The Time is Now!

TO THE ACC CHAMPS (Wow, it's great to say that)- Congratulations on an incredible achievement and thank you for igniting that Deacon spirit once again. As 30 of my good friends and Sigma Pi brothers scramble to lock-in airfares, hotels and tee times, I am grateful for your superb effort that has brought the wonderul thing that is Wake Forest back into the forefront of my life. We will be in the Orange Bowl and we'll bring 23 years of memories and saved-up cheers with us! Go DEACS.

In my 4 years at Wake we won a total of 8 games. I saw all but one of those wins. In 2006, 11 wins, that is legendary!!!! I have to admit I only saw three games but 3 wins. Liberty, Maryland and Ga Tech! I am going to be at the Orange Bowl victory too!!!

The first time I remember being a Wake Forest fan was when a young guard on the Wake Forest basketball team by the name of Billy Packer played. Since then I have always pulled for "My Team". There are many words to describe this year's football team, however here are a few: team players, student athlete, courageous, never gives up, proud of their university, national coach of the year, deserves to be ACC champ! Go Deacs!!!

Congratulations Wake Forest Football on a superior job and winning the ACC Championship!! Coach Grobe your leadership and integrity are second to none! You truly make us PROUD to be a DEACON!!!! The WFU flag is flying high from our pier here in Virginia with much PRIDE! Good luck at the Orange Bowl! My wife, daughter, son and grandchildren will join me in cheering you on for the Orange Bowl Trophy! GO DEACS!!!!

Make your dreams a reality... good out there and have a blast!!! The memories you'll make will last a lifetime... I can't wait to see that Orange Bowl Trophy back at Wake Forest!!! And then the Coach of Year Trophy in Jim Grobe's office. I'm reaally proud to be a Deac!!!

Congratulations to the team and Coach Grobe. All of you have really done a great job this season and I couldn't be more proud. Thank you for the wonderful memories and best of luck in "The Orange Bowl" Go Deacs!

Go Deacs! Thank you Coach Grobe and your staff for such a great effort and for doing with class! Also, I think we should also be thankful for Ron Wellman for finding Coach Grobe! If the Deacon Club is the body of Wake Forest Athletics, then Paul Kennedy is the heart of it! Thank you Paul! You have believed Wake could do it for years and your enthusiasm is contagious. Go Deacs!

Let's get back to the best motto ever: WAKE THE NATION! Let's keep it as our permanent slogan to remember this terrific season and to honor all of our athletes and coaches. The nation is indeed taking notice of Wake Forest! Congratulations to Coach Grobe and all the guys on a wonderful season. You have put the excitement and the heart back into the game!

To the 2006 ACC Football Champions: Thanks so much for making this season such an incredible ride! I have never seen Groves ( or should it be Grobe's) stadium rock like it did against Boston College. I have never been so PROUD to BE a DEACON!!! Have fun and show the world what you're about in the Orange Bowl!!!!!

WE ARE SOOOO VERY PROUD OF OUR DEACONS ESPECIALLY BECAUSE YOU WILL BE PLAYING IN OUR HOME STATE OF FLORIDA! WE KNOW YOU WILL DO GREAT, AND WE WILL BE THERE TO ROUTE YOU ON ALL THE WAY!! GOOD LUCK!

As a lifelong resident of Winston Salem and lifelong Wake Forest fan this season has been more than I could have hoped for. Thank you. Now go to Miami and prove ESPN and all the other naysayers wrong. Go Deacs!!!!

As a Demon Deacon lifer...this season has been a dream come true. Thanks to Mr. Grobe, possibly the classiest man I have ever met in athletics. I bleed Gold and Black, and am proud the Dimesquad of 2010 will keep the success around for more than a humble stay at the top.

What a blast! Congratuations, Wake Forest Football. I graduated in '80; my father graduated in '49, and my son will graduate in '09. What a great ride you guys have made it! Go, Deacs, Go!

