Wake Forest hosting Boston College was pretty much what we thought it would be. Well, maybe it was a little uglier than anticipated. But the result was the same as Wake Forest routs BC 43-15 Saturday at Truist Field.
Wake Forest Routs BC
Lethargy won the early part of the day. Truist was no better than half-filled. BC’s first drive was six plays and got them zero points. Wake’s first drive saw quarterback Sam Hartman go one for four passing for minus one yard. There was more yardage being gained by the kids playing football in the end zone grass area than there was on the field.
Boston College got on the board first on its second drive of the game. It took 12 plays for the Eagles to go downfield, only to have the drive stall out before getting a 29-yard field goal from Connor Lytton.
Demon Deacons Respond
The Demon Deacons responded with a 10-play, 75-yard drive, with every yard of it being thanks to Hartman’s arm. He went seven of eight throwing for all 75 yards. On second and seven from the BC 15-yard line, he hit Jahmal Banks who made a diving catch going toward the sideline in the middle of the end zone. Wake Forest led 7-3 and would never face a deficit again the rest of the game.
Wake’s second drive was much easier…and shorter. BC punter Danny Longman shanked a punt that only went 15 yards to the Eagles’ 42-yard line. Hartman ended the drive with the second of his five touchdown passes. He stood in the pocket while under a lot of pressure right up the middle. He delivered a sidearm pass to Taylor morin in the back of the end zone for the 14-3 lead.
“This Game is Drunk”
The next BC drive typified the randomness of the game. On fourth and eight from their own 40-yard line, BC’s Longman took off on a fake punt. He picked up 24 yards, making the leading Eagles’ ground gainer throughout the first half. The Boston College drive stalled at the Wake 37-yard line. Going for it on fourth and four, Wake’s Rondell Bothroyd sacked Phil Jurkovec causing the quarterback to fumble the ball. It was picked up by Wake’s Jasheen Davis who ran three yards before fumbling it himself. Boston College fell on the fumble and got possession back at midfield.
On the first play after the new possession, BC lost another 11 yards on a bad snap. And then Jurkovec threw a 61-yard touchdown pass to Zay Flowers who was wide open at the 18-yard line in the middle of busted Wake secondary coverage. The ensuing PAT was blocked and Wake held a 14-9 lead.
The insanity of the three minutes of play caused one member of the media to proclaim that “This game is drunk.”
Wake answered one more time in the first half with a 10-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that ended with Hartman finding A.T. Perry in the middle of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown pass and the 21-9 halftime lead.
If you want to know what this game was like, if you remove the sack yardage from the BC rushing stats, the Eagles had 34 rushing yards in the first half. Twenty-four of them were from the punter. Wake only had 23 net rushing yards at the break.
Second Half Was Much of the Same
It didn’t get much better to start the second half. The first drive for each team netted six plays and three yards combined.
Wake Forest put together two more touchdown drives, to Boston College’s one to pull away further. Hartman finished a scoring drive with a four-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Morin right at the front of the end zone to go up 28-9.
Hartman added a two-yard touchdown run to put the Wake lead at 28-9 after the Demon Deacons converted on a two-point conversion.
Jurkovec managed to get a seven-yard touchdown run, coupled with a failed two-point conversion for BC’s scoring in the third quarter.
Wake got one more Hartman touchdown pass, a 16-yarder to Banks, for the 43-15 final.
Hartman finished the game with five more touchdown passes on 25 of 40 passing for 313 yards. He also ran for a touchdown, giving him six for the game and 93 for his Wake Forest career.
After Game Thoughts
After the game, Wake head coach Dave Clawson said the game was not pretty, but as he is prone to do, said the ACC has no easy games, and at 6-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play, he is just happy with the win. “I don’t know if it was our cleanest game,” he said. “And sometimes that happens after the bye week. We were kind of out of rhythm a little bit.”
He was generally happy with an offense that put up 428 yards on the day. “You know I think we made enough explosive plays, and we threw the ball really well.”
Ironically, Hartman’s game has become so routine that his head coach was not even aware he had thrown for five touchdowns and rushed for another until he saw the stat sheet at the podium in the post-game press conference. “That’s the beauty of you guys being in the media. You always have this big-picture perspective. I didn’t even know that [about Hartman’s touchdowns] until I came in here. I’m just playing the next series.”
While Jurkovec was 20 of 38 for 221 yards and a touchdown, it was a very one-dimensional offense for Boston College. The Eagles’ leading rusher was their punter, Longman, on the 24-yard fake punt. Clawson gave credit to his defensive line first and foremost. “We’re just playing so well upfront on our defensive line,” he said. He pointed out that they used nine different players up front Saturday.
With Clemson putting a tight squeeze on the ACC Atlantic title Saturday, the Demon Deacons still have a shot at elite bowl status. Wake Forest travels to Louisville next weekend to face a Cardinals team that has been wildly inconsistent all season long.
