Good news for the Wake Forest offense – despite what the schedule says the rest of the season, it can truly only get better from this point forward.
Thanks to finishing in the negative range in rushing yards, Wake Forest didn’t break the century mark in total yards, amassing 94 yards on the game.
John Wolford became the first true freshman to start his first game in the history of Wake Forest, and he showed it. Completing only 12 of 22 passes for 97 yards, Wolford rarely had time to do anything in the pocket. Wake Forest’s offensive line made his debut a living nightmare, allowing Wolford to get sacked seven times. The thought of Clemson, Florida State, and Virginia Tech makes you cringe at the abuse the young quarterback could suffer through.
It wasn’t all bad for the offense. Eight of Wolford’s 12 completions came in the first half, with five in the second quarter. The lone points the offense was able to put up was on a drive in the second quarter in which Wolford completed 3 of 5 passes for 36 yards, including a 22-yard pass to Matt James. Wolford also showed, when he was allowed to, the ability to throw a great deep ball. In one instance, he hit James in the chest on a go route along the sidelines, but the redshirt senior could not bring in the pass.
Wake Forest plays that stretched the ball down the field were few and far between, as the line was unable to give Wolford enough time to drop back and look down the field. This forced the offense to run like a middle-tier high school team, not one that had the quarterback that broke Tim Tebow’s high school passing touchdown record.
After losing Tanner Price and all-time leading receiver Michael Campanaro, Wake Forest was going to have to go through a transition period under new head coach Dave Clawson. Unless the offense takes big strides throughout the season, it is hard to believe Wake Forest will be anything more than a doormat to the rest of the ACC, even with an extremely physical secondary with great speed and experience.
Brandon Chubb Shines in Opener
The true bright spot of the game was the performance of Brandon Chubb, whose 18 tackles are the second-highest total in the school’s history.
Replay any of the running plays Louisiana-Monroe ran and you will see Chubb right in the thick of things. He was even able to chase down a receiver down the field after being sucked in on a play-action.
Chubb was the second-leading tackler last season, with only freshman All-American Ryan Janvion finishing ahead of him. He certainly got things off to a great start to begin the 2014 season. With plenty of teams that like to run the ball scattered throughout the schedule, Chubb will be relied on heavily as Wake Forest tries to break in a whole new defensive line.
His performance came with an ironic twist. Chubb had to make so many tackles because the defense was on the field for the majority of the game, wearing them down to the point where Louisiana-Monroe was able to move the ball at will.
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