No. 18 Hurricanes try to rebound at Wake Forest

Oct 30, 2009 - 7:39 PM By AARON BEARD AP Sports Writer

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.(AP) -- Jacory Harris isn't thinking about the way Miami started the year with a strong start against a difficult schedule. Instead, the quarterback is focused on keeping his Hurricanes in the Atlantic Coast Conference title hunt.

Coming off an overtime home loss to Clemson, No. 18 Miami travels to Wake Forest on Saturday knowing it can't miss out on any wins in a crowded division race.

"Everybody's been running around full-speed in practice this week, acting like, 'This can't happen again,"' Harris said. "We've said that before, but now we've dug ourselves too deep a hole. We can't let it go any deeper."

The Hurricanes (5-2, 2-2 ACC) had won three straight games before the 40-37 loss to the Tigers. That dropped them back in the Coastal Division race behind one-loss teams Georgia Tech, Duke, Virginia and Virginia Tech, though that was before the Hokies' surprising home loss to North Carolina on Thursday night.

While the Hokies have the tiebreaker on the Hurricanes by winning the head-to-head matchup, the Hurricanes handed the Yellow Jackets their only loss in September and still have home games with the Blue Devils and Cavaliers.

Then again, none of those games matter much if the Hurricanes can't win their cross-divisional game against the Demon Deacons (4-4, 2-2). Coach Randy Shannon said he's refusing to talk about trying to finish the regular season at 10-2 because "that's when you lose focus on the next game, and that's what we can't do right now."

Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe feels the same way. His team is trying to ride the arm of four-year starter Riley Skinner - who led the Demon Deacons to the ACC championship as a freshman - to a bowl game for the fourth straight year. But Wake Forest has lost two straight and seen their offense go from among the league's best to struggling to get into the end zone, which only increases the pressure on its young defense.

The Demon Deacons had scored 72 points in consecutive wins against North Carolina State and Maryland, but have managed two touchdowns in 10 quarters dating to the second half of the win against the Terrapins.

"There are some slumps in the middle of a season a lot of times," tight end Cameron Ford said. "Every team goes through that. When you're faced with a slump or something, it's either time to put up or shut up. I think right now, this is a big week for us and our offense."

Grobe has been quick to credit Clemson and Navy in the past two games, and pointed to bad weather that undermined the Demon Deacons' passing attack for some of the offensive trouble against the Midshipmen. But he also acknowledged that his team needs to do more.

"The key is there's still four games to go and you play good down the stretch, good things can happen to you," Grobe said. "A good goal for us would be to try to play four pretty steady quarters. Even the games where we've had good stats on offense or defense, we don't feel like we've played four good quarters. This would be a good time to play four good quarters because this Miami team's pretty special."

Shannon, for his part, expects Skinner and the Demon Deacons' offense to play better, particularly considering the Miami defense is banged up and will be without linebacker Sean Spence because of a knee injury.

He just needs to see the same improvement from his squad, too.

"We've got to make sure we play our game," Shannon said, "play fast and play quick."

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AP Sports Writer Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.