Wake Forest: 2017 Belk Bowl Champions

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- John Wolford threw for 400 yards and four touchdowns, and Matt Colburn ran for 150 yards and the go-ahead score in Wake Forest's 55-52 victory over Texas A&M on Friday in the Belk Bowl.

The teams combined for 1,260 yards and 107 points, making it one of the highest-scoring games in bowl history.

Wolford, a four-year starter and the game's Most Valuable Player, threw all four TD passes in the first half for Wake Forest (8-5). Colburn had a 1-yard touchdown with 2:18 left in the game to give the Demon Deacons the lead.

Wake Forest stopped the Aggies on downs on their final drive to seal the win, which was no easy task given Texas A&M's potent offense. Texas A&M's Nick Starkel threw for a Belk Bowl-record 499 yards and four touchdowns -- three of those to wide receiver Christian Kirk, who caught 13 passes for 189 yards.

Scotty Washington had nine catches for 138 yards and a touchdown for the Demon Deacons, while tight end Cam Serigne had nine catches for 112 yards and a score. Tabari Hines had eight receptions for 58 yards and two touchdowns.

Wake Forest spotted Texas A&M (7-6) a 14-point first quarter lead following a pair of special teams miscues, but rattled off 31 straight points in a span of 11 minutes, 16 seconds to take a 31-14 lead.

But Texas A&M battled back to take the lead late in the third quarter.

The Aggies turned two blocked punts in the game's first five minutes into a 14-0 lead.

DeShawn Capers-Smith smothered Wake Forest's first punt attempt and Charles Oliver recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. On Wake Forest's next possession, Roshauud Paul partially blocked a punt that advanced just 19 yards. Starkel then completed a 42-yard strike to Kirk to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Trayveon Williams.

But Wake Forest bounced right back as Wolford completed TD passes of 50 yards to an open Washington along the left sideline and 7-yarder to Harris on a slant route to tie the game midway through the first quarter. The second score came after Texas A&M ran into the kicker on a missed field goal attempt, giving the Demon Deacons an automatic first down.

TAKEAWAYS:


Texas A&M: You would have to think Kirk will think strongly about heading to the NFL after a terrific bowl game. It's hard to believe he could do much more to impress the NFL scouts after an unbelievable performance.

Wake Forest: The most difficult task next offseason will be replacing Wolford, a four-year starter and the clearly the leader of the team.

UP NEXT

Texas A&M: The Jimbo Fisher officially begins as the Aggies usher in a new era after six seasons under Kevin Sumlin.

Wake Forest: The future is looking bright for the Demon Deacons after their second bowl win in as many years under coach Dave Clawson.

Wake Forest: 2016 Military Bowl Champions

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- When Wake Forest fans look back at 2016, perhaps they will remember an exciting victory in the Military Bowl as the culmination of the team's first winning season in eight years.

At least, that's what Demon Deacons coach Dave Clawson would like to believe.

Wake Forest attached a positive ending to a season marred by scandal, using a strong performance by quarterback John Wolford to beat heavily favored Temple 34-26 on Tuesday in the Military Bowl.

After throwing an interception on the first series of the game -- a turnover Temple used to take a 7-0 lead -- Wolford helped the Demon Deacons rattle off 31 straight points before halftime.

Wolford left with a neck strain in the third quarter with the score 31-17. Wake Forest (7-6) then withstood a comeback bid by Temple (10-4) to secure its first bowl victory since 2008.

That gave the Demon Deacons something to talk about this offseason beside a troubling spy story. According to a Wake Forest investigation, broadcaster Tommy Elrod leaked or attempted to leak game plan information to at least three opponents. Though Elrod has not released a public statement on the scandal, the school has since fired him.

The scandal was dubbed "Wakey Leaks."

"It was really important we win this game so this game and this bowl championship becomes the lasting memory for this football team and not some stupid hashtag that nobody in our program was responsible for," Clawson said. "That becomes the lasting memory for the team and not a bitterness of something we're ready to move past."

In spite of the distraction, the Demon Deacons snapped a three-game losing streak and won for only the second time since Oct. 8.

"I'm trying to fight back tears right now," linebacker Thomas Brown said. "It's such a great feeling. I really don't even know how to describe it."

Wolford, a junior, completed 10 of 19 passes for 183 yards and two scores. Though he wasn't there at the finish, he certainly did enough while in the game.

"I wanted to play, but it was probably the safest thing to come out," Wolford said.

His backup, redshirt freshman Kyle Kearns, went 4 for 10 for 60 yards and an interception.

Seeking the first 11-win season in school history, Temple came in as an 11-point favorite. A 48-yard pass from Phillip Walker to Adonis Jennings on the Owls' first offensive play gave them their only lead.

Down 31-7 late in the first half, Temple used a 19-point run to close to 31-26 with 3:56 left. Wake Forest then used an 80-yard kickoff return by John Armstrong and the resulting field goal to make it an eight-point game with 1:59 left.

Temple came in with a seven-game winning streak after capturing the American Athletic Conference title with a 34-10 rout of Navy on this same field Dec. 3.

