Ranking the Top 131 College Football Programs of the Last 40 Years: 73. Wake Forest
Diners, Drive-ins, Demon Deacons and Dives
WAKE FOREST. Your time has come, demon deacons. For them to be the smallest school in the Power 5 and finish 73rd is honestly impressive. Despite having a .421 all time winning percentage, that number is up to .448 in the last 40 years, meaning their win percentage prior to 1983 was just .404. Restrict that to just the last 20 years, and Wake’s got a .498. Wake Forest football is on the up, and I for one am here for it. They deserve it, having one of the best aesthetics in football.
Best Seasons and Highlights
+------+-------------+------+--------------+--------+
| rank | team | year | resume score | record |
+------+-------------+------+--------------+--------+
| 18 | Wake Forest | 2006 | 25.795 | 11-3 |
| 16 | Wake Forest | 2021 | 24.724 | 11-3 |
| 26 | Wake Forest | 2007 | 15.838 | 9-4 |
| 29 | Wake Forest | 2022 | 10.404 | 8-5 |
| 36 | Wake Forest | 2008 | 9.825 | 8-5 |
| 36 | Wake Forest | 2017 | 9.433 | 8-5 |
| 30 | Wake Forest | 1992 | 4.581 | 8-4 |
| 40 | Wake Forest | 1988 | 3.309 | 6-4-1 |
| 39 | Wake Forest | 1999 | 1.434 | 7-5 |
| 48 | Wake Forest | 2019 | -0.752 | 8-5 |
| 50 | Wake Forest | 2002 | -1.927 | 7-6 |
| 57 | Wake Forest | 2018 | -3.46 | 7-6 |
| 40 | Wake Forest | 1987 | -3.524 | 7-4 |
| 54 | Wake Forest | 2001 | -4.483 | 6-5 |
| 61 | Wake Forest | 2003 | -7.751 | 5-7 |
| 63 | Wake Forest | 2016 | -8.424 | 7-6 |
| 60 | Wake Forest | 1984 | -10.75 | 6-5 |
| 74 | Wake Forest | 2020 | -11.335 | 4-5 |
| 72 | Wake Forest | 2011 | -12.932 | 6-7 |
| 63 | Wake Forest | 1986 | -12.98 | 5-6 |
| 73 | Wake Forest | 2009 | -13.006 | 5-7 |
| 63 | Wake Forest | 1997 | -13.691 | 5-6 |
| 80 | Wake Forest | 2005 | -17.529 | 4-7 |
| 75 | Wake Forest | 2004 | -19.873 | 4-7 |
| 73 | Wake Forest | 1983 | -21.736 | 4-7 |
| 84 | Wake Forest | 2012 | -22.938 | 5-7 |
| 87 | Wake Forest | 2013 | -23.086 | 4-8 |
| 77 | Wake Forest | 1985 | -27.242 | 4-7 |
| 82 | Wake Forest | 1998 | -30.666 | 3-8 |
| 102 | Wake Forest | 2015 | -33.867 | 3-9 |
| 90 | Wake Forest | 1990 | -35.839 | 3-8 |
| 88 | Wake Forest | 1991 | -35.888 | 3-8 |
| 106 | Wake Forest | 2014 | -36.09 | 3-9 |
| 87 | Wake Forest | 1989 | -37.024 | 2-8-1 |
| 100 | Wake Forest | 2010 | -38.224 | 3-9 |
| 96 | Wake Forest | 1996 | -38.942 | 3-8 |
| 95 | Wake Forest | 1993 | -40.271 | 2-9 |
| 92 | Wake Forest | 1994 | -42.295 | 3-8 |
| 103 | Wake Forest | 2000 | -46.15 | 2-9 |
| 105 | Wake Forest | 1995 | -54.066 | 1-10 |
+------+-------------+------+--------------+--------+
Overall Score: 13117 (73rd)210-259-2 record
1 conference title
10-4 bowl record
3 consensus All-Americans
55 NFL players drafted
No matter what happens with Wake Forest going forward, no one can take away 2006. That was a magical ACC title-winning team and is Wake’s best ever season in their 100+ year history. You might also notice that Wake’s been surprisingly good in bowls, going 10-4 with 1 BCS/New Years 6 Bowl appearance. Consensus All-Americans were punter Ryan Plackemeier in 2005, who won the Ray Guy Award, and OL Steve Justice (2007) and CB Alphonso Smith (2008). Surprisingly, LB Aaron Curry, the 4th overall pick by the Seattle Seahawks in 2009, was never a consensus pick. Curry’s one of the biggest names to come out of Wake Forest in the last 4 decades, with All-Pro safety Jessie Bates being the most recent successful alum.
