Football Set to Visit MarylandWake Forest looks to regain its winning way.October 12, 1998 After suffering two close losses at home the past two weeks, Wake Forest looks to regain its winning way this Saturday away from Groves Stadium, traveling to College Park to meet ACC foe Maryland. Kickoff time in Byrd Stadium is 1 p.m. The Demon Deacons have lost to Appalachian State in overtime and Duke on a Sims Lenhardt field goal with under two minutes to play in their last two outings. The host Terps have also been on the losing end the past two games.
1998 Schedule
9/5 at Air Force L 0-42
9/5 James Madison W 23-15
9/10 Navy W 26-14
9/12 at Virginia L 19-31
9/26 at Clemson W 29-19
9/19 at West Virginia L 20-42
10/3 Appalachian State L 27-30 (ot)
9/26 Temple W 30-20
10/10 Duke L 16-19
10/3 Florida State L 10-24
10/17 at Maryland 1:00
10/10 at Clemson L 0-23
10/24 North Carolina tba
10/17 Wake Forest
10/31 Virginia tba
10/31 Georgia Tech
11/7 at NC State tba
11/7 at North Carolina
11/14 Florida State tba
11/14 at Duke
11/21 at Georgia Tech tba
11/21 NC State
THE SERIES WITH MARYLAND - Wake Forest snapped a four-game losing streak against Maryland with a 35-17 win last season, only the second Demon Deacon victory in the series in the last nine meetings. That win also ended an eight-game Terrapin winning string in Groves Stadium that dated back to 1979. Overall, the Deacs trail in the series, 33-12-1. The two schools first met in 1917 with Maryland claiming a 29-13 decision. They played twice more in the 1940s before renewing their competition on an almost-annual basis with the formation of the ACC in 1954. Wake has faced the Terps every season since 54 with the exception of 1970. The Deacons have lost on their last two visits to Byrd Stadium, including an embarrassing 52-0 shutout the last time they journeyed to College Park, but have actually gained three wins in the last six trips to the ACC's northern-most member. Wake Forest's last win there came in 1992 (30-23); it also won in Byrd in 1986 and 1988.
TRAVEL PLANS - The Wake Forest football team will depart Piedmont Triad Airport on Friday afternoon via charter airline. Headquarters for the trip will be the Greenbelt Marriott (301-441-3700). No workout at Byrd Stadium is planned for Friday.
LAST YEAR VERSUS THE TERRAPINS - The Demon Deacons had 481 yards of offense and a school-record-tying 98-yard kickoff return by Myles Savage in defeating Maryland last October 18th in Groves Stadium, 35-17. The Deacons built a 21-3 first half advantage on a 22-yard TD run by Herman Lewis, Savage's kickoff return, and a 20-yard TD pass from Brian Kuklick to William Merritt. The visitors refused to fold, though, scoring twice before halftime to reduce the WFU advantage to 21-17 at intermission. After a scoreless third quarter, Kuklick con-nected with Desmond Clark on a 31-yard scoring play, then added a final TD toss to Thabiti Davis with 10:56 to go. Kuklick enjoyed one of his finest days as a Deacon, completing 26 of 41 passes for 330 yards and three Tds (both the yardage and touchdown passes equaling career highs). Clark topped the 100-yard mark in receiving (111 on 6 rec), while the Deacon defense surrendered only 53 yards rushing (on 30 attempts), sacking Terrapin quarterback Brian Cummings seven times. THE DEACS LAST WEEK - A 32-yard field goal by Duke's Sims Lenhardt with 1:48 remaining in the game gave visiting Duke a 19-16 win over Wake Forest this past Saturday in Groves Stadium. The win snapped a 21-game losing streak for the Blue Devils in ACC play, dating back to their win over Wake in 1995. Lenhardt's winning kick was his fourth field goal of a night when the kicking game played a major role. Duke had an edge in field position because of special teams much of the evening, blocking a Deacon field goal attempt, partially blocking a punt, and taking advantage of three kickoff returns of 39 yards-or-more. The third of those, a 41-yard runback by Richmond Flowers, set up the winning field goal drive after Wake Forest had tied the game, 16-16, with 4:19 left on a 37-yard field goal by Matthew Burdick. Brian Kuklick scored a TD on a quarterback sneak and threw for a 35-yard TD to Desmond Clark but was also sacked a season-high five times while completing 22 of 39 passes for 198 yards. Clark did most of the damage for the Deac receiving corps with seven catches for 89 yards and that touchdown, his fourth in four games. Morgan Kane gained 86 yards on 11 rushing tries.
