Sept. 2, 2002

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

WAKE FOREST FOOTBALL
NEWS & NOTES

Game #2
Saturday, Sept. 7

East Carolina (0-1) at Wake Forest (0-1)
Groves Stadium (31,500)/Winston-Salem, NC

Kickoff: 6:30 p.m.

Television: None

Radio: Broadcast by the Wake Forest ISP Sports Network, heard on 20 stations across North Carolina and in Virginia. Full station listing is on page five of this package. Voice of the Deacons Stan Cotten calls the play-by-play with former Deacon great Ed Bradley serving as color analyst.

On the Web: The radio broadcast can be heard live over the internet via WFU¡¦s athletics homepage: www.WakeForestSports.com.

Records: Both teams are 0-1 to start the season, both dropping their openers on the road. WFU fell in overtime at Northern Illinois, 42-41, while ECU lost at Duke, 23-16.

The Series: Saturday¡¦s game marks the fifth meeting between the Deacons and the Pirates. ECU is making just its second trip to Winston-Salem after its initial visit in 1979. The series is tied 2-2 after Wake Forest posted a 21-19 victory in Greenville last season.

Rankings: Neither team appears in the national rankings.

The Coaches: Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe is in his second season in Winston-Salem after guiding the Deacs to a bowl-eligible 6-5 record last year. Entering his eighth season as a head coach, Grobe¡¦s overall career record stands at 39-39-1. Grobe is 1-2 all-time against East Carolina.

East Carolina¡¦s Steve Logan owns a 65-51 record in his 11th season as a head coach, all with the Pirates. Logan is 1-1 all-time against Wake Forest.

Tickets: Available by contacting the WFU Ticket Office at 336-758-3322.

Deacs Look to Regroup at Home After Heartbreaking Opener
After suffering a heartbreaking overtime loss in the 2002 season opener, the Demon Deacons return to Winston-Salem to kick off the home slate, hosting East Carolina on Sat., Sept. 7 at Groves Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6:30 pm.
Wake Forest opened the 2002 campaign last Thursday night at Northern Illinois. After defeating the Huskies 38-35 in 2001 season finale, Wake led the entire game in DeKalb until NIU tied it up with a 46-yard field goal in the closing seconds. NIU scored the first touchdown in overtime to go up 42-35. The Deacs followed with a TD of their own, but the two-point conversion attempt failed, giving the Huskies a 42-41 victory.
Wake Forest now focuses its attention on in-state rival East Carolina, who is making its first trip to Groves Stadium since 1979. The Pirates also opened the 2002 season with a ¡§L¡¨, snapping Duke¡¦s 23-game losing streak with a loss to the Blue Devils, 23-16, in Durham last Saturday.

Quarterback MacPherson Gunning For 3,000
Wake Forest senior quarterback James MacPherson enters Saturday¡¦s game needing just 14 passing yards to reach the 3,000-yard plateau for his career. In doing so, MacPherson would become just the 10th quarterback in school history to achieve that feat and the first since Brian Kuklick (1994-98).
MacPherson can reach this milestone in his 21st overall game at quarterback and just his 12 career start at the position.
For the first time in his career, McPherson entered the 2002 season knowing the starting job was in his hands. In 1999, MacPherson served as a backup QB whose only game action was at punter. Coming off a knee injury in 2000, MacPherson was called to action much sooner than expected after starter C.J.Leak suffered a season-ending knee injury. MacPherson split time with true freshman Anthony Young that season. Both players returned in 2001, with the starting job up for grabs. Again, the duo split time until a foot injury sidelined Young. MacPherson responded well to being Wake¡¦s only healthy QB, leading to Deacs to thrilling, come-from-behind road wins at Virginia and North Carolina.
With the move of Young from quarterback to wide receiver, MacPherson entered the 2002 season as the Deacs¡¦ starter. In the opener at Northern Illinois, MacPherson played the entire game, completing 9-of-17 passes for 107 yards and no interceptions.
Although he did not see action in the opener, MacPherson¡¦s backup is redshirt freshman Cory Randolph, an athletic player who was named the ACC¡¦s ¡§Best Option Quarterback¡¨ by Street & Smith¡¦s magazine.

Backfield Running Strong Depsite Personnel Losses
One position that appeared to be in great shape for the 2002 season was the Wake Forest stable of running backs, with the return of 1,000-yard rusher and second-team All-ACC pick Tarence Williams and a pair of juniors, Fred Staton and Nick Burney.
However, the ground game took a hit this summer when it was announced that Staton would sit out the 2001 campaign for academic purposes. One day later, Williams suffered a broken bone in his left foot and missed all preseason as well as the opener at Northern Illinois.
Both players¡¦ absences have opened the doors for other young runners in the Deacon stable. Burney started at NIU, rushing for a team-high 77 yards and an impressive 12.8 yards per carry. Redshirt freshman Cornelius Birgs also saw action, tallying 75 yards on 17 carries with one touchdown. Even true freshman Chris Barclay got in the game, with 37 yards on five rushes.
Senior fullback Ovie Mughelli perhaps provided the biggest spark to the Deacon ground game. After recording no rushing stats last season, Mughelli rumbled for a 55-yard run on the Deacs¡¦ first drive of the game, setting up Birgs¡¦ two-yard TD run. Mughelli also scored four touchdowns of his own - tying a school record - and finished the night with 74 yards.
Overall, the Deacs recorded 344 yards on the ground against Northern Illinois, its highest single-game rushing total since tallying 396 versus Maryland in the 1993 season.
When Williams returns to action, he will look to become the first Deacon in school history to record back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons.

