Wake's defense, unbeaten start looks to withstand Navy's running game

Wake Forest is off to an undefeated start mostly because of the play of its defense. On Saturday, that unit will face the daunting task of trying to slow down Navy's running game.

The 16th-ranked Demon Deacons try to improve to 4-0 on the season when they host a Navy team that is once again racking up yards on the ground.

Wake Forest won its third straight to open 2008 last Saturday, 12-3 at then-No. 24 Florida State in its ACC opener. The Demon Deacons failed to score a touchdown, getting four field goals from Sam Swank in a game dominated by their defense.

They forced seven turnovers to give them a Football Bowl Subdivision-best 15 takeaways, and they are tops in the nation in turnover margin (plus-10). Last season, Wake Forest led the FBS with eight TDs off turnovers.

"We took the mentality in the offseason that we're not going to be satisfied with what we did last year, turnover-wise," linebacker Aaron Curry said. "We're going to come out there, and we're going to find more ways to make bigger plays. We figured that with us playing like that last year, everybody was going to game-plan not to turn the ball over, make the safe throws. So every chance we get to make a big play, we're going to make it."

Wake Forest's offense failed to make big plays last week. Riley Skinner went 17-for-28 for 217 yards, but fumbled at the Florida State 2-yard line near the end of the first half. Skinner threw five touchdown passes as the Demon Deacons scored 71 points in beating Baylor and Mississippi in their first two games.

They also ran for just 59 yards last weekend and are 11th in the 12-team ACC with 296 rushing yards.

"It's all about work," said freshman Brandon Pendergrass, who ran seven times for minus-17 yards last week. "We have to see the holes better as running backs. The line has been doing a good job of opening them up. We just have to take things when they're there because the opportunities are few. But when they come around, we have to take advantage of them."

Navy (2-2) certainly takes advantage of its opportunities when running the ball, as the Midshipmen lead the FBS with 1,383 rushing yards and are second with 345.8 per game. They led the nation with 4,534 rushing yards and 348.8 a game in 2007.

Navy ran for 328 yards but committed three turnovers in a 44-24 home loss to Wake Forest last Oct. 20.

"They play very hard," Curry said. "If you're not disciplined on defense, the option is extremely hard to stop, and you can still be disciplined and they could get you for 400 yards rushing. Navy's just one of those teams where they're playing the game for the love of it. They're playing football because they love playing and they play hard. It's just an amazing game to play in."

Navy was held to 207 rushing yards in a 41-31 loss at Duke on Sept. 13 before running for 272 last Saturday in beating Rutgers 23-21 on a 24-yard field goal by Matt Harmon with 2:06 left in the fourth quarter.

"We already told our guys that as great a game as that was it is over. We have to move on," Navy coach Ken Niumatalolo said after Monday's practice. "We will have our hands full this weekend, but we are going to go to work and we will see what happens."

Wake Forest has won four straight in this series since a 47-18 home loss on Oct. 26, 1996.