COMMENTS from COACH JIM CALDWELL (On the loss to Duke) We had good effort but hurt ourselves with some sloppy play in a number of areas, particularly our special teams. Penalties (8 for 86 yards) also hurt us, which is an area where we usually can count on having an edge. Even though we did play poorly, still we were a couple of plays away from winning the game, just as we were the week before against Appalachian State. We just have to take a hard look at our team and focus in on eliminating the mistakes that have cost us the last two ballgames. (On preparing for Maryland) Maryland has a much-improved team and one that has played especially well at home this season. They've won two of three games there, and in the loss played very well against Florida State (a 24-10 loss). Lamont Jordan is one of the top running backs in our league and gives them an excellent rushing game. Defensively, they are active and aggressive. We have not played well at Maryland in our last two trips and obviously will need a much better performance this time. NOTING THE DEMON DEACONS LOW POINTS - A promising 1998 season for Wake Forest has suffered back-to-back disappointments the last two weeks in an overtime loss to Appalachian State (30-27) and a narrow defeat to Duke (19-16) that was deci-ded in the final two minutes. The last time that the Demon Deacons played at Maryland (on October 19, 1996), though, may have been an even lower point for the program in recent years. On that afternoon, a Wake Forest club on a four-game losing streak suffered a 52-0 defeat to the Terrapins, the most lopsided loss ever by a Deacon team against the Terps. TURNING POINTS - The Demon Deacons made a dramatic reversal of fortunes against the Terrapins last year, however, with a 35-17 home victory over Maryland. That plus-18 final margin gave Wake Forest a 70-point turnaround in its series with the Terps following that aforementioned 52-point loss in 1996. That 70 points represents the greatest turnaround (point-wise) from one season to another in ACC history, exceeding by seven points Maryland's own 63-point turnabout in its series with Clemson in 1991 (a 40-7 loss) to 1992 (a 53-23 win). TWO STRAIGHT OVER THE TERPS?? - As noted earlier, Maryland has held the upper hand in the competition with Wake Forest throughout its history (a 33-12-1 advantage). Those 12 Demon Deacon wins have been scattered throughout the series. Only twice has Wake beaten the Terps in consecutive seasons--those back-to-back wins coming in 1958 and 1959, and 1967 and 1968. DEACONS VERSUS MARYLAND - Here's a review of individual highlights for some current Demon Deacon players previously in their careers versus Maryland: Desmond Clark - caught 6 passes for 111 yds last year including a 31-yd touchdown overall, has 12 receptions for his career (4 as a soph, 2 as a frosh) vs the Terrapins for 166 yds. Jammie Deese - contributed 6 receptions for 62 yds in last year's win. Morgan Kane - ran for 45 yds on 12 carries in 1997 victory but did damage as a receiver as well, catching 5 passes for 76 yds, including a career-longest reception of 39 yds. Brian Kuklick - turned in an outstanding performance in last year's win over the Terps, throwing for a career-high 330 yds by completing 26 of 41 passes also equaled his personal high of 3 TD passes in a game by connecting with Desmond Clark (31 yds), William Merritt (20 yds) and Thabiti Davis (6 yds) in that contest not nearly as succcessful as a sophomore in College Park, completing just 17 of 40 passes for 156 yds and was intercepted twice. Dustin Lyman - a leader on a stingy Wake Forest defense in last year's win over Maryland made 8 unassisted tackles, including 2 sacks for 19 yds in losses. William Merritt - caught the first (and to this date only) touchdown pass of his career, a 20-yder against the Terps last October. Fred Robbins - a bulwark in the middle of the WFU defense a year ago, making 4 tackles--2 of those quarterback sacks for negative 15 yds. DEACS FROM MARYLAND - There is not the quantity but certainly some quality on the 98 Wake Forest roster from the Maryland/Washington DC area. Only six Deacs are products of that region but three are starters. On defense, DALAWN PARRISH (Columbia/Howard HS) is the Deacon starting free safety and currently the team's third-leading tackler with 34 stops. Starting defensive end BRYAN RAY (Wheaton/Wheaton HS as a senior; St.John's HS through his junior year) ranks 7th on the squad with 27 tackles and leads the team with six quarterback pressures. Offensively, the state of Maryland is represented at WFU by starting center MARLON CURTIS (Waldorf/Thomas Stone HS), who has played all 347 offensive snaps through five contests this fall. Other current Deacs from that area include DA'VAUGHN MELLERSON (Baltimore/Mt.St.Joseph HS), who is being redshirted after suffering a knee injury during spring drills; KEVIN GAMBLE (Washington/The Potomac School), a young offensive lineman who has been slowed by a broken foot this season; and MONTIQUE SHARPE (Washington/Dunbar HS), a promising first-year defensive lineman who is being redshirted. In contrast, Maryland does not have a single player on its 1998 roster from the state of North Carolina.
