30(-0) for 30: What if I told you Wake Forest once shut out FSU in Tallahassee?

Wake Forest has a curious spot in the college football landscape.

It is one of the smallest FBS programs, and in 2006, it had the second-fewest enrollees, with just over 4,000 undergrads and a 10-to-1 student-faculty ratio. It’s a liberal arts school in North Carolina, but not in the Research Triangle geographic footprint of Duke, UNC, and NC State. The Deacs’ campus moved away to Winston-Salem in 1956 after an organization founded by the daughter of a tobacco magnate granted them land.

They exist as the Power 5’s version of Switzerland. Neither loved nor hated by anyone, just there, doing no harm.

“You were the guy that lives in the dorm next to the regular student that ate with them at the cafeteria you know. That rode with them on the bus to class,” former Wake QB Riley Skinner told SB Nation. “Those are the kinds of things that make that university so unique.”

Just how unprecedented was this?

Well, Wake just doesn’t beat Florida State. The two played regularly during the 1960s and then every year once the Seminoles joined the ACC in 1992. In 24 previous tries, the Demon Deacons were 2-21-1. The only time they’d won in Tallahassee was in 1959, a decade after Florida State’s program started and more than a decade before Bobby Bowden’s arrival.

The Deacs came into the 2006 game 8-1 with an opportunity to win nine games for the first time in school history. The week before saw a matchup of ranked teams on campus in Winston-Salem for the second time in program history.

“I think the fact that we were competing at such a high level at that point and were at such a national spotlight at that point — every game for the last half of the season was pretty much a primetime game — it made the experience that much more special both for our team, but for the university itself,” Skinner said.

As far as shutouts go, it had been a long time since that happened to the Noles.

Florida State hadn’t been shut out in 232 games, dating back to the 1988 opener at Miami. It was also Florida State’s worst loss at home since a 58-14 loss to Southern Mississippi in 1981, the last year they didn’t go to a bowl.

“It was a complete team breakdown,” the 77-year-old Bowden said afterward. “Just inept.”

But like it did so often that season, Wake Forest shocked conventional wisdom.

Despite playing his high school football just a two-and-a-half-hour drive away from FSU, the quarterback from Jacksonville was an undersized and overlooked prospect who didn’t receive a scholarship offer until eight days before Signing Day in 2005. And that’s only because Wake Forest coaches noticed him while scouting one of his high school teammates. He jumped at it, and after redshirting, entered fall camp in 2006 third on the depth chart.

The second string quarterback suffered an injury in the final scrimmage of camp. The starter was injured in the season opener. Just like that, Skinner was QB1 at a power-conference school.

Each week, he was given more command of the offense, more autonomy to audible, and more opportunities to throw. His athletic ability wasn’t going to pilot a system predicated on zone read runs or the option.

Against Clemson, Skinner said things clicked for the Deacs, despite the fact they lost the game. For three quarters, they hung with the Tigers and proved they could handle the ACC’s best shot.

“I’ll be honest with you. We knew we had a chance to win, but there’s no way in heck ... you can ask 90 people on our team, and if they told you they thought we’d beat Florida State the way we did, I’d tell you they’re lying,” Skinner said. “Whether Florida State was 8-0 or 4-4, their athletes were superior to ours. They’re faster, bigger stronger.

“I think we had a better team. I think we had a really good scheme. I think we had a bunch of guys that had chemistry together and played their hearts out. I woulda taken our team 10 times outta 10.

“But no, we did not think we were gonna go in and do what we did. Our defense played lights out.”

Florida State gained 2.7 yards per play and only converted one third down in 13 tries. They rushed for 1.1 yards per carry, and two Seminoles quarterbacks combined to go 9 of 28 through the air.

The Demon Deacons held the Noles to their fewest total yards of the season (139) and caused the most turnovers (four interceptions) FSU had all season. Two of those picks were returned for touchdowns. Wake forced FSU to punt a season-high nine times.

Our Bill Connelly whipped up an advanced box score to break down the game in depth. While there are a lot fancy numbers (you can find a glossary of terms here), you don’t have to be an analytical person to know that one scoring opportunity in 14 drives is bad.

With 13 players on the team from the state of Florida, beating FSU was that much more special.

Wake Forest also beat Florida State in 2007 and 2008 as the Seminoles descended further and further into what fans refer to as the lost decade for FSU football.

Even more unthinkable was that, while this is seen as the low point in Bowden’s tenure, it was just one in a series of big moments for the Demon Deacons.

Wake didn’t clinch the Atlantic Division until two weeks later at Maryland. It went on to win the ACC and compete in the Orange Bowl.

As big as this win was, Wake had bigger fish to fry in 2006, and that says quite a bit about both teams.

That means he’s in Jacksonville and in close proximity to Florida State fans every day. He doesn’t go long without someone bringing up his triumphs over the Noles.

“I heard from one today in our office. We had a meeting in our office, and the guy came in and I introduced myself, and the guy says, ‘Yeah, I know who you are. Got the pleasure of watching you stomp on my alma mater three years in a row. At the time, I didn’t really like you, but I like you now.’”

The last time Skinner faced the Seminoles, legendary coach Bowden (coincidentally also at the end of his tenure) had some parting words for the QB who would become the bane of his existence.

“We’re sitting here, warming up in the middle of the field, throwing to our receivers and all of a sudden I hear, ‘Skinner.’ I turn around, and it’s Coach Bowden by himself at the 50-yard line. And he says, ‘Come here.’

“So obviously I brought the ball and walked over, and he shook my hand and looked me right in the eye, and he says, ‘Skinner, you’ve been a pain in my ass the last four years. I’m sure glad to see you graduate.’ And he patted me on the butt and told me good luck.”