No. 15 Wake Forest departs for Orange Bowl to face Louisville

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The last time Wake Forest visited south Florida, the Demon Deacons weren&#39;t even close to being competitive they lost to Miami by 45 points.<br> <br> That was two years ago. Now, the only thing more impressive than the team&#39;s on-field turnaround is the change to the players&#39; frame of mind.<br> <br> No. 15 Wake Forest (11-2) left Wednesday for the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, where the Demon Deacons will practice for five days in preparation for the biggest game in school history a matchup against No. 5 Louisville (11-1) in the Orange Bowl.<br> <br> The players say their disastrous visit to South Beach two years ago marked the start of an attitude adjustment that&#39;s now paying huge dividends.<br> <br> ``We&#39;ve come a long ways. We&#39;ve worked very hard ever since that game,&#39;&#39; linebacker Aaron Curry said. ``That season alone was not too good of a season, and a lot of things have changed. ... Everybody&#39;s attitude has changed throughout the whole program.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> This certainly isn&#39;t the same Wake Forest program that was victimized by Brock Berlin&#39;s four touchdown passes during a 52-7 loss to the Hurricanes that forgettable Nov. 20, 2004, day and went on to finish 4-7.<br> <br> ``It was a rough game, and to think about two years from (then) that we would be going to the Orange Bowl and playing in the Bowl Championship Series, it&#39;s a huge swing of emotions going to Miami,&#39;&#39; linebacker Jon Abbate said.<br> <br> As recently as four months ago, Wake Forest was considered an afterthought in the super-sized Atlantic Coast Conference.<br> <br> The Demon Deacons had never won more than eight games in a season, hadn&#39;t won an ACC title since 1970 and were picked to finish last in their division.<br> <br> Instead, they set a school record with 11 victories, shut out Florida State in Tallahassee for the first time in Bobby Bowden&#39;s tenure there, clinched the Atlantic Division on the last day of the season and beat Georgia Tech in the ACC title game.<br> <br> ``It&#39;s really no symbolism there it&#39;s a great thing just to see how far we&#39;ve come,&#39;&#39; cornerback Riley Swanson said. ``I&#39;ve marveled at the way we&#39;ve come along. It was just a couple of years ago when we did lose 52-7 and now we&#39;re a better team. We&#39;ve come so far. ... Everything we accomplished this year erased all the memories of the past.&#39;&#39;<br> <br> Now the Demon Deacons hope this week will help them sustain success for the first time in school history.<br> <br> Wake Forest has never reached the postseason in consecutive years and hasn&#39;t had more than two straight winning seasons since the 1940s.<br> <br> ``We&#39;ve always been able to recruit to a great school like Wake Forest,&#39;&#39; coach Jim Grobe said. ``We typically have never lost parents when we&#39;re recruiting. The thing that we&#39;ve had a bit of a tough time is trying to sell to the players that you can come to Wake Forest and do everything you dreamed about.<br> <br> ``I think going to the Orange Bowl tells our recruits that you cannot only have a great degree and have a great experience at Wake Forest, but you can also play some pretty good football.&#39;&#39;