FORMER DEAC AT MARYLAND - Danny Rocco, who lettered two years as a linebacker on Wake Forest teams in 1982 and 1983 and then served as a graduate assistant (1984 & 1985) and fulltime assistant coach (1986) for the Deacs for three years, is the outside linebackers coach at Maryland. Two Receptions to #1 in ACC History / Wake Forest's All-Time Leading Receiver CLARK CLOSING IN ON ALL-TIME ACC MARK - Demon Deacon wide receiver DESMOND CLARK moved into 2nd place on the all-time ACC pass receiving list with another outstanding performance against Duke, making 7 receptions for 89 yards. Included in that effort was a 35-yard touchdown catch of a Brian Kuklick pass. The Lakeland, FL, senior now trails only former Maryland receiver Jermaine Lewis on the ACC career chart. Clark has 192 career receptions; Lewis had 193. The Deacon star also became his school's all-time leading receiver this past Saturday when he moved past Ricky Proehl (now with the St. Louis Rams), who had 188 catches during his brilliant career from 1986-1989.
Clark, of course, is rapidly ascending the other Wake Forest career receiving lists. He became only the fifth Deacon ever to surpass the 2,000-yard mark in receiving yardage earlier this season against Navy and currently is in 4th-place on that chart with 2,418 yards. He now needs just 49 more yards to become #2 (behind Proehl) in that department. Those 2,418 yards also place Clark 9th in ACC history, too. He could by-pass former UNC receiver Corey Holliday (2,447) this week. Virginia's Herman Moore (2,504 yds) and Clemson's Terry Smith (2,508) are also well within reach. Clark's touchdown catch versus Duke was the 16th of his career, good for 5th in school history.
NUMBER TWO IN THE ACC - After this past weekend's contests, DESMOND CLARK ranks 2nd in the ACC in receiving with his 35 receptions (7.0 per game). The only player ahead of him is NC State's Torry Holt with 37 (7.4 per game). NINE GAMES OVER 100 YARDS - DESMOND CLARK has gone over the 100-yard mark in receiving in two outings this season (with two others at 89 & 98 yds). He totaled 110 yards in receiving at Clemson (on five receptions), then established a new career high with 138 yards on 10 catches against Appalachian State.
138 (10 receptions) vs App State 10/3/98
137 (13) vs Duke 11/16/96
134 (7) vs N.C.State 9/25/97
127 (9) vs Northwestern 9/6/97
113 (9) vs Virginia 9/21/96
111 (6) vs Maryland 10/18/97
110 (6) at N.C.State 11/23/96
110 (5) at Clemson 9/26/98
102 (11) at North Carolina 10/11/97
FOUR GAMES--FOUR TOUCHDOWNS - In the last four Demon Deacon games, DESMOND CLARK has caught a touchdown pass. Those plays have included a 19-yard TD vs Navy; a 56-yd TD (longest catch of his career) at Clemson; a 43-yard TD vs App State; and a 35-yard TD this past week vs Duke. KUKLICK CLIMBING ACC CHARTS, TOO - With his 259-yard performance against App State two weeks ago, BRIAN KUKLICK became the 12th quarterback in ACC history to pass for more than 6,000 yards in his career. Previously, he had become the 9th QB in league history to total 500-or-more completions. The Demon Deacon signal-caller presently has 6,440 yards through the air during his outstanding career, good for 9th on the ACC all-time list. His 549 completions rank him 8th in league history.
Of course, Kuklick is also rapidly approaching the top spot on Wake Forest's career passing list in all three major categories. He goes to College Park this weekend 3rd in career passing yardage, 3rd in pass completions, and 4th in touchdown passes. The first two of those records are well within his reach if he can maintain his present pace of 221 yards and 20 completions per game. Kuklick has seven TD passes in the first five outings of 1998 and needs eight more to break that record.