I am sooooo excited for this amazing team. I have actually watched college football this year because the Deacons were something wonderful to watch. I grew up on the campus, went to school here and now I work here. Wake Forest now is a household name and I can't wait for the game. Best holiday wishes to you and your family! AND GO DEACS!!!!!!!

As proud parents of a former Wake Forest cheerleader (Caroline), we have always loved the Wake Forest team. But this year, your strength to work through diversity and your persistence to finish the fourth quarter has made us so very proud of you! Wake Finishes! You have won our hearts. Good luck to all of you and thank you, Coach Grobe, for the integrity that you put in the football program.

Do you think Ohio State, USC, Florida, or Michigan would have a forum like this so alumni and fans could express their appreciation? No, they probably would have boosters shell out hundreds of dollars for a commemorative championship pen and pencil set. Next year, when Wake Forest wins it again, let's splurge and cascade Gold and Black toilet paper on the quad.

This football season has been great to watch. Both my teams in Black and Gold, the Deacs and the Saints are doing well. (Who would have thunk it?!) I'm very proud. It's also been good to read some of the articles that have been published and see that you guys have been having fun along the way. I wish you guys the best, and I will definitely be somewhere decked in black and gold hollering at a TV when you play in the Orange Bowl!

I remember 2001 coming to the stadium, buying a ticket for five bucks, and being able to sit anywhere. To the then new coaching staff I say thanks and congratulations. To the then freshmen, now redshirt seniors, like Willie, I say thanks and congratulations. (Incidentally, Willie, you won or saved the game in Jacksonville four times, and I can still replay each time in my mind.) What a fall semester. Annie Bersagel? Michelle Sikes? The men's soccer team? The women's field hockey team? The 30-40 times that sports announcers highlighted Wake's academics? Then this! Can't wait for Miami.

I was raised without brothers; I attended a women's college; I went to graduate school where there was no football team; my husband graduated from Duke. Needless to say, I haven't known football. Nor did I know what a big football fan I was until this year. Now I'm an avid Wake Forest football fan. (I hope my husband doesn't read this.) My daughter loves WFU and this season has given her yet another reason to be proud. She's a screaming Deacon - I must admit I am too now. Good luck in Miami!!!

WAY TO GO DEMON DEACONS! I am in Alabama for law school and was so sick and tired of hearing Alabama & Auburn fans brag non-stop every time they played a game, until I had to start wearing a deacon t-shirt, sweatshirt, or cap everyday just to shut them down. I was already proud to be an alumni but you have truly put the icing on the cake! Watch out Miami, the demons are bringin' the HEAT!

Congratulations on a wonderful season. Show all the people that disrespect Wake Forest Football that we are for real when we roll into Miami. Let all the doubters feel what its like to be wrong. Show everyone that Demon Deacon Football is for real. GO DEACONS!!!

For two years, I shot every Wake Forest home football game, standing on the sidelines next to the team, close to Jim Grobe, circling around to capture the intensity of Ovie Mughelli, or trying to snap a quick shot of hallmate Tyson Clabo's dirty, beaten uniform. But, as I watch today, and think back to the games where students marched down University Parkway with the goal post hoisted upon their shoulders, I wish I could have been there this year, not only to shoot photos, but to rush the field, to march on the highway, and to believe that Wake Forest has and will always have one of the best college football teams in the nation. Win or lose, you have left your fellow alumni and those who have moved on wanting to come back-to paint themselves in yellow and black, and yell, scream, and believe again. You've won us over all around the nation. That may be your greatest win. And with this one shot you've been given, to play on a stage never before walked upon by our school, I must say: Beat Louisville. Beat them bad.

Congratulations Demon Deacons on your ACC Championship!!! And best of luck at the Orange Bowl. Although, we are not from the North Carolina area or alumni, we became Deacon fans the day that Riley Skinner and John Russell became Demon Deacons. Both of these young men have the qualities of a true winner...character and class...drive and dedication...brains and brawn. We knew that Coach Grobe was much smarter than the rest of the coaches when he offered Riley a scholarship. Riley may not have been the Deacon's starter at the beginning of the season, but who can argue that he has earned that position now? He's a winner!!! Every time we see him on Sports Center or on TV, we tell everyone, "That's the quarterback on the State Championship team that Jerico played on." While watching the games, we cheer for him and John Russell. And, on January 2, 2007, we'll be cheering for the Demon Deacons to win the Orange Bowl. Great job this year gentlemen!!!