"I know that once it all sinks in -- on how close we came to winning this game and how close we came to being the best Temple team ever -- it's going to hurt worse than it does right now," interim coach Ed Foley said.

Foley took the reins after Matt Rhule was hired by Baylor on Dec. 6. The Owls subsequently signed Florida defensive coordinator Geoff Collins as their new head coach, and he got a first-hand look at his new team on Tuesday.

Walker finished his career by going 28 for 49 for 396 yards and two touchdowns, both to Jennings. He was sacked four times, including a pivotal 22-yarder on second down from the Wake Forest 6 preceding the Owls' final field goal.

TALE OF TWO HALVES

Foley loved the way the Owls played in the second half, but he lamented their performance over the first 30 minutes.

"We have a certain way that we like to play football," he said. "And we did it for one half today.

"We were trying to be the best Temple team ever. Obviously, we're tied for the best Temple team ever. It doesn't sound great, but we are champions."

TAKEAWAY

Temple: The Owls showed their stuff in the second half, but this performance against a team that went 3-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference was not the way they want to remember this season.


Wake Forest: Impressive outing against a conference champion and a celebration at midfield was a perfect way to end an imperfect season.

UP NEXT

Temple: The Owls' next game will be played under Collins. One of his top priorities will be finding a replacement for Walker, the school record-holder for career completions, touchdowns, yards and wins by a starting quarterback (29).

Wake Forest: The Demon Deacons hope to put the Wakey Leaks fiasco behind them during the offseason so they can start anew in 2017. Wake Forest won more games this season (7) than in Clawson's first two years combined (6).

Morwell City: Insipid as ever.

Former Melbourne Heart boss John Aloisi has bought into the controversy surrounding David Villa, suggesting the Spanish striker may not be happy in the A-League.

Villa leaves Australia after Friday night’s match for Melbourne City against Adelaide United – just four matches into an expected 10-game stint – and City bosses are yet to negotiate his return.

A combination of football, family and marketing reasons are thought to be behind his departure.

Villa’s family has been settling in New York while he plays in Melbourne, with his next club – New York City FC – expecting him to fulfil football and promotional obligations ahead of the US Major League Soccer (MLS) season starting in March.

But no one understands why Villa or Melbourne City have not guaranteed his return.

It’s a delicate situation for the club, not helped by their winless start to the league season.

Aloisi, the man who preceded John van `t Schip as coach of the since-rebadged club, believes something is not quite right.

“If he’s missing his family you would think that they would just fly the family out,” Aloisi told Fox Sports.

“If they’re saying he needs to promote New York City (FC) over there, you would have thought they would have announced that beforehand.

“Reading in between the lines, I think there’s something else.

“I don’t know if he’s totally happy or if they’ve already planned he was only going to be here for four games.”

Aloisi was relieved of his duties as coach of the then Melbourne Heart less than a month before the announcement of the club’s takeover.

The oil-rich Abu Dhabi owners set in train an off-season transformation of the club.

The biggest on-field statement was the arrival of Villa, who as a guest player can play for up to 10 games.

The official announcement of Villa’s arrival from June this year said Villa would play for “a period” of the season.

“Villa … will play, train and contribute to Melbourne City FC’s Hyundai A-League campaign between October and December 2014 prior to the commencement of the MLS season in the United States,” Melbourne City’s statement reads.

With nowhere else to play competitive football between now and the MLS season in March, Villa’s one-way ticket out of Australia is a mystery yet to be solved.

David Villa: The Greatest A-League Scam Since Harry Kewell

“The circus comes to town and then leaves.” So said Scott Munn, the chief executive of the club then known as Melbourne Heart, more than three years ago.

He was referring to Harry Kewell, who at the time had just signed with crosstown rivals Melbourne Victory in one of the biggest coups the A-League had seen.

Thanks largely to the hardball tactics of agent Bernie Mandic, it was the competition’s first proper transfer saga. Victory’s courtship of Kewell went for an eternity as Mandic and the number-crunchers at both the club and FFA tried to come up with a contract that suited all parties. When it happened, there was as much relief as celebration.

No part of this “circus” impressed Munn, who scoffed at it all, but those prophetic words came back to haunt him. Two years later, the big top rolled back into Melbourne, Kewell was wearing red and white, and the Heart was scrambling after performing a backflip that wouldn’t have looked out of place in Cirque du Soleil.

Yesterday, we learned the David Villa circus has just two weeks left before it packs up and moves to New York City. Assuming he does not return after next weekend’s home clash against Adelaide United – and, let’s face it, suggestions that he might come back feel like a Larry David-style empty gesture – Villa will leave having played the same number of A-League games as Romario.

It’s disappointing to say the least. New York City, the club which owns his contract, can do what they like. Football is a business, and after seeing their other prized recruit Frank Lampard stretchered off against Tottenham while playing for Manchester City at the weekend, you could forgive them for wanting to wrap their star Spaniard in cotton wool until the new MLS season kicks off.

Melbourne City are powerless, which says much about their ranking in the City Football Group food chain.

