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WINSTON-SALEM -- You know things have changed in ACC football when the Florida State Seminoles are vowing to beat Wake Forest.

"I've got to say we're not going to lose this game," quarterback Christian Ponder said Monday.

Such things once went unsaid. The GOP doesn't brag about winning the NRA vote, after all.

The Seminoles are now the subjects of the public curiosity once reserved for the little guy. FSU welcomes back a couple of core players, but will still lack approximately 10 competitors suspended for academic fraud when 18th-ranked Wake (2-0) heads into Doak Campbell Stadium on Saturday for the ACC opener for both teams (7, ESPN2).

FSU has flogged its first two opponents 115-7 to crack the Associated Press top 25, but both opponents were FCS members. So what gives?

"You take a look at that team Saturday night and you won't think anybody's missing," Wake coach Jim Grobe said, declining to take the bait.

The Deacs can expect rowdy fans in Tallahassee, all of whom will claim to have been there in 2006 even though the vast majority had checked out by the fourth quarter of Wake's 30-0 victory. Deacons linebacker Stanley Arnoux, one of 26 Floridians on the roster, vividly remembers the contrast between his buddies' predictions and their postgame reactions.

"Probably about a quarter of them called me back to congratulate me," he said. "Those were the true friends. The others were just people who wanted to talk trash."

Now the masses are embracing this role reversal. One enterprising fan unearthed a photo, taken after Wake's home win over the Seminoles last season, in which Deacon defensive back Chip Vaughn is wearing some potentially incendiary attire. The T-shirt features the FSU logo and says "Conquered." Let's just say the message boards are ablaze.

One gentleman called the Wake sports information office Monday and asked the receptionist to deliver a message to Grobe. Something about an impending whipping.

The Deacs, for their part, find it amusing.

"We're Wake Forest," kicker Sam Swank said. "We're always the underdogs. And we're used to it."

The intriguing dynamic about this year's meeting is the Seminoles' personnel situation. Linebacker Dekoda Watson and defensive tackle Paul Griffin are among those believed to be serving the final game of a three-game punishment stemming from a year-old cheating scandal.

FSU's ranks were so thin that coach Bobby Bowden signed one player in late May. The Seminoles played 22 true freshmen in the season-opening win over Western Carolina -- 18 of the 21 scholarship rookies who signed and enrolled in 2008 and four walk-ons. (Grobe, by the way, has played fewer than a dozen true freshmen in his entire tenure at Wake, which is early in its eighth season.)

The academic suspensions were compounded by disciplinary action against wide receiver Preston Parker and defensive tackle Budd Thacker, both of whom are expected back this week.

This year's early schedule is a vast departure from previous Septembers, in which the Seminoles often started with Miami or Clemson to satisfy the desires of the ACC's television partners.

"Now, I see why everybody else does it, you know?" coach Bobby Bowden said.

To their credit, the Seminoles didn't have any trouble with Western Carolina or Chattanooga, and the extent of their domination explains why they're ranked No. 24 this week even though Florida State is the only FBS team to begin its campaign with two FCS foes.

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