No offense, but when they started handing out Orange Bowl coozies at a tailgate 3 games into the season, I think we all laughed. You guys knew you had a chance, and more than that, you had what it took. Congrats on the best season ever!

Great year for a team that no one believes in, but just keeps winning. Will definitely be at the Orange Bowl along with my Terrapin wife (who has promised to represent the ACC). You guys have shown what a team effort can produce in this era of big ego's and individual stars! No doubt you have one last great effort within you to finally put all the naysayers to rest. Bring home the Championship.

I am first a loyal Mountaineer, but with my daughter, Sarah, a 2nd yr WAKE student, and being an admirer of WFU for decades (I applied to Med school there in 1978--no luck) I have followed the Deacons since long before Tim Duncan put WFU on the tips of many American tongues. Mr. Jim Grobe, born here in West Virginia, spoke these words when asked about his coaching style; "I'm not just a football coach. I am helping young men become productive citizens." When I learned his football team has a 96% graduation rate, my entire soul swelled with admiration, for he is behaving like no other football coach I have ever known. He is not giving lip service to the Alumni. He is leading by wonderful example, teaching many young men much more than football excellence. He makes me ever more proud to be a Mountaineer. He is one of our best exports, a Deacon in the game of life! And with Louisville ending my Mountaineers hopes of a BCS bowl bid, nothing would be more satisfying, I mean NOTHING, than to have Jim Grobe's team "demonize" those Cardinals. I hope he knows the entire State of West Virginia will be watching and pulling for WFU at the Orange Bowl.

Watching all those past seasons makes this season that much more sweet. Thanks guys!

nguonho Sorry just testing somt'n out

I was fortunate enough to watch the Deacons clinch a spot in the ACC championship game against the University of Maryland. During pre-game warm-ups and introductions, I noticed that this Wake Forest football team possessed something that I have yet to see in any football team prior - a winning attitude. It was clear from the demeanor of the players that they trusted each others' ability, and expected to excellence. I have been truly impressed by this team throughout the year for exhibiting such an attitude time and again. What is more impressive is that the team has done so with utmost class and respect for the other team and the game. I look forward to watching the upcoming Orange Bowl because I know that the team will represent Wake Forest in the only way appropriate - by expecting excellence, and delivering. Best of luck.

You guys made me proud to be a deacon! Thank you and good luck in miami

As an alum, my life is now complete. Go Deacs.

My 6-year-old was placed on "permanent code yellow" today in kindergarden during PE for tackling not one, but two, of his classmates like "NUMBER 5" does (thanks John) at St. Pius X. I couldn't have been prouder.... I wanted all of you know just how deeply inspiring your actions both on and off the field have been this year. GO DEACS!

I will never forget seeing Jim Grobe's on-field interview after the Duke game. When asked about the blocked field goal, he said we may look back at that as a defining moment of the season. Congratulations on that moment being only one of MANY. I have faith that Miami is going to produce many more! Not just the campus, but the Wake Forest community is behind you. Good luck!

Congratulations, guys, on a great season! And thanks for proving me right and the ESPN idiots wrong. I went on a personal rant against them starting in October and even e-mailed them concerning their lack of coverage of our great team. Teamwork got you where you are today and teamwork will get you a great victory in Miami. Crush the Cardinals! GO DEACS!!

Congratulations to all of you!! What a fun, exciting season this has been. I was sitting on the very edge of the couch the entire 4th quarter and standing for the last minute. Continue to do "the plan" when you get to Miami.

