Sept. 2, 2008

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - With its season-opening 41-13 victory over Baylor on Aug. 28, Wake Forest moved up three spots to No. 20 in both the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches polls that were released Tuesday (Sept. 2).

The Deacons were ranked No. 23 in each of the two major preseason polls.

Wake Forest (1-0) received 414 points in the USA Today poll and 388 points in the AP poll. In the preseason poll, the Deacons had received 203 points from USA Today and 227 from the AP.

This marks the first time in school history that Wake Forest is the only Atlantic Coast Conference team to be ranked in the Associated Press football poll. Both Clemson and Virginia Tech exited the AP poll following losses on Saturday. The Tigers remained in the USA Today poll at No. 23.

"It's rewarding to win the first game and have a chance to be ranked," said head coach Jim Grobe. "That's a good thing for our program. It's dangerous at the same time. It puts a little more pressure on our players and motivates the teams that are going to play you to play their best against us. We've been able to milk that underdog role for a long time now but that's probably over for the time being. We hope people will look at us and say `Wake Forest is a pretty good football team.'"

Wake Forest will play its home opener on Saturday, Sept. 6 against Ole Miss. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. at BB&T Field. The game will be televised live by ABC/ESPN2.

-WakeForestSports.com-