A couple of streaks remained alive after Clemson’s 49-14 win at Wake Forest Saturday afternoon, and neither of them are good. The Tigers have now beaten the Demon Deacons 16 consecutive years. And Wake Forest now has lost the last 66 games against Top-10 opponents. The post-game press conference room was a mix of reality and somberness. Let’s hear what Wake Forest said after the Clemson loss.
Dave Clawson
It’s never easy for a coach to come in and talk about how his team lost a conference game by 35 points. But that’s the job. And Clawson was very matter-of-fact about what happened Saturday. “Against Clemson, you’ve got to play really well. Those two turnovers that led to touchdowns in the first half really put us in a deep hole. And they’re a really good program. So, we know when we play them there is a small margin of error,” he said after the game. Later he added, “We ran into a really good football team today and we were, you know, not up for the challenge across the board.”
Clemson put up 566 yards of total offense against Wake. And quarterback Cade Klubnik was 31 of 41 for 309 yards and three touchdowns. And as easy as it has been to point fingers at the defensive secondary, there are enough issues to go around when it comes to the defense. Wake only sacked Klubnik once the entire game. Wake is tied for 109th in the country in sacks averaging only 1.2 per game. Klubnik had free reign in the backfield for much of the game. That puts more weight on a secondary that is already undermanned.
The Secondary
The secondary was already thin this year and then with transfer Capone Blue missing time because of injuries, it gets even more so.
Clawson has harkened back to Malik Mustapha and Caelen Carson both leaving for the NFL in January. And there was the surprise transfer of DaShawn Jones leaving for Alabama in the Spring portal. There was also the loss of Travon West to a broken leg. The staff was counting on West to add depth.
When addressing the issues in the defensive backfield Clawson asked that the answer be reported with context. He has brought up the subject in five of the last six weekday or postgame press conferences. Ok. Here is the context. He was asked if there is enough talent to “backfill” some of the positions and develop some players who can eventually become contributors. That is the context.
Money and the Secondary
“It is really difficult to fix those problems without money,” he said. “There was a lot of players that we tried to recruit, that we wanted, that we couldn’t afford.” He added, “We went into the year knowing that was a concern.”
He put some of the onus on the coaches. “We’ve got to take the players we have and make them better. That’s our job as coaches.” But he promptly added, “This has become a payroll sport.” As for his role, “It [the departures] happened months ago. I understand it’s my job to fix it. I accept responsibility for that. But there is a reality to this in college football 2024.”
There are a lot of questions that can get into further conversation on this. Very few of them are going to lead to positive answers for Wake Forest. The repeating of the topic between reporters and Clawson gets to the same point each time. He says he needs more money. But there is no currently visible path to get it considering the constraints that come with life at Wake Forest.
Coaching the Secondary
So then he was asked, by acknowledging that the current lineup has been in place for the most part since Summer, and it is now October, how do you grade the coaching staff in the development of the secondary? “There’s not grades. There’s a record. We’re 2-4. So right now I’m a 2-4 head coach this year. Our assistant coaches are 2-4 assistant coaches. And our program is a 2-4 football team,” he responded. “At the end of the day, we have to get those guys ready to play at a high level. That’s our job. But there’s also a lot that goes into that.”
Kevin Pointer
Clemson outscored Wake Forest 28-7 in the second quarter. The defensive lineman was asked about the shift in momentum. “It was the momentum with the turnovers. I was seeing a lot of people on the sidelines getting down,” he said. “I was trying to get them up and tell them it ain’t over yet.” He added that the defensive line needs to do a better job of getting to the quarterback to help the entire defense.
Dylan Hazen
The linebacker was asked about how the production from the different positions led to where Wake is right now. Clawson had described Saturday as “Dying a slow death.” Hazen said, “There’s going to be aspects of the defense that can always get improved upon. But at the end of the day, we’re a team, and we go down as a team, we win as a team. We’re not going to put the blame on anyone. It wasn’t the DBs that lost today. It was also the defensive line and the linebackers. And It was a team effort today.”
Hank Bachmeier
Clawson surprised the media by acknowledging the starting quarterback had been injured the week before against North Carolina State. So, in the third quarter when Bachmeier came up hobbling after a sack. With Clemson having a commanding lead, the coach pulled him.
Bachmeier was not inclined to get into any specifics on his injury. “Regardless of how I feel, I’ve got to play better.”
Clemson scored off both of Bachmeier’s interceptions in the second quarter, helping the Tigers get to that 28-7 advantage in the period. Bachmeier said he was pressing to make up for the mistakes. He used the analogy of a pitcher giving up a home run. “I didn’t ever feel that [pressing]. You’ve got to just keep moving forward. You’ve got to move the ball. I’ve got to play better and I did not do that.”
He was aware of the impact of the interceptions. “They’re a very good football team and you can’t give them a short field like that.”
Bachmeier said he would take his Saturday evening, as he usually does after a game, walking his Great Pyrenees dog, Harley, as a form of meditation and clearing his head in order to get ready to play at UConn next week. The walks do seem to be a little longer after a loss.