Congratulations to Coach Grobe and the team! I am originally from Tallahassee, and thus have experienced the jeers from my hometown friends with regards to football. This year we showed them, though... a 30-0 shut-out at Doak Campbell! One of the many exciting triumphs that this team has accomplished. I am so proud of all of you, and cannot wait to cheer you on in the Orange Bowl! GO DEACS :)

To the Champions: Thank you for making this an unforgetable football season. I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am to be a Wake Forest alum. As a Raleigh native, I have heard plenty about State, Carolina, and Duke. You have accomplished far more this football season than any of those three have in decades. In addition, I'd like to thank the entire program for not just winning, but winning with class! See you in Dolphin Stadium, Go Deacs!

Never before have I been a fan of college football (or football in general!) but you ALL have changed that. My entire family is now a bunch of Demon Deacon Football junkies!! Your team isn't just about football, it's about living life the right and honorable way. My father has been dying slowly for the past eight months and it has been sad for him not to have been a part of his grandson's high school graduation and his arrival at Wake Forest as a freshman this fall. Your incredible season provided a path for the two of them to communicate and share. With each game and the build up to it, my son e-mails his grandfather (my step-mom reads the e-mails to him) about the team and what's going on. On game day, the TV is put on so my Dad can watch the game and root with my son "in spirit." My sister printed out pictures of the Quad wrapped in white and showed them to my Dad who gave what is rare these days, a chuckle and a smile! So thank you all, for giving to all of us, that which came so naturally to you as a team. "It's not about winning or losing, but how you play the game" although WINNING HAS BEEN GREAT!! Good luck in Miami!!

I am so bruised from continually pinching myself. What an incredible year. I was at Wake Forest in 1970 when we won the ACC Championship. That was great, but this is soooooo much better. When the ACC expanded, I remember thinking, "What is Wake Forest thinking? How will we ever win another football game?" Oh me of little faith. I didn't realize how much better it would feel to win over a field of 12! Go Deacs. You guys have heart, guts, spirit and team. You make us so proud. Godspeed in Miami!

The complete jubilation I felt as the clock expired on Saturday along with the tears cried by myself and others around me just shows how much your season has meant to the WFU family. Thank you for all your hard work and dedication and for being the epitome of the student-athlete. Congratulations! PS. Sam Swank is unbelievable!

Congratulations on a very successful season. Thank you for the great memories. Let's win one more in Miami! Go Deacs!

I am a fan of several universities and have a hat from them to show support, raised in Omaha, Nebraska i follow Big Red football, but was so impressed with Wake Forest when they played a couple of years ago that i bought three HATS!!! I wear my hats proudly and have cheered for the Demon Deacons all season...Great season and Good Luck in the Orange Bowl!!!!!

Congratulations to all of you - the players, coaches, Ron Wellman, Jim Grobe, the staff (school and athletic) and the student body. You have all exemplified great sportmanship and school spirit this year. Wake Forest has often been told you are too small to succeed, the academics are too stringent to have good athletes, no great coach would want to work at Wake Forest, the fan base is not large enough to support a strong D1 program, and more. And, you have proved them all wrong! Congratulations and great job to all of you! Win the Orange Bowl!!

As a former football equipment manager for the Deacs, I am so very excited for this team--the players, coaches, and all the staff involved in this year's well-deserved successes. It has been awesome to watch the season unfold and to celebrate what Wake Forest athletics is all about. Congrats on a job well done!

you don't have to know much about classical music to enjoy a great concert by a first class orchestra playing great music with excitement, energy, and talent. you don't have to know much about football to enjoy a great game played by talented, determined players. this football season has brought our campus together with a fresh and renewed sense of community. thank you! the city of winston-salem, the state of north carolina, and fans around the nation are also enthused about the success of this sensational group of young men -- our hope and confidence go with you to the orange bowl! our happy thanks to coach grobe and his amazing staff. go deacs!!!

CONGRATULATIONS to Coach Grobe, the coaching staff, the outstanding team leaders and the balance of this year's team!!! You are to be commended not only for an 11-0 record and all the other firsts, but for being outstanding young men whose strong character has shown on and off the field!! Your collective hard work and faith and trust in one another has made all of us alumni proud of you, and to wear the Black and Gold. We are most appreciative of your determined "spirit" that got the job done week after week "against all odds" ... THANK YOU!!!

