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SPORTS

Deacons look for a magnificent seven at Virginia

Tuesday, October 30, 2007
(Updated Saturday, July 19, 2008 - 11:33 pm)

WINSTON-SALEM -- Streaking while still fully clothed, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons will seek to match two school records when they play at Virginia on Saturday.

Wake (6-2 overall, 4-1 ACC), a winner of six straight, is going after the program standard of seven, set in 1944. The Deacs also are trying to win five consecutive ACC games within the same season for only the second time. That first happened in 1970, when the program won its only ACC title until the breakthrough campaign of 2006.

A year ago, Wake beat Duke in its opener, lost to Clemson and won four straight before falling to Virginia Tech.

NATIONALLY SPEAKING: Kevin Marion, author of a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown Saturday against North Carolina, leads the NCAA with an average of 38 yards per return. If that number holds, it will set an ACC record.

Riley Skinner is second in pass-completion percentage at 72.67. He trails only Graham Harrell of Texas Tech (72.80) and is on pace for an ACC mark.

Skinner and Harrell aren't alone. Collectively, Division I-A passers are completing 59.23 percent of their attempts, a statistically significant jump over last year's record-setting 58.4 figure.

BY ANY MEANS: With Marion's kickoff effort and Aaron Curry's return of an interception, Wake has scored nine non-offensive touchdowns this season. Since Florida State's entry into the league in 1992, no ACC team has produced more than 11 scores by return. (Georgia Tech went to 11 in 1998.)

That helps explain why the Deacs are 6-2 while ranking 90th in total offense nationally. Of the bottom 43 teams in yardage per game, only nine have winning records.

Virginia, happily saddled with the incongruous pairing of a 7-2 mark and the nation's 101st-ranked offense, is one of the others.

ON HIS WAY: Sam Swank (251 points) has surpassed Chris Barclay (240) for the school's career scoring record, and the junior kicker from Jacksonville, Fla., is on target to approach the ACC's career record.

If he stays healthy, Swank is likely to have at least 17 games left in his career. With a career average of 7.5 points a contest, he'd finish with 378 if things continue at their current rate.

Maryland's Nick Novak (393) and Florida State's Xavier Beitia (375), both of whom played from 2001-04, hold the top two spots on the conference chart.

Contact Rob Daniels at 373-7028 or rdaniels@news-record.com

NO. 21 WAKE FOREST AT VIRGINIA

When: Noon Saturday

Where: Scott Stadium, Charlottesville, Va.

Records: Wake Forest 6-2 overall, 4-1 ACC; Virginia 7-2, 4-1

TV: WXLV-45

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