Fans have a right to feel disappointed, and they have a right to ask questions. And not just Melbourne City fans. When a club brings a big name to the A-League, they have a responsibility to share the love.

Sydney FC away games over the last two years became events purely because of the presence of Alessandro Del Piero. He gave the competition a lift, and so has Villa, only nobody expected him to bail so soon. It’s not a good look.

While loan deals are cancelled prematurely as a matter of course in football, this is not your ordinary loan. For one, Melbourne and New York share 80 per cent of the same corporate DNA. And it’s not like Villa is going back to his parent club to play games, or even train – pre-season doesn’t start until late January, and NYC won’t play their first game until March. That’s why the full quota of games were expected from him – what else was he going to do with himself until then? The calendars matched up perfectly in a rare win-win.

Thus he became the first face of Melbourne City. It was not by accident that the club announced his guest stint at the exact same time as they unveiled their new name, logo and colours. Villa has been their leverage, the human realisation of the petrodollars that now power them.

That’s no disrespect to Damien Duff, but as I wrote two weeks ago, he’s not a headline act. Neither is Robi Koren, who has clearly been struck by the same unfortunate injury curse as Orlando Engelaar. Memberships and merchandise have been sold on the premise that Villa would be playing 10 games in the A-League.

That any ‘promotional’ work in New York is considered more important to the City Football Group than building a fan-base in Melbourne feels a little disrespectful. There is more money to be made in New York, but there is more work to do in Melbourne. The stench of the Heart still lingers with every game City dominates and fails to win. Everyone wants this reborn club to stick the landing, and having Villa on deck until Christmas would go a long way to ensuring that.

Just four games? Not enough. Villa is entitled to go back and check on his family, if that’s what he wants to do – and man, it must be tough settling into a place like New York on a World Cup winner’s wage. However, if the Melbourne arm of the sky blue empire knew all along that he would go back this early, even if it’s only temporary, they should have been clear and let their fans know it was on the cards.

Honesty is always the best policy, and in this instance, it would have placed an even greater importance upon each of his appearances. By holding this information back, by speaking in maybes and possibilities, the club has used up some of its goodwill, and many fans have been left with a bad taste in their mouths.

In the meantime, Munn will be crossing his fingers, hoping the circus comes back into town once more.

Must Be The Victory Coming...

It was a fitting way to open the A-League’s 10th season. The biggest club in the land, Melbourne Victory, trouncing the new pretenders the Western Sydney Wanderers in front of 30,083 boisterous fans at Etihad Stadium.

Nine seasons ago, the match between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory was the talking point of round one as a new state-based rivalry was born. But as the Wanderers fans filed into the stadium to fill their allocation, there was a feeling that this fixture might become the biggest in the competition. The colour and the noise that these two clubs generate reverberates around the country.

The first goal came inside 10 minutes, the second within 20 and the third before the half-hour mark. Melbourne Victory, who haven’t won an opening game since 2006, could hardly have hoped for a better start.

With Matthew Spiranovic and Nikolai Topor-Stanley out of action for Wanderers, there was always going to be questions over the visitors’ threadbare back-line, and it was a horror start for the stand-in centre-half pairing of Antony Golec and Brendan Hammill. If the Wanderers are the masters at parking the bus, this was more reminiscent of Otto at the steering wheel after a few too many brekky bongs.

But while the Wanderers were awful, the Victory were clinical in front of goal with a new look front three featuring Kosta Barbarouses, Archie Thompson and marquee man Besart Berisha. On this evidence alone, Kevin Muscat looks to be onto a winner with his new formation.

Gui Finkler and Barbarouses combined well down the right, and the Wanderers stand-in left back Shannon Cole was under enormous pressure from the very start. Indeed the first goal came after just eight minutes after some tidy build up play between Finkler and Barberouses. New Victory signing Matthieu Delpierre found himself free just six yards out, and there was little Ante Covic could do in the Wanderers goal.

On 19 minutes, Golec handled the ball in the box, and up stepped Berisha. In his first A-League game for the Victory, he was never going to disappoint. A quick look up to pick his spot, a no nonsense run up and Berisha was soon saluting the fans.

Confidence was sky-high for the home side, and even the humble Leigh Broxham wanted to get in on the action. After a couple of attempts from range, Broxham popped up for the Victory’s third goal on 28 minutes. Again it was Barbarouses who bamboozled Cole down the right channel in the build up, and after his shot was blocked, Broxham blazed the ball through the crowded defence into the back of the net.

Mark Bridge pulled one back for the visitors before half-time, but it meant little in the context of the match. The Wanderers, who have built their game around defensive cohesion, looked dazed and confused.

Perhaps this was best summed up by Victory’s fourth and final goal. Under no pressure at all, Golec gave away possession cheaply, and with the defence woefully out of position, Berisha fed Thompson who made no mistake in front of goal.

The Wanderers might put this uncharacteristic performance down to missing players and the distraction of their Asian Champions League commitments, but regardless, the rest of the competition are on notice. This Victory side looks balanced, creative and menacing.