Congratulations for the excellent season you have! No matter what's going to happen in the Orange Bowl, you have played with heart all year long. I'm a fan from Mexico city and I followed your games because I have a friend working with me who was a WFU student and I can tell you he's one of the biggest fans I ever met (Chris Muhllhausen). He told me all the history that WFU have in basketball (Duncan, Howard, etc.) and the great rivals that you have in Duke University. I followed the soccer team too, that lost in overtime against Santa Barbara, but they made a great effort too. Well, you have a new fan here in Mexico and certainly Chris and I will try to make it to Miami to be part of history on January 2, 2007! Congratulations again!

As a member of the 1970 ACC football champs, I congratulate you on your ACC championship of 2006!! What you have accomplished is a tremendous feat and something that nobody gave you a chance to accomplish. Reminds me very much of our team of 1970 ... Just a bunch of guys that loved the game and respected each other. Please cherish the moment ... You will never forget what you went thru to get where you are today ... Cherish the ring!! Nobody can ever take from you what you have done and you will always be remembered as the ACC champs of 06!! Congrats from the first ACC champs at Wake!! We are all very proud of you--continued success in Miami!!!

Good luck and thanks for so many wonderful memories from this 2006 season!

The Wake Forest alumni of South Florida welcome you and are proud that you are ambassadors for Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl. Go Deacs! Beat the Cardinals! Wake the nation!

Congratulations to the finest group of young men to ever play the game. You have excited us, thrilled us, but most importantly, you have made us proud that smart, good guys can finish first. You have been an inspiration to the entire Wake Forest community. You have brought priceless positive publicity to this fabulous school. You are pure class. Thank you for taking all of us on this incredible ride.

You are all such remarkable ambassadors for our school. You are winners on and off the field. Thanks for making us all proud and I look forward to celebrating with you in Miami!

I almost didn't write this because I'm certain that you will have hundreds of other people writing very similar things, but I eventually decided that I needed to write it, more for my sake than yours. You, as members of the football team and the Wake Forest family, have no idea what your hard work has meant for the rest of us this season. Yes, we would've supported the team if we had only won 2 games. But it is absolutely inspiring to see a team play the game the way it should be played, with players that a school can be proud of. Each of you is an example to the rest of the nation that a championship football season can be achieved with good, hard-working, intelligent, and honorable men on the field. You have given anyone with any attachment to Wake Forest something to be very proud of, and I know that you will cherish the Miami experience, not just for yourselves, but for the generations of Deacon fans that have come before that have waited their whole lives for what you men have achieved.

I wanted to thank you (each and every one of you) for making this such an amazing football season. It has been so fun! I currently live in Nashville, TN but have faithfully followed the season from afar. I have watched games on TV at home, in the airport in Atlanta on my way to a business trip, and in a Denver hotel during another business trip! The entire month of November I lived and died with every snap (and my co-workers will confirm this statement). Having the Deacs on National TV every Saturday night for the month was amazing! I hope that you have enjoyed being a part of this special team as much as I have enjoyed being a fan! I did want to share one special moment with you. My husband and I are currently expecting a baby that is due in May 2007. During the ACC championship game last Saturday, we were watching the game with fellow members of the Wake Forest Alumni Association in Nashville. All was fairly quiet in the bar during the second half and then Riley Swanson intercepted Reggie Ball... Everyone there started screaming, cheering, and going absolutely crazy; at that moment, I felt the baby move for the first time! I know, no matter what, this child will be a Deacon fan! I relayed this story a couple of days later to some of friends and they asked about my excitement at the time over feeling the baby. My honest reply was that, at the moment, I was more excited about the interception! It took a little while for the baby moving to sink in! But, I will always remember the ACC Championship win with my pregnancy. Best of luck on January 2 in the Orange Bowl! Know that you will have Deacons everywhere cheering you on.

