Wake Forest takes a cross-country trip this weekend and doesn\u2019t even get a game against one of those \u201clong-time\u201d conference rivals, Stanford and Cal. The Demon Deacons play in Corvallis Saturday afternoon against Oregon State in a game that was all of about 10 months in the making.<\/p>\n
This is the game that replaces the trip to Oxford, Mississippi. Wake was scheduled to play at Ole Miss this season until financial arrangements got in the way. With the collapse of the old Pac-12 and with the reformulated Pac-12 not yet in place, Oregon State can always find room for another P4 opponent. And thus, it came to be.<\/p>\n
Wake goes into the game 3-2 overall and 1-2 in conference play. Oregon State is 0-6. Like Washington State, as the two left-behinds from the old Pac-12, they have no conference schedule, although they are playing several Mountain West schools this season. But the Beavers have had to play Texas Tech, Houston, and in-state rival Oregon, among others.<\/p>\n
The two schools have zero history against each other. This will be the first time they have played against each other. But it is not new for the two head coaches. Wake\u2019s Jake Dickert spent one-plus seasons at Washington State as an assistant, part of a season as the interim head coach, followed by three seasons as head coach. Dickert is 1-2 as a head coach against Oregon State and has yet to win in Corvallis.<\/p>\n
He knows the Beavers and head coach Trent Bray very well, as so the large handful of players who left Pullman with him to go to Wake Forest. This is Bray\u2019s second season running the Beavers. They were 5-7 last year. So his overall 5-13 record is a concern in Corvallis. The program fired special teams coach Jamie Christian earlier this week.<\/p>\n
When the Beavers are winning, Reser Stadium can be a tricky place to play. They aren\u2019t winning. That makes the cross-country travel the trickiest part of the schedule. Wake is staying in Eugene, the home of the Oregon Ducks, and about an hour-plus drive to Corvallis. The Deacs left Winston-Salem on Thursday afternoon. But going west to east is the easy part because you are picking up three hours of time. The return trip, when you are basically losing most of a day to travel, is the tricky part.<\/p>\n
Dickert said this week that he is grateful for the chance to take a team cross country since away games in Stanford and Berkley are on the horizon.<\/p>\n
The Wake head coach said going to the other side of the country to play a winless team is \u201cA maturity test\u201d for his team. \u201cThe narrative is wrong,\u201d he said of Bray being under fire for his won-loss record at Oregon State. \u201cThis is a Power Four football team in my mind,\u201d Dickert said.<\/p>\n
Dickert brings familiarity with Corvallis and Oregon State and even some of the Beavers players. But what he lacks is familiarity with the OSU quarterback. For that, he can depend upon several of his defensive players.<\/p>\n