Samurai Snippets, Week 7: Maryland

The Good

Bear in mind this will NOT cover everything awesome about this game, since frankly I'd probably I'd be here all day if I tried to do that.  That said.

Steed Lobotzke.  Seriously. The offensive playcalling was just tremendous today.  Continued plays with an empty backfield, lots of nice short passes to replace a still anemic running game, a couple of spectacular trick plays, and no lack of aggression.  A ton of credit goes to the players for executing, but seriously Coach Lobo, as much as I give you the business, today was magical.  MORE OF THIS, PLEASE AND THANKS.

Michael Campanaro: Literally Second To None. The pride of Maryland took his rightful place atop the all-time standings in catches for a Wake Forest receiver with 11 catches for 122 yards and a TD.  Camp, you are a Wake legend, man.  Congratulations.

Nikita Whitlock Is A Man. The Wake nose guard set the tone of the game within a few plays, and continued to dominate throughout the day.  The scary thing is that Maryland was eventually triple teaming him and still couldn't completely get rid of him.  The beastly performance by Nikita and the rest of the line helped to create the next good.

Opportunistic Defense. Two picks and a fumble.  Well done, Deacs.

And finally:

Tanner Price Hat Trick. The oft-maligned senior QB had a solid line of 26/36 for 231 yards and no interception and three touchdowns: one passing, one rushing, and yes, one receiving.  If I'm not mistaken, I believe he's the first quarterback in Wake history to do that in a game.  Feel free to correct me in comments, however.

The Bad

There's not much, but...

That One Sack. Wake had the ball up 21 in scoring range in the third quarter, Tanner took an absolutely baffling sack, taking us out of scoring range.

That One Defensive Series. Speaking of, a few plays later, Maryland scored.  It's a good thing the offense was so on point and that the defense collected themselves, that could've ended really badly.

Whiffed Tackles Galore. As awesome as the D was, good lord were there ever a bunch of whiffed tackles.  Plenty on Special Teams, too.

Injuries. Granted they weren't on our end, but my heart breaks for the Terps losing Stefon Diggs and Deon Long for the season.  That just sucks.  I know how I'd feel if we lost Camp.  I hope they can rally and have a nice end to the season.

The Funny

For the first time ever, I met someone in person today who knew who SamuraiFoochs was/is before I told them it was me.  That was surreal.  Dude follows me on Twitter and everything.  Hey man, if you're reading this (and I assume you will), keep it a secret would you?  I value my mystique.  Wait, do I have mystique?

The Bottom Line

What a game.  All of a sudden a bowl game seems a very real possibility.  I love this team right now.  Let's shock The U next week, shall we?  On to the next one.  Go Deacs.

--SF