You all have rocked my world! I will be there screaming my voice hoarse on Jan. 2!! Help us put the Quad in 2 feet of toliet paper! GO DEACS!

Hey guys, congratulations on this remarkable season. At the beginning of the season, I was hoping for 8 wins. This has surpassed anything I could have ever dreamed of. I hope you stick it to Louisville in the Orange Bowl and shut down their high-powered offense. This fall has been very special, and I will never forget it. Thank you so much for giving me the chance to see an ACC Championship and January bowl game before I die. I love you guys. GO DEACS!

Go out there and win this game. Win it for Brian Piccolo; Russ Brantley; Bill Starling; the Moosebruggers; Randy the Deacon Nut; Marjorie Crisp; Doc Murphrey; Skeeter Francis; Henry Groves; Ricky Proehl; Ed Christman; Ed Wilson; all the Wake Forest players who came before you; all your friends and family; all your fans and supporters; but most of all- win this for yourself and your teammates. Wear that uniform with pride and continue to represent with pride, respect and passion.

Congrats to the Wake Forest foobtall Deacons! You have represented your University this year both on the field and off. I could not be more proud to be a Demon Deacon and your achievements this season have made my year! Go Deacs! 2006 ACC Champions!!!

Way to go guys! I am very proud to be a Deacon!

The torch has been passed to you from the 1970 ACC Championship team. You're the men who made other men cry tears of joy. Grown men of many years actually cried in the stands at Jacksonville and some who can't travel anymore cried at home after witnessing that great finish on TV. To win it all this season you played without your starting QB and RB, and still won. You played with two ALL ACC DBs hurt and struggling just to play, and still, you won. You showed the ACC and the nation the fighting spirit of the Demon Deacon! The Demon Deacon's fight is not yet over. For this GREAT TEAM, THE TIME IS NOW to win one last game in the Orange Bowl and become the greatest team ever to play at Wake Forest University.

As a Deacon fan since birth, this season has been very special, but for more reasons than the 11 wins, ACC Championship and a trip to the Orange Bowl. As a high school coach for over twenty years, your character, class and never-give-up attitude have truly been an inspiration. I will use you as an example for my teams as long as I coach.

As Wil Smith would say "Welcome to Miami." Tremendous job in Jacksonville and throughout the year! You represent us so well!! Get after those Louisville Cardinals and bring yourselves back an Orange Bowl Trophy!!!

GIT R DONE!!!!

Congratulations! Thank you for raising awareness for organ donation. My son too,was an organ donor. GO DEACS

2006 ACC Champions, Thank You! My family has been season ticket holders since 1991 and we have never had as much fun at Wake Forest games as we did this year! Never before have I high-fived so many strangers in my life! This team was extremely exciting to watch! There are so many names I will never forget... Riley Skinner, Jon Abbate, De'Angelo Bryant, Aaron Curry, Josh Gattis, Patrick Ghee, Willie Idlette, Kevin Marion, Kenny Moore, Nate Morton, Kevin Patterson, Boo Robinson, Alphonso Smith, Sam Swank, Riley Swanson, Chip Vaughn, Jim Grobe, Steed Lobotzke, Ray McCartney, Dean Hood, and so many more. Thanks you all so much and see you in Miami!

I'll admit it: tears ran down my face as I stood in the Jacksonville bleachers looking up to the clock which read 0:00. I wasn't just proud of my classmates as they won the school's second ever ACC Championship. I looked around and just couldn't believe how many Wake Forest fans made the trip down. We sent three times the amount of kids in our student body, a feat that no school could ever boast. I saw a student who traveled across the world for a chance to see this game. I saw a team full of kids who everyone underestimated. I saw thousands of fans hold up 5 fingers to pay tribute to members of OUR family. This was the greatest trip of my life, and I'm not afraid to say it brought tears of joy to my eyes. I will be there in Miami come January 2, and I want to thank you all for representing our university in the best possible way. I will never forget this moment for the rest of my life.