In the 113 years of games played in this series between North Carolina State and Wake Forest, this was one of them. That is the extent of the positive for Wake Forest after the Demon Deacons get embarrassed by the Wolfpack 26-6 on Saturday on Senior Day in Winston-Salem.
Wake dropped to 4-6 overall and needs wins at Notre Dame and Syracuse to begin cleanly bowl-eligible. That includes a 3-0 start to the season with wins over a hugely subpar schedule. They can make the postseason at 5-7 with their academic APR. But the way the Demon Deacons are playing there is an argument to be made to have the dignity to turn it down.
Where is the Bottom?
Think it wasn’t bad? Head coach Dave Clawson opened his post-game press conference by apologizing to the Wake Forest fan base for the game. “I want to apologize to our fan base, to our students,” he said. “That was just an awful, awful performance. We were flat. We had no energy. And that is 100% on me.”
Saturday’s game was over early, and not just because of the 2pm start time. In a battle of quarterbacks who had been benched earlier this year, NC State’s Brennan Armstrong owned the Wake Forest defense. And the Wake Forest offense hit new anemic levels.
Wake went three and out on its first series with starting quarterback Mitch Griffis hobbled on the last play of the “drive” after being sacked. There was real symbolism to the day going forward.
NC State went 84 yards in just 1:59. Worse, it took just three plays to do it. They got a 65-yard jet sweep run from K.C. Concepcion. And then Armstrong rolled to his left, throwing on the run to Julian Gray for the 19-yard touchdown pass.
The Offense Going Nowhere
Wake responded by going three and out with Griffis sacked on the last play of the drive. No that is not re-typing what happened earlier. It really happened a second consecutive time.
On Wake’s next drive, the Deacs got diverse. Griffis was sacked on the first play of the series before they went three and out.
NC State marched 65 yards down field with Armstrong picking up 45 yards with his legs, including the final one-yard run for a touchdown and the 14-0 lead.
Wake’s answer was another three and out. In fact the Demon Deacons did not pick up their first first down of the game until there was only 5:21 left in the first half. By that point, they were 21-0. Michael Kern had replaced Griffis and hit Taylor Morin with a 16-yard completion with the slot receiver tiptoeing the right-side sideline. That drive eventually stalled at Wake’s own 30-yard line.
Clawson said the change in quarterback was based on Griffis having three drives to start with and going three and out on each of them.
Wake had the potential to show the crowd a sign of life. NC State running back Kendrick Raphael fumbled at his own 36-yard line. The ball was recovered by Wake’s Chelen Garnes with his knee on the ground. It was as close as Wake had been to the Wolfpack end zone all day. But, and stop us if you have heard this before, the drive hit a dead spot. Kern even managed to pick up a first down on a fourth and one quarterback sneak. But three more plays netted all of five yards. And then Matthew Dennis, who had been reliable up until the last couple of weeks, missed a 39-yard field goal attempt.
Over at Halftime
Wake had a 21-0 deficit….a large hill to climb under good circumstances, but an insurmountable one with this current offense.
NC State had amassed 266 yards of offense in the first half to all of 45 for Wake Forest. To make it worse, the Demon Deacons had 48 yards passing, but a net -3 rushing when factoring in all of the sacks of the two quarterbacks.
If there was a positive for the Wake fans who did not bolt for the exits at halftime, it was that the Demon Deacons held NC State scoreless in the third quarter. And the Wolfpack had only 66 yards of total offense. Of course, when Wake managed only 23 yards of offense in the quarter, any pollyannish perspective was held in check.
Early in the fourth quarter, Kern managed a first down throw with an 18-yard completion to Justice Ellison at the Wake 40-yard line. And then in typical Wake fashion, the next Kern pass was thrown deep downfield and right to NC State defensive back Sean Brown who returned it 33 yards to the Wake Forest 34-yard line. NC State converted that into a 45-yard field goal and the 24-0 lead.
Finality
Wake avoided the shutout when on 4th and 2, Kern hit Deuce Alexander, over single coverage, in the front left part of the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown pass. But, and again it is a theme, in typical Wake fashion, Kern’s pass on the two-point conversion attempt was well short of any receiver. It was intercepted by NC State’s Jaylon Scott in the end zone and returned 100 yards for the two points for the Wolfpack to make it 26-6. It got bad enough that even after the failed on-side kick, the referee had to turn on the microphone and tell the stadium timekeeper to stop the game clock. Hey, everyone was looking for the exit at that point.
Wake managed only 163 yards of total offense. Kern was 14 of 26 for 137 yards, the touchdown and the interception. Griffis was two of three for 19 yards. The Deacs had all of seven net yards rushing.
NC State had 379 total yards. Armstrong accounted for 111 yards passing and 96 rushing.
Clawson was quietly emotional yet certain in tone after the game. “I’ve got to do some soul-searching and look at our team. This is two games in a row, that two programs in Florida State and NC State that we’ve had a lot of success against the last three, four, five, six years,” he said. “We’re basically non-competitive against those two programs.” He added, “It’s my job to field a more competitive team and clearly I’m failing this season, and this game. And I’m just not getting the job done right now. It’s on me. It’s game 10 and to not show up like that is really disappointing.”
Clawson said he would be spending Saturday night and Sunday in self-assessment and said he hoped his players and coaching staff were ready to do the same.