THE ACC'S MOST ACCURATE PASSER - BRIAN KUKLICK has completed 60.2% of his passes this season. The second-best performance by an ACC signal-caller in that category is Georgia Tech's Joe Hamilton, who has a 57.0% pass completion figure. KANE KOMEBACK - Demon Deacon running back MORGAN KANE had ranked atop the ACC statistics in rushing after three games, but then was limited to 16 yards (on 12 carries) against Appalachian State. The Ottawa, Ontario junior returned to form this past week versus Duke by gaining 86 yards on just 11 carries (7.8 yds per), highlighted by a 48-yard scamper that was the second-longest run of his career (only an 80-yard TD run vs Florida State in 1996 was longer). Kane is now 3rd in the ACC in rushing after five games, averaging 76.0 yards per game. He has gained 70 yards or more in four of five contests to date. LYMAN MISSES DOUBLE DIGITS FOR FIRST TIME - Linebacker DUSTIN LYMAN had been Wake Forest's leading tackler in each of the first four games and totaled at least 10-or-more stops in each of those contests. This past Saturday against Duke, Lyman had only 9 tackles and tied with safety JEFFREY MUYRES at the top of the Deacon tackle chart against the Blue Devils. Lyman now has a team-high 62 hits, 26 more than his closest teammate (ABDUL GUICE is 2nd on the squad with 36). Last week he ranked 3rd in the ACC in tackle average. With the four double-figure tackle outings in 1998, he has nine games in his career in which he has totaled double figures in hits.
DEACS EQUAL 1997 INTERCEPTION TOTAL - With JEFFREY MUYRES' interception against Duke, which set up the game-tying field goal in the 4th quarter, the 1998 Demon Deacons now have nine interceptions this season. That matches the team's total in that department for the entire 1997 campaign. Outside linebacker MARK MAKOVEC leads the team in interceptions with three, a figure that puts him 2nd in the ACC. NC State (with 13 interceptions) is the only ACC team with more INTs than Wake Forest. BUT LACKING IN SACKING - After three games this fall, Wake Forest ranked 2nd in the ACC in sacks with 12 (4.0 per game). However, the Deacons still have 12 sacks after five games, having gone sack-less in their past two outings versus Appalachian State and Duke. The Mountaineers and Blue Devils have combined to attempt 76 passes in those two games (34 by App; 42 by Duke). WAKE KICKERS RANK AMONG NATION'S BEST - As noted in the box below, Wake Forest placekicker MATTHEW BURDICK and punter TRIPP MOORE are both included among the national leaders in their specialties. Burdick is 7-of-10 on field goal tries through five games--his three misses have been from 45, 48 and 54 (blocked) yards. Moore is averaging 43.3 yards per punt, the 2nd-best figure in the ACC.
MATTHEW BURDICK 10th in Field Goals (1.4 per game)
MARK MAKOVEC 11th in Interceptions (3 / 0.6 per game)
DESMOND CLARK 12th in Receiving (35 / 7.0 per game)
TRIPP MOORE 19th in Punting (43.3 yds per punt)
STARTING EXPERIENCE - Although he has seen only brief action this season while recuperating from August knee surgery, Demon Deacon linebacker KELVIN MOSES still has a team-high 33 career starts. His streak of 22 consecutive starts ended when he did not start the season opener at Air Force. Safety JEFFREY MUYRES has 30 previous starting assignments, second on the team behind Moses. Ten current Deacons have started 20-or-more games during their careers. Seventeen have 10-or-more starts.
33 Kelvin Moses 21 Dustin Lyman (5) 7 Mark Makovec (5)
30 Jeffrey Muyres (5) 19 DaLawn Parrish (5) Jon Mannon
29 Jeff Flowe (5) 18 Morgan Kane (5) 5 Marlon Curtis (5)
Wande Shaw (5) 16 Jammie Deese (5) Abdul Guice (5)
27 Desmond Clark (5) Sam Settar (5) Bryan Ray (5)
Brian Kuklick (5) 16 Dameon Daniel (5) 4 Willie Lam (4)
26 Fred Robbins (5) 10 Kelvin Jones Mat Petz (4)
24 Joe Zelenka (4) Kelvin Shackleford (3) 3 Ben Sankey
22 Brian Wolverton (5) 9 Reggie Austin (5) 1 Michael Collins (1)
Clinton Wilburn (2) James Lik (1)
Rufus Taylor (1)
Consecutive Starts: Clark, Flowe - 27; Robbins,
Wolverton 22; Lyman 19;
Deese, Parrish, Settar 16
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