Top 5 Seasons
Worst Season: 1995 (1-10 overall, 0-8 ACC)
Before Jim Caldwell was leading Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts to the Super Bowl in 2009, he was leading Wake Forest’s worst team in 1995. It’s easy to see why they won just 1 game—this was QB Rusty LaRue vs the world. Wake opened with a 22-24 loss to FCS Appalachian State, but that wasn’t even the worst loss, as they suffered a 13-72 embarrassment to #1 Florida State later in the year. The lone win was 30-7 over a respectable 5-6 Navy team. In a 26-42 loss to Duke late in the season, LaRue set an NCAA record with 55 completions, throwing for 478 yards and 3 TD. In the last game of the season, a 23-52 loss to NC State, LaRue set a school record for passing yards with 545, completing 50 of 67 for 545.
LaRue carried the team, completing 63% of passes for 2775 yards 17 TD 13 INT. His starting RB averaged just 2.8 YPC on 110 carries. LaRue was an extremely talented athlete, and played football, basketball, and baseball at Wake Forest. He was so good in basketball that he finished 2nd in Wake history in 3 pointers made, 1st in 3 point FG%, and made the NBA! Not just any NBA team, he signed with the Chicago Bulls as an undrafted free agent and averaged 3.5 PPG on the 1997-98 title winning team in Michael Jordan’s final year. LaRue now serves as a high school basketball coach.
5. 2008 (8-5 overall, 4-4 ACC)
There were presentation expectations. For the first time in Wake Forest history, they were ranked in the preseason top 25, at #23. They returned a loaded defense, 3rd year starting QB Riley Skinner, and coach Jim Grobe. The defense certainly lived up to the hype. Wake reeled off a 3-0 start that included a 41-13 beating of Baylor, 30-28 over Ole Miss, and 12-3 over #25 Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium. Wake had their highest ranking of #15 all season, but after a loss to Navy, they wouldn’t recover to the same heights. The defense played very well throughout the year, but the offense had a few stinkers like 0-26 to Maryland. 6-4 Wake Forest would’ve gone to the ACC title game had they beaten 7-3 Boston College, but a late TD run from BC got them a 24-21 win and Wake finished in a 4-way tie for 3rd in the ACC Atlantic. The season ended on a high note, beating one of Vandy’s best teams of the last 4 decades and getting revenge on Navy 29-19 in the bowl. LB Aaron Curry had 105 tackles with 16 total TFL, winning the Butkus Award and earning 2nd Team All-American. CB Alphonso Smith had 7 INTs, earning consensus All-American status as a 1st Team All-American. Smith holds the ACC career record for interceptions with 21. Curry was the 4th overall pick by the Seattle Seahawks in the 2009 NFL Draft.
4. 2022 (8-5 overall, 3-5 ACC)
Similar to 2008, this was a team with expectations (#22 preseason ranking, their highest of all time) that they didn’t quite live up to, but still had a solid year. After a 3-0 start, a grudge match at home against #5 Clemson nearly went in Wake’s favor with QB Sam Hartman throwing 6 TD 0 INT, but lost 45-51 in 2OT. Wake kept pace in the ACC title race though, with a win over #23 Florida State, and blowout wins over a good Army team and Boston College. That led to a random 8 turnover game against Louisville, who upset #10 Wake Forest 48-21 thanks to a 35-0 third quarter. That set off a losing streak for Wake to fall out of the title race at 6-4, and finished by splitting games with Syracuse/Duke. A 27-17 win over Missouri in the bowl put a cap on an 8-5 season and an end to Sam Hartman’s Wake Forest career. Hartman earned 3rd Team All-ACC, throwing for 3701 yards 38 TD 12 INT, finishing his 5-year career with Wake as the school’s all time leading passer with 12,967 passing yards and 110 passing TD. WR A.T. Perry earned 1st Team All-ACC for the second year in a row with 1000+ receiving yards and 10+ TD.
3. 2007 (9-4 overall, 5-3 ACC)
Coming off an ACC title with a freshman QB, the lines were kind of blurred for Wake Forest. Were they going to be a powerful team during QB Riley Skinner’s career, or regress back to their mean of losing seasons? It definitely appeared to be the latter at first, starting 0-2 with losses to Boston College and Nebraska. Jim Grobe rallied the troops though, and Wake went on a 6 game win streak, beating Maryland 31-24 in OT, #21 Florida State 24-21, and blew out solid Navy and North Carolina teams. Wake was still in the hunt for the ACC title, competing with Boston College and Clemson, but an upset loss to Virginia and subsequent loss to Clemson killed their title hopes. They still had a strong finish to the year, beating in-state rival NC State, Vanderbilt in a battle of the nerds, and a 9-3 UConn team 24-10 in the bowl. QB Riley Skinner had a serviceable year, completing 72% of passes but for just 2204 yards 12 TD 13 INT. OL Steve Justice was a consensus All-American and finalist for the Rimington Trophy. CB Alphonso Smith led the nation with 8 INTs, and LB Aaron Curry highlighted his potential with 99 tackles, 13.5 total TFL, and 4 INTs on the season.