Raising the Curtain
Including last week¡¦s loss at Northern Illinois, the Deacs are now 48-50-3 all-time in season openers. In season openers that take place on the road, WFU is 15-27-2.
In home curtain-raisers, the Deacs are 62-34-3 all-time and have won five of their last six season debuts at Groves Stadium. Two of those wins were upsets over nationally-ranked opponents, including No. 25 NC State in 1999 and No. 21 Northwestern in 1997.
The 2002 campaign marks the 101st season of Wake Forest football. WFU now owns an all-time record of 359-548-34 overall.

Injury Report
Running back Tarence Williams has been cleared to practice this week. Depending how he progresses through the week, Williams will most likely be probable for action against East Carolina.
The Deacs have been fortunate in the early goings of the season, suffering no major injuries. Players questionable for action against East Carolina are defensive back Jason Carter, cornerback Robert Simmons, and receiver Cassiel Smith.
Strong safety Obi Chukwumah,who did not play in the NIU game due to a hamstring problem, is cleared to play this week.

Cardiac Deacs Keep Streak Going
With the 42-41 final score at Northern Illinois, the Deacs keep up a streak of eight consecutive games decided by a touchdown or less. That streak dates back to a 48-24 loss at 15th-ranked Florida State last Sept. 29. Wake Forest's record in those close games is 4-4.
Despite the close games as of late, Wake Forest played just the second overtime game in school history at NIU. The first was a 30-27 loss to Appalachian State at home in 1998.

Scouting the Pirates
East Carolina is 0-1 heading into Groves Stadium this weekend, after falling to Duke, 23-16, last Saturday. Down 20-0 in Durham, the Pirates rallied, scoring 16 unanswered points before the Blue Devils went on to halt their nation-long 23-game losing streak, winning 23-16.
The Pirates have been a strong team the last four seasons, putting together four straight non-losing records for the first time since being classified NCAA Division I-A in 1977. In addition, ECU has been invited to three consecutive bowl games, another first for the program during its I-A era. The final Conference USA standings have seen the Pirates tie for second place in each of the last three seasons.
After falling to Wake Forest 21-19 in the 2001 season opener, the Pirates went on to post a 6-6 overall record last season. ECU appeared in the GMAC Bowl, losing to Marshall, 64-61, in overtime.
The Pirates lost some valuable players to graduation after the 2001 campaign, including quarterback David Garrard, a three-year starter; Leonard Henry, the nation¡¦s sixth-leading rusher a year ago; and Pernell Griffin, an All-America linebacker who set a C-USA record with 460 career tackles.
Taking over the reigns at quarterback is sophomore Paul Troth, who saw very limited action as a backup to Garrard last season, completing just 1-of-4 pass attempts for five yards. Versus Duke last week, Troth completed 13-of-31 passes for 131 yards and a touchdown but was also intercepted three times.
Junior fullback Art Brown led the Pirates in both rushing and receiving at Duke, catching seven passes for 43 yards and carrying the ball 20 times for 46 yards. On the defensive side of the ball, redshirt freshman linebacker Chris Moore led the Pirates with 12 tackles against the Blue Devils.
Like Wake Forest, the Pirates open the 2002 season with three of their first four games on the road. ECU traveled to Duke last week, then host Tulane next Saturday before a road trip to West Virginia on Sept. 21.

The Series With East Carolina
* Saturday¡¦s game marks the rubber match between Wake Forest and East Carolina. In the fifth meeting between the two schools, the series is split two games apiece.
* Expect a close game on Saturday -- the previous four meetings have been decided by a collective total of 16 points. That includes a 10-point ECU victory in the inital meeting in 1963. The last three clashes have all been decided by three points or less.
* East Carolina has never won in Winston-Salem. In its only trip to the Deacons¡¦ home turf (1979), the Pirates lost 23-20.
* Deacons beware: ECU has struggled in its season openers, winning just three of its last 12 curtain-raisers, including a loss to WFU last season and to Duke last week. However, the Pirates have typically bounced back the following week, winning nine of the last 11 second games.

Season ¡§Firsts¡¨
Wake Forest notched the following season ¡§firsts¡¨ against Northern Illinois last week:
Rushing Play: Ovie Mughelli (four yards)
Complete Pass: James MacPherson to Jax Landfried (five yards)
Points: Cornelius Birgs (two-yard touchdown run)
Interception: Quintin Williams
Sack: Montique Sharpe
Fumble Recovery: Montique Sharpe
Punt Return for a TD: Fabian Davis (82 yards)

Coming Up Next
Playing three of their first four games on the road, the Demon Deacons travel down I-40 for a meeting with the NC State Wolfpack next Saturday, Sept. 14. The Wolfpack is 2-0 so far this season and ranked among the nation¡¦s top 25. It will be the first nationally-ranked opponent WFU has faced since falling to 15th-ranked Florida State last September.