Deacons rely on Skinner

Cullen Harper hasn't done it. Darrius Heyward-Bey hasn't done it. Cedric Peerman hasn't done it. Neither James Davis nor C.J. Spiller has done it.

There's really only one player in the ACC who has lived up to his preseason billing.

With apologies to Florida State's Antoine Smith and North Carolina's Brandon Tate and Hakeem Nicks, it's Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner.

And even Skinner still has a lot to prove.

Despite leading the ACC in passing yards per game (243.5) and passing efficiency (132.2), Skinner goes into tonight's ESPN game against Clemson looking to atone for the four interceptions he threw in Wake's last game, a 24-17 home loss to Navy.

"The first three games, he played really well and obviously we won, which is the bottom line for a quarterback," Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe said. "Against Navy, I think he just tried to do too many things.

"That's partly our fault because I think we put too much on the kid. We kind of threw the offense on his shoulders, and it's hard to do that if the kid has a bad day."

The Deacons don't have much choice but to put everything on the junior QB. Their usually effective running game is struggling. Cary's Josh Adams alone averaged 79.4 yards per game last year. As a team, Wake is averaging 84.8 yards this year, second-worst in the ACC.

Adams and freshman Brandon Pendergrass have combined for a total of 236 yards in four games, leaving Skinner to carry the offense like no other Wake quarterback in the Grobe era. He has been attempting seven more passes per game than last year, when he averaged more than 30.

He has six touchdowns in four games and has completed 69 percent of his passes. Measured by that standard, the Navy game is less of a negative and the rest of his season even more of a positive -- particularly when compared to the competition.

Clemson's Harper, Davis and Spiller haven't measured up to their preseason expectations. Maryland can't figure out how to get Heyward-Bey the ball. Peerman has been hurt. It's a disappointing collection of top talent.

On the other side of the ledger, Nicks has been excellent and Tate a revelation while Smith continues to pile up the yards and leads the ACC with nine rushing touchdowns. Skinner, though, is the primary reason the Deacons are ranked 21st in the AP poll.

Last season, he had more interceptions (13) than TD passes (12). Until the Navy game this season, he hadn't thrown a single pick. In Week 2, Skinner led the Deacons on a last-gasp drive to set up the game-winning field goal against Ole Miss.

"I think he's had two bad games since he's been at Wake Forest," Grobe said. "One was against [Boston College] last year and one was against Navy."

If you believe the Atlantic Division comes down to a three-way race between Clemson, Florida State and Wake Forest, then a win tonight would give the Deacons a huge advantage in that department. They have already beaten Florida State, and they're counting on Skinner to take them a long way toward that goal.

At home, with the division title possibly on the line, don't expect Skinner to stumble again. Expect him to be just as good as he was supposed to be at the start of the season.