It was an emotional scene in the press room after the game. With fifth year senior quarterback Riley Skinner choking back tears, it was clear how important this game was to this year’s seniors. Looking to become part of the elite class of teams that have beaten Florida State four straight times and fighting for another year of bowl eligibility, the life of this year’s season rested in this game. Unfortunately for the Deacs, all of their close losses finally caught up to them as they were soundly defeated by Florida State 41-28 on Senior Day Nov. 14 at BB&T Field.

Michael Crouse/Old Gold & Black

The loss drops the Deacs to 4-7 (2-5 ACC) and eliminates their chances of going bowling for a fourth consecutive season.

“Certainly our seniors are disappointed because they had a little bit to live up to after last three years,” Head Coach Jim Grobe said after the game.

And he was not kidding. Going into the game, the Deacs were on track to make history. A win would have put Grobe in the company of Larry Coker, Jimmy Johnson and Urban Meyer as the only coaches to have beaten FSU four straight times in the Bowden-era. A win also would have made Skinner the only quarterback to have beaten Florida State four straight times, a feat Florida quarterback Tim Tebow will try to accomplish two weeks from now.

But, as the saying goes, it just was not in the cards for the Deacons.

The Seminole squad, which features the worst defense in the ACC and has faced harsh criticism for underachieving, quickly showed that it came to play. After taking the opening kickoff, the Noles wasted no time in driving down the field to punch in their first score of the contest, which came off of a nine yard run from running back Ty Jones.

The Deacs were able to answer right back with a score of their own, however.

After returning the ensuing kickoff back to the Florida State 30-yard line, Skinner took over.

On the drive, Skinner completed five of his six pass attempts and rushed for 17 yards, setting up a three yard touchdown run from senior running back Josh Adams to knot the score at 7-7. But from there, it was all Florida State.

The Seminoles would score on their next four drives to create a sizable lead. On the next Florida State drive, the Deacon defense proved unable to stop the Seminole offense, which was led by freshman quarterback EJ Manuel, who was filling in for the injured Christian Ponder.

Four completions from Manuel led the Seminoles down the field and set up Douglas’ second rushing touchdown of the game to make the score 14-7 halfway through the first quarter.

The Deacs were unable to keep possession on their next drive, with Skinner throwing an interception that set up an easy one yard rushing touchdown from Manuel early in the second quarter.

On their next drive, the Deacons were forced to punt; a punt that the Seminoles converted into points when freshman kick Dustin Hopkins drilled a 47 yard field goal to expand the Seminole lead to 24-7 with 4:52 left in the first half.

After Florida State ran back a punt for a score to make it 31-7, the Deacon offense was finally able to get something going. After big runs from Adams and junior receiver Devon Brown, Skinner connected with Adams on a 16-yard touchdown strike to make it 31-14 going into the half.

Unfortunately for the Deacons, their halftime adjustments were all for naught as the Seminoles continued the beatdown in the second half.

After exchanging punts to start the second half, the Deacs were able to mount another scoring drive. The drive, highlighted by a 48 yard scamper from junior running back Brandon Pendergrass, was capped off by a 12 yard touchdown run from fifth year senior Kevin Harris. The score cut the Seminole lead to 31-21 early in the second half.

Unfortunately for the Deacs, FSU would respond with 10 unanswered points that took their lead to 41-21.

The Demon Deacons would find pay dirt one more time late in the fourth quarter.

On the drive, Skinner singlehandedly led the Deacs 60 yards down the field and threw his last touchdown at BB&T Field when he connected with sophomore Chris Givens for a four yard touchdown.

The touchdown, which made the score 41-28, would be the last of the contest as the Seminoles would go on to win and keep their hopes for a bowl appearance alive.

Skinner, who has had a remarkable season thus far, was the Deacons’ leader on offense.

Skinner completed 25 of his 40 pass attempts for 227 yards and a touchdown while also giving away two interceptions.

Givens led the Deacons with 67 yards rushing and one touchdown.

“It’s definitely disappointing,” Harris said. “We have had a lot of close games this year and we have worked awfully hard over the last four years to try to make thing happen for Wake Forest.

“It was disappointing to lose to (Florida State). But we beat them three out of the four years and that was more than I could ask for when I committed to (Wake Forest)…It’s a great accomplishment for Wake Forest.”

But with most of the team still trying to make sense of what had happened on the field, Skinner reflected on his time as a Deacon.

“It’s just crazy to think about,” Skinner said. “It’s been four and half years and I never thought it would come to an end like this.

“There are some good memories going through my head right now, and I am trying to pull those out instead of thinking about this game.” Skinner said.

The Deacons are off this weekend with a much needed bye week, but  they will be back in action when the travel to Durham to take on the Duke Blue Devils in what will now be their last game of the season.

Kickoff is set for 12 p.m.