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WINSTON-SALEM -- When a football team calls a members-only meeting, predictions of doom and presumptions of turmoil fill message boards, and Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe admits he was concerned when word of Monday's get-together surfaced. Sort of.

"I was disappointed because they didn't invite me to the meeting," he said jokingly Tuesday, "because I still see myself as a player and apparently they don't think that's even a remote possibility."

Now the Demon Deacons hope internal dissent is equally improbable after the dialogue, which two players termed a pre-emptive strike rather than a redress of grievances. Wake (4-3, 2-2 ACC) has seen a promising season take a turn into uncertainty with consecutive defeats, and its output of 34 points in four league games represents its worst offensive drought in 12 years. Saturday's home game with resurgent Duke (4-3, 1-2) no longer is an automatic entry in the happy column, which is why senior leaders beckoned everybody.

"What you want is that look in everyone's eye that it's very important to them," said Matt Robinson, a sixth-year defensive end. "Last night I thought everyone had a real good look in their eye."

You'd understand if the Deacs were as unbalanced emotionally as they are statistically. They're 112th out of the NCAA's 119 Football Bowl Subdivision teams in scoring offense and 19th in scoring defense. They're 100th in yardage gained and 30th in yardage allowed. In theory, it's easy to ascertain who might start lobbing accusations and joining the befuddled masses who are ostracizing offensive coordinator Steed Lobotzke under the cloak of Internet anonymity.

"Guys can listen to the media or to their families talk about one side of the ball against the other side," linebacker Stanley Arnoux said. "Instead of letting that happen, we had to get together."

It's the first real stress that many in the program have known. Only one current offensive starter, wide receiver D.J. Boldin, has experienced a losing season, and that 4-7 finish in 2005 didn't cause panic. It still was better than most seasons in recent Wake Forest history, after all. Since then, the Deacs earned an ACC championship in 2006, a bowl victory last season and a No. 16 national ranking this September. Expectations rose and shortcomings were overlooked, often shrouded by the misleading glow of defensive touchdowns.

Those bounces haven't been as forthcoming in 2008, and an offensive line that frequently featured two true freshmen and one redshirt rookie in Saturday's loss at Miami has taken its shots. The most convenient target is the offensive coordinator, an odd job that is both precursor to head coaching opportunity and line of fire.

Why, so many want to know, didn't the Deacs throw more than 12 passes against the Hurricanes? Why not play more tailbacks? Grobe is amused by the calls for radical change. Grobe said he may have been too conservative in philosophy at times, but much like a stable investor, he's not going to get out of the market.

"There's nothing we do offensively or defensively that I don't approve of," he said. "They've got to get to me before they get Lobo."

Robinson said the defense spends its time thinking about its work and not playing pundit. The only Talking Heads anybody's likely to impersonate are David Byrne and that other guy whose name nobody remembers from the 1980s band.

"On defense, we back the offense 100 percent," Robinson said. "And we back Coach Lobo 100 percent. That guy knows more football than everyone in that (locker) room combined. When he calls a certain play, it's because he sees certain things. It's easy to sit back and say, 'He should have done this,' but we trust him.

"What these coaches and players have done here is to take it to another level. In no way should it be questioned by any of us who are on the field playing."

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