2. 2021 (11-3 overall, 7-1 ACC)
A good season for Wake in 2021 would’ve been to make a bowl game, as they were picked 5th out of 7 teams in the ACC Atlantic. 2 easy wins over Old Dominion and Norfolk State got the year started, then took advantage of a reeling Florida State team who had just lost to Jacksonville State, beating them 35-14. A win over Virginia got Wake to 4-0 and in the top 25, and from there on it was go time. They extended their win streak to 8, getting up to #9 in the nation with an 8-0 record and 5-0 ACC record. Thanks to a down year from overwhelming favorite Clemson, Wake Forest was 2 games ahead of the Tigers in the Atlantic Division at this point. Wake’s win streak ended with a 55-58 loss to North Carolina in a non-conference game (yes, you read that right), as the game was scheduled in an attempt to keep the rivalry alive even when they’re not on each other’s ACC schedule. Wake rebounded with a huge 48-45 win over #16 NC State to take control of the Atlantic Division and was in the driver’s seat for the ACC title game. A loss to Clemson next week didn’t matter after Wake Forest beat Boston College to end the year.
Raise your hand if you had #15 Pitt vs #16 Wake Forest in the ACC title game before the season. Now put your hands down you liars. Pitt QB Kenny Pickett fake slid his way to a 45-21 win, as Wake didn’t score again after taking a 21-14 lead in the 1st quarter. The bowl was a nice free win to end the season, beating a 5-7 Rutgers team 38-10. Hartman was 2nd Team All-ACC with 4000+ passing yards 39 TD 14 INT. WRs A.T. Perry and Jacquarii Roberson both went for 1000+ receiving yards, with Pery ranking 3rd in the nation with 15 receiving TD. Kicker Nick Sciba was 1st Team all-conference as well, hitting 23/25 FGs, and is the 2nd most accurate kicker in NCAA history (minimum 50 attempts), at 80/89 (89.9%). Coach Dave Clawson won ACC Coach of the Year.
1. 2006 (11-3 overall, 6-2 ACC)
But you can’t beat the magic of that ‘06 year. Wake Forest scratched, clawed, and willed their way to any win they could get. Starting QB Ben Mauk was out for the season in an opening 20-10 win over Syracuse, so freshman QB Riley Skinner had to lead the way the rest of the year. Skinner completed 75% of passes with a TD in a 14-13 win over Duke the following week, his first ever start, and the Demon Deacons blocked a 28 yard FG from Duke to win the game at the buzzer. That was just one of many memorable wins throughout this year. Solid wins over UConn, Ole Miss, and FCS Liberty had Wake Forest at 5-0 and nearly bowl eligible. While nobody was thinking of Wake Forest as a serious ACC contender just yet, a 17-27 loss to divisional opponent #12 Clemson seemed to end any hope before it began. But Wake wouldn’t back down. They barely beat in-state rivals NC State and North Carolina by a combined 49-40, and entered the top 25 at 7-1. That set up a pivotal matchup with #16 Boston College, who Wake beat 21-14 to take the lead in the ACC Atlantic thanks to Clemson tripping up themselves. In one of the greatest games in school history, Wake Forest became the first team to shut out Florida State in the Bobby Bowden era, beating the Seminoles 30-0 at Doak Campbell. The loss is considered one of the worst in Florida State history. Wake finished the regular season 10-2, and outlasted Georgia Tech 9-6 in a rainy ACC championship game to claim their first conference title in 35 years. A 13-24 loss to Louisville in the Orange Bowl was still a celebration from Wake alumni in the stands.
QB Riley Skinner led the ACC in passer rating, winning ACC Rookie of the Year. He went on to have an illustrious career, finishing ranked in the ACC record books 2nd in completion percentage, 4th in passing yards, was the 2nd QB in ACC history to throw for 2000+ yards in 4 years, and was the winningest QB in school history. LB Jon Abbate was the emotional leader of the team, finishing 1st Team All-ACC for the third straight season. He and budding LB Aaron Curry combined for 203 tackles, 6 sacks, and 9.5 TFL. Jim Grobe won a bevy of National Coach of the Year awards.
5th Quarter
Do you agree with Wake’s rank in this list? Who are the best offensive and defensive players in school history? Do you agree with the ranking of Wake’s top 5 teams, with 2006 finishing before 2021? What do you remember about that ACC title-winning team in ‘06, was it as surprising as it seemed? Why, if such a small school, is Wake Forest in the ACC and where does their fanbase rank among the other ones in North Carolina?
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