LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Okay, U of L fans, the Cardinals, thanks to some help from West Virginia in a triple overtime thriller, are headed to the FedEx Orange Bowl.

It's not the national championship game Cards fans had hoped to see, but it is a Bowl Championship Series game, the big time national stage.

The Cards opponent will be the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Who?

I'm sure many fans haven't even heard of Wake Forest and certainly didn't think they would be Louisville’s opponent in a major bowl game.

As a Wake Forest alumnus, allow me to enlighten you.

Some older fans may remember the Steely Dan song "Deacon Blues".

The refrain in that song goes, "They call Alabama the Crimson Tide, call me Deacon blues."

And there was good reason for that refrain.

While typically, Wake Forest has had a very competitive basketball program in the tough Atlantic Coast Conference, the football team typically has been pretty awful.

There have been exceptions, but nothing like this season.

So far, the Deacons have 11 wins, three more wins than any previous season in school history. They won the ACC for the first time since 1970.

They were 6-0 on the road in the ACC, a conference record for most road wins in a season without a loss.

What makes this season even more remarkable is it was totally unexpected.

How did Wake Forest do it?

Early in the season, the team's quarterback was injured, out for the season.

The same thing happened to the Deacs starting running back Micah Andrews, the son of former Atlanta Falcon William Andrews.

To fill the void, redshirt freshman quarterback Riley Skinner has stepped in and played incredibly well.

With multiple running back injuries, wide receiver Kenneth Moore, who hadn't played running back since high school, has stepped in and been terrific.

The Deacons have largely won with a tough opportunistic defense anchored by senior linebacker Jon Abbate.

That defense has thrived on creating turnovers. Senior cornerback Josh Gattis has been a tough defender with several key interceptions this year.

The offense is built on misdirection with multiple reverses.It's the kind of offense requiring defenses to play with great discipline.

Defenders need to stay in their lanes or risk getting burned.

And when the defense decides to stack the line to stop the run, Skinner is fully capable of throwing a long ball to a receiver like Willie Idlette.

Running the whole show is head coach Jim Grobe, named the college football coach of the year by both "The Sporting News" and CBS Sportsline.

If you're still not convinced Wake is worthy of respect, you're not alone.

Despite the Deacons record, they were betting underdogs in about half the games they played. Most notably, they were 8 1/2 point underdogs when they played at Florida State this season.

They beat the Seminoles 30-0 handing Bobby Bowden his first EVER home shutout loss in his 30 years at Florida State.

They were underdogs when they went to College Park, Md., to play Maryland for the right to play in the conference championship game. The Terps hadn't lost a home game all season until Wake beat them.

The Deacs were underdogs against Georgia Tech in the conference championship game in Jacksonville when they won a gritty 9-6 game to earn their trip to the Orange Bowl.

Some of you may think the ACC is down this season because Miami and Florida State aren't as good as they usually are. After all, the Cards clobbered Miami earlier this season.

But in addition to FSU and Miami, the conference still features Georgia Tech, Maryland, Boston College, Clemson and Virginia Tech.

I'm sure the Cards and their fans remember Virginia Tech from last year's Gator Bowl. I know Hunter Cantwell does. I'm not sure his nose will ever be the same.

When you compare the ACC to the Big East, outside of West Virginia and an upstart Rutgers team, I'll take also ran’s Virginia Tech, Boston College, Clemson, etc., over Pitt, South Florida, Cincinnati, etc.

Clearly, the Deacs haven't seen a passing attack like the one Louisville has, and Louisville hasn't seen an offense like Wake runs.

The Cards should be favored. There's no doubt they have an outstanding team. But don't be surprised if the Deacs give the Cards a "Wake" up call about how good the ACC Champs are!

Considering Alabama's struggles and their firing of their head coach, maybe Steely Dan might want to change their song.

"They call Wake Forest the Demon Deacs...call me Bama Blues."

I'll be in Miami rooting on the Deacons. Good luck to the Cards and their fans.