes you can do a nice job in coverage and cover everybody, but then you force Xavier to take off running with the football, and that's always something that drives you nuts.Another telling stat: Since last year's rout, no team has scored 30 points against Florida State.
"In this day and age, it's hard to maintain the level that Florida State had for so many years,"Grobe said.
"They were probably the most remarkable football team ... for a long period of time, and that's just hard to do today, to maintain that level.
While the offense seems to have found some consistency under Lee, the FSU defense has been good all year, only allowing 81.8 rushing yards allowed per game, 12th in Division I-A, and has held the past three opponents to just 158 total yards on the ground.
The Seminoles (4-1, 1-1 ACC) began the season ranked 19th in the nation, but a 24-18 loss in the season opener at Clemson dropped them from the Top 25. Since then, however, they have outscored opponents 98-54 while winning four games in a row and are No. 21 in the latest AP poll.
Wake Forest (3-2, 2-1) has won three straight after opening the season with back-to-back losses to Boston College and Nebraska.
Senior Kenneth Moore is one of only three players in Division I-A to lead his team in both receiving (38 catches for 360 yards) and rushing (23 carries for 245 yards).
A year ago, Wake Forest rushed for 169 yards against FSU, the most in the regular season by an FSU opponent. This year, the Deacons rank fifth in the ACC, rushing for 139 yards per game.
"Just losing to Wake Forest, for them, is enough,"Moore said of last year's game. "So they're definitely going to come ready -- whether it was by one, by 10, by 100. Losing to Wake Forest? Oh man, that can't happen. So they're going to come ready to play."
The lowdown: Florida State has a 21-3-1 edge in the series and the Seminoles had defeated the Demon Deacons 14 straight times before 2006. They still have a five-game win streak in Winston-Salem, where they haven't lost since 1973. That will continue this season, as FSU, a 5.5-point favorite on WagerWeb.com, should cover with ease.
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