In a game that carried so much weight for Wake Forest the Demon Deacons failed at too many of the basics and lost to Louisiana 41-38 Saturday night in Winston Salem. Matthew Dennis’s 42-yard field goal attempt that would have tied the game hit the left upright as time ran out.
Nothing Comes Easy
The Deacs scored a touchdown with under two minutes left to tie the game at 38. But then a 65-yard kickoff return put the Ragin Cajuns in position for the game-winning field goal. Wake moved back down field going 51 yards in 50 seconds. But they could not come through when it mattered most and fall to 1-3 on the season.
Wake Forest has spent the entire month of September at home. Now the Demon Deacons go to North Carolina State next week to start a lengthy stretch of conference games. After the game, head coach Dave Clawson said, “We’re 1-3 and I think this is the worst start we’ve been off to in my 11 years,” he said. “We’re a struggling football team right now.”
The Offensive Numbers Were There
The thing is, it didn’t have to be like this. Louisiana is a good football team and Wake got off to a slow start again. But the Deacs had plenty of good moments on offense. Quarterback Hank Bachmeier was 30 of 36 passing for 254 yards and a touchdown. He also threw his first interception of the season, but it was on a ball that was a very catchable pass that bounced off the receiver for the pick.
Running back Demond Claiborne had 94 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries. And that was with being carted off the field with what looked like a gruesome knee injury. He came running out of the locker room and to the sidelines before halftime and had a few carries in the second half. The injury required a medical “adjustment” and is not believed to be significant in the long run.
But the defense gave up too much too frequently. The underneath of the defense was available to Louisiana quarterback Ben Wooldridge all night and he took full advantage of it. He finished 20 of 29 for 257 yards and three touchdowns.
A Slow Start
The opportunities were limited early on. There were only three drives in the first quarter because of the time being burned on them. The Ragin Cajuns engineered a drive that went 70 yards in 10 plays and used 5:54 off the clock. Wooldridge rolled to his right and completed a two-yard pass to Tavion Smith for the 7-0 lead.
Wake responded with a 39-yard field goal from Dennis that made it 7-3. But even that drive took 5:25 to get through.
Wooldridge made it 14-3 at the end of the first quarter with a one-yard keeper up the middle for the touchdown.
Wake went 65 yards on its first drive of the second quarter, on 10 plays. The touchdown drive was aided by Louisiana’s Tyrone Lewis being called for targeting on a reception by Taylor Morin. That penalty was pretty clear. But it was the first of a staggering four targeting calls by the ACC officiating crew against Louisiana, resulting in four players being ejected at various points during the game.
Running back Tate Carney finished the drive with a one-yard run to close the gap to 14-10.
Louisiana answered with a 75-yard drive just picking apart the soft underbelly of the Wake defense. Wooldridge picked up 57 yards passing on the drive, including a fade to the left side of the end zone to Lance Legendre for a 21-10 lead.
Ragin Cajuns Picking Up Big Chunks of Yards
Wake had one more response before the end of the first half. Bachmeier needed only 57 seconds to go 80 yards. He hit Deuce Alexander on a three-yard touchdown pass to make it 21-17 at the half.
The Demon Deacons were clearly in it, but the defense giving up nearly 13 yards per completion to Wooldridge.
Louisiana got a 50-yard field goal from Kenneth Almendares to make it 24-17. Wake again had a response. On fourth and one from their own 40-yard line, the play call was a handoff to Claiborne…the guy who had been carted off in the first half. All he did was burst down the right sideline for a 60-yard touchdown run to tie it at 24-24.
But for all the offense that was there, the defense was getting picked apart. On a blown coverage play in the secondary, Wooldridge completed a 48-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Legendre for the 31-24 advantage.
Staying Close
Bachmeier was in his own rhythm. He was five for five passing in a drive that went 75 yards in 13 plays to tie it at 31-31 with 39 seconds left in the quarter.
The fourth quarter brought the Bachmeier pass that Fields could not haul in. Tyree Skipper came away with it at the Wake 38-yard line. A few plays later and a two-yard run by Bill Davis and the Ragin Cajuns were back in front 38-31.
Wake moved 80 yards and used up 6:06 off the clock while being helped by another targeting call. Carney finished the drive with a one-yard run up the middle for the touchdown that tied it at 38.
Almendares kicked a 31-yard field goal with 52 seconds left in the game for the 41-38 Louisiana lead.
Bachmeier showed some of the best play he has had all year. He moved the team 51 yards in six plays. He threw for 28 yards and scrambled out of a sack for another eight yards. Throw in 15 yards for a roughing the passer penalty and Wake was at the Louisiana 32-yard line for a field goal that would send the game into overtime.
These Are The Things That Happen
These are the kinds of kicks that struggling teams have hit the uprights. Teams that are winning split the uprights.
“We’re struggling right now,” Clawson said after the game. “Like I told the team, when you’re in this position all you can do is go back to work.”
