The Demon Deacons head to Raleigh this weekend. Wake Forest desperately needs to stop its three-game skid against in-state rival North Carolina State.
The Wolfpack are 3-2 overall and 0-1 in ACC play. They are coming off a seven-point win over the same Northern Illinois team that beat Notre Dame earlier this year. Their conference loss was a walloping at the hands of Clemson a couple of weeks ago. They also have a 41-point loss to Tennessee in week one of the season.
Hitting the Road
Wake Forest is reeling. The Deacs started the season with their annual win over an FCS team (North Carolina A&T), and then lost by one point to Virginia and three points to Louisiana, with a 34-point beating by Ole Miss sandwiched in between. And all of those games were in the friendly confines of Allegacy Stadium in Winston-Salem. Now it is time for the always hostile crowd in Raleigh.
Wake head coach Dave Clawson has joked over the years that he likes the game in Raleigh because the Wolfpack fan base has a creative list of nicknames for him, with very few of them being printable in a family publication.
But even with the jokes, the sting of two losses by a total of four points is clear. “We’re six points away from feeling good about our season,” Clawson said at his weekly press conference this week. “When the season started, I told our football team that I thought we would probably have eight to 10 one-score games this year. And that our success would be how we do in those close games. Right now we’re oh for two.”
Defensive Woes
The too-easy answer is that the defensive secondary is getting beat…not deep so much, but giving up chunk plays of 12-15 yards routinely. But it is rarely as simple as it looks in the moment. Last Saturday after the game, Clawson said he was having a hard time saying any position on the defense was playing particularly well. The front seven was not getting a consistent pass rush, and the secondary was getting lost in coverage.
This week, when asked if that was still his assessment, he adjusted, if only slightly. “Our guys are playing hard,” he told us this week. He said there were a couple of losses last year where he did not feel his team had made the effort. “I think our football team is giving us everything they have.”
The Wake Forest offense is 28th in the country in yards per game. Quarterback Hank Bachmeier is in the top 15 in the country in passing yards per game. Running back Demond Claiborne had to look at a kneecap that was in the wrong place in the second quarter Saturday night, only to come back in the second half and bust off a 60-yard touchdown run.
The challenge is with the defense. The Deacs are 105th in the country in rush defense, 122nd in the country in pass defense, and 107th in the country in scoring defense. Assuming the effort that Clawson is giving his players credit for, not much else is working.
The Secondary
Last Saturday, defensive back Nick Anderson indicated there was a problem with the overall structure in the secondary. “We had a little discrepancy getting the signal again,” he said after the loss.
Clawson was asked about the specifics on Tuesday. “It’s been an ongoing issue,” Clawson answered. “I can’t tell you how many times we address it. I can’t tell you all the different things we have done to emphasize it.” And yet the issues still aren’t fixed. Clawson repeated his regular unease over the lack of cohesion in the secondary. Malik Mustapha and Caelen Carson are in the NFL and DaShawn Jones is at Alabama. Clawson speaks with a sense of both certainty and resignation when he asserts he thought he would have two of the three players back this season.
He has also asserted that it was tough trying to get a secondary out of the portal with a limited Collective budget. Thus it is what it is and the coaching staff has the onus of trying to develop the players who are there into a cohesive unit.
Coaches always try to pass on respectful comments about various positions and players on the opposing team as they meet with the media the week of the game. NC State Dave Doeren was complimentary of many Wake position groups even if he couldn’t come up with the names of the players. Not so mysteriously, the defensive secondary was not among the groups he had out compliments to.
NC State’s Offense
NC State’s own passing offense is lagging behind. The Wolfpack is 93rd in the country at 199 yards per game. It’s the second consecutive year NC State has hit the portal looking for a field general, and the second straight year it has not gone well for them. Last year it was transfer Brennan Armstrong who got hurt. M.J. Morris replaced him and then pulled himself out after four games to maintain his redshirt year.
This year, Doeren got Grayson McCall from Coastal Carolina. McCall was hurt in the third game of the season. He has been replaced by freshman C.J. Morris. He is completing 65% of his passes but for limited yards so far. He has two touchdowns and two interception passing.
If there is an opening for the NC State offense, it is this week. “K.C.” Concepcion is considered one of the more talented wideouts in the ACC, and he is going up against a beleaguered Wake secondary.
Personnel
As the weeks go on, who is, and is not available is always a topic. NC State will be without defensive lineman Red Hibbler. He is sitting out the rest of the year after playing in four games so that he can redshirt and go in the portal in the off-season. He was one the team leaders in sacks in 2023 but has mostly been a non-factor this season.
Clawson said Clairborne is probable for the game. After his touchdown run last week, he sat out most of the second half because the injured knee was sore. But he is expected to play this week. Receiver Donavon Greene and defensive back Capone Blue were considered doubtful as of Tuesday.
Doing Their Part
Both schools put together donation efforts for those in western North Carolina who have been hit hard by Hurricane Helene. Clawson used his weekly radio show Wednesday as a drop-off point for donations.
The family of NC State defensive lineman Davin Vann owns a moving company. They have spent this week collecting donations of non-perishable food, toiletries, paper products, blankets, and more. They will be using their large-moving trucks to take them up to victims in the impacted areas. There will be drop-off locations outside the stadium Saturday for anyone attending the game who wishes to donate.
