Wake Forest has one of those “get right” games this week at home against the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns. While Wake head coach Dave Clawson will tell you every game is a “must-win,” this one feels particularly so. The prospect of going into a significant stretch of conference play with a 1-3 record, all home games, would be an ugly and painful discussion.
The Match-Up
Louisiana comes into Allegacy Stadium with a 2-1 record. The Ragin Cajuns beat Grambling State and Kennesaw State before losing last week to a good Tulane team.
Wake meanwhile comes in off a much-needed off week. After handling North Carolina A&T, the Demon Deacons lost a heartbreaker to Virginia, and then got dumped by a Top-five Ole Miss team.
At his weekly press conference, Clawson said some time was spent both on preparing the team to play Louisiana and also getting them refreshed mentally and emotionally after a couple of tough weeks.
The Regrouping
“If you break the season down, we’ve gone through about eight straight weeks,” Clawson said referring back to the start of Fall camp. “There’s things you’ve got to get fixed. But in some ways you just want them to get mentally and physically fresh.”
He said part of the mental regrouping was to acknowledge that they got beat by a very good Ole Miss team, but in looking at the game film, highlighting things that happened that had little to do with the Rebels’ talent. Clawson said his team spent time reviewing assignment breakdowns, the missed opportunities in the red zone, and tempo. He called it, “Fixing the fixables.”
There is also the regrouping that gets handled by guys who have played a lot of college football already. As has become customary, Wake Forest has a roster full of players in their fifth and sixth seasons. Having players who have been there and done, puts them in a position to help pull the team out of the muck and mire. “Every football season, you’re going to have your ebbs and flows,” Clawson said. “You count on that senior leadership to try to keep the ship steady, and not let the highs get too high or the lows get too low.”
Clawson, while again saying every game feels like a must-win, not just this season, but throughout every year of his career, said Wake needs to get, “On the left-hand side of the ledger.” It won’t be easy.
Ragin Cajuns
The Ragin Cajuns have the 21st-ranked team in the country in total defense. They are sixth in the country in passing yards allowed at only 114 per game. It was unusual that in the Tulane game, Louisiana’s defense struggled to get off the field on third down.
Head coach Michael Desormeaux said his team has to do a better job this week of taking advantage of the opportunities on defense. “We’ve got to put ourselves in a position to capture momentum and not have to respond,” he said at his press conference this week.
From here on out, it is Sun Belt conference games for Louisiana this season. Desormeaux said that makes the Wake game all the more critical, coming off the Tulane loss, to hit a rhythm. “We need to hit our stride going into conference and this is our last chance at it.”
He said there are some comparatives with the Deacs and last week’s opponent. “I think they are built pretty similar to Tulane, to be honest with you.” He envisions the scenario that the Wake coaching staff comes up with after watching the Louisiana film against Tulane. “They are going to say, ‘We’re going to try to mash them right here. And we’re going to try to challenge them. We’re going to try to run the ball down their throats.’ I mean that’s what you’ve got to be saying if you watch that tape.” Desormeaux’s defense is giving up about 140 yards rushing per game.
Offense and Opportunities
The offensive numbers look similar for the two schools. Wake Forest is 32nd in the country in total offense at 456 yards per game. Louisiana is 36th with 452 yards per game. Quarterback Ben Wooldridge is in his fifth season of college football and third at Louisiana, having come over from Fresno State. But they don’t ask much of him. He has only 2,904 total passing yards in his three seasons at Louisiana. He is averaging just under 30 passing attempts per game so far this season.
The offense got its spark against Tulane from running back Elijah Davis who had 103 yards on just nine carries.
Clawson said his staff spent some of the off week trying to find ways to simplify the defense, particularly in the secondary. He talked about how because of departures, both expected and unexpected, the Wake defensive secondary is a group that has not played a lot of game time together. He said the safeties have to get better in their communication.
If there is a time for that skill set to improve it could be against this quarterback. Wake is not likely to see anyone near the likes of Jaxson Dart from two weeks ago. Clawson said it is not just about the plays his defense makes, but about the plays they could be making.
That gets put to the test in one those “must-win” games this weekend.
Personnel
Defensive end Jasheen Davis is expected to play this week for Wake Forest. He has missed the last two games with a minor injury.
