Moral victories don’t count for much, especially when it means another conference loss dropping you into a deeper hole in the ACC. Wake Forest falls to Clemson 17-12, and the Demon Deacons drop to 0-2 in conference play, and 3-2 overall.
The Demon Deacons went into Memorial Stadium as a 21-point underdog. They kept it close for three-and-a-half quarters, mostly as a byproduct of neither offense being capable of manufacturing much punch. And Wake certainly had its chances. But being unable to capitalize on Clemson’s mistakes, and missing out on points early on will never carry the day when you are outmanned at so many levels.
It’s not as though either offense was lighting up the stat sheets. Clemson finished with 338 total yards, while Wake Forest had 239.
No Rhythm, No Offense
Clemson was clinging to a precarious 10-6 lead early in the fourth quarter. The Tigers Jonathan Weitz had just missed a 51-yard field goal, giving Wake Forest the ball at their own 34-yard line. But in line with much of the rest of the game, the Demon Deacon offense had no sustained firepower. Three plays for a net negative two yards forced the punt. Clemson couldn’t do anything with its chance and returned the ball back to Wake after three plays on offense. Wake then returned the favor in kind. See where this game was going? The first team with a moderately competent fourth-quarter drive was going to take the game.
Given one more chance halfway through the fourth quarter, Clemson finally put the game away with a heavy dose of Will Shipley. He picked up 18 yards on a run to the right side to get the ball down to the Wake one-yard line. On the next play, he rammed up the middle for the touchdown and the 17-6 Clemson lead. Shipley finished the game with 97 yards on 19 carries, having picked up only 11 yards rushing in the first half.
Down 17-6 with time running out, Wake Forest finally put together a touchdown drive. Demond Claiborne ran it in from three yards out to cap a 75-yard drive. The two-point conversion failed, and Wake had burned more than four minutes off the clock. With 1:49 left, all Clemson had to do was convert a couple of first downs and call it a night.
Lack of Punch
The two teams combined for six drives in the first quarter before anyone even put any points on the board. Wake got the ball all the way down to the Clemson eight-yard line before quarterback Mitch Griffis was sacked and they had to settle for a 35-yard field goal towards the end of the period. The two teams had combined for all of 99 yards of offense in the quarter.
Clemson put its first touchdown of the game on the board early in the second quarter. While his rushing stats weren’t huge, Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik was particularly effective in keeping drives alive with his running. Scrambling for your life and hitting the edge is not exactly a designed play, but against Wake, it might as well have been. There was no one in Wake’s front seven who had the speed to keep up with Klubnik once he hit the edge. Wake defensive lineman Kevin Pointer said, “Sometimes we lost our contain and he scrambled out.” Wake head coach Dave Clawson said after the game that it was not easy for the defensive unit to see when to come out of coverage or leave their assignment to get to Klubnik. “Sometimes that’s hard to judge. So sometimes in those down and distances, you pick your poison.”
Klubnik ran a naked bootleg from seven yards out and waltzed into the end zone to give Clemson the 7-3 lead that they would never relinquish.
Chances Missed
Again, Wake had its chances. But an offense that lacks firepower had few answers. Clemson’s Tyler Brown muffed a punt return at his own 31-yard line. The Wake offense managed all of 11 yards on five plays, and Dennis missed a 39-yard field goal to end the half.
Clemson added a 25-yard field goal by Weitz to extend the Tigers lead to 10-3 in the third quarter.
Wake Forest added a 22-yard field goal by Dennis in the third quarter. But that was after the drive stalled out inside the Clemson 15-yard line. Still, it was 10-6, and as ineffective as both offenses were, Wake was not out of it, even if it felt like they weren’t really in it.
But Wake’s offense managed only 119 yards of total offense in the second half…adding to an equally anemic 120 in the first half.
Tightening the Reigns
Griffis finished 15-27 passing for 137 yards. He didn’t have the blatant errors and turnovers of previous weeks, but there was also little in the way of cohesive drives on offense. After the game, Clawson acknowledged that they kept the offense a little tighter this week. “I didn’t want to lose the game on third and long. I didn’t want to get strip-sacked.” He added, “I don’t regret it.”
Griffis met with the media after the game. He was good with the game plan as designed, even if it did not produce enough points to win. “Obviously they [Clemson] have a phenomenal defense with a bunch of good players. We were just trying to find spots.”
The running game for Wake, outside of a few gains of more than five yards, was also limited. Starting running back Justice Ellison left the game after one carry, having reinjured his ankle. Demond Clairborne, Tate Carney, and Griffis combined for 99 net yards on 38 carries.
The loss was the 15th in a row to Clemson for Wake Forest. Of note, it was also the 165th career win for Tigers head coach Dabo Swinney, tying him for the top spot at the school with Frank Howard. But the Clemson offense is not the high-powered machine of years past. Yet, Wake Forest could not take advantage of the temporary downcycle at Clemson. The defense looks to be where Clawson has wanted it for years. But now the offense that used to score at will cannot sustain drives.
Next
“It’s critical,” Clawson said after the game when asked how important it is to get the offense to a better pace. “It’d be nice to be good on both sides of the ball in the same year.” That of course is a difficult proposition. In the previous four games when more was asked of Griffis there were the turnovers. They hold the offense tighter, and there is no production.
Earlier in the week, Clawson said the tape of last year’s double overtime loss to Clemson would haunt him all the way to his deathbed. That will not be the case with Saturday’s game. “I feel better right now about our football team than I did the previous four weeks, which includes three wins. The kids played their butts off.”
At 0-2 in conference play, the upside needs to be found and found quickly. Linebacker Dylan Hazen said yes, the fixes have to come quicker, but cannot be artificially rushed. “You can’t be too frantic about it, because that’s when more mistakes come out because you’re reaching for that play, that superstar play.”
The next opportunity for that much-needed turnaround is next week in Blacksburg against Virginia Tech.
