Whatever momentum Wake Forest had toward a post-season berth came to a screeching halt Friday night at Allegacy Stadium. After winning three of four to climb back to a 4-4 overall record, the Demon Deacons got hit hard in a 46-36 loss to Cal. While the score may seem relatively close, the eye test says the game was not.
Cal quarterback Fernando Mendoza was 30 of 40 passing IN THE FIRST HALF. Even with the turnovers, the ineffective offense for much of the game, and a defense that was getting pushed around, the Deacs were in a position to tie or even win the game in the closing minutes. But a Hank Bachmeier interception ended that hope.
The Deacs are now 4-5 overall and must win two of the three remaining games (UNC, Miami, and Duke), to be bowl eligible.
Here is what Wake said after the loss to Cal.
Dave Clawson
His dissection of the game was clear and simple. “They outplayed us. We had a chance to win the game at the end. But I mean we got beat,” Clawson summarized after the game. He added, We never got into a rhythm on offense until the end. But still, if you have four turnovers you don’t deserve to win.” The word rhythm came up a lot in the post-game press conferences.
If you are looking for a more specific breakdown by unit, Clawson also gave us that. “We didn’t have any offensive balance. Our special teams today were awful. I mean we didn’t punt the ball. We didn’t kick the ball. We didn’t return the ball. I mean they completely outplayed us on special teams. On defense, we didn’t cover. They had almost 300 yards of passing in the first half.”
He called the result disappointing and said that nine games into the season there is no reason for the performance to be as sloppy as Friday night’s.
During the Q&A, Clawson was nudged to find something positive from being only three points down in the closing two minutes. He managed a bullet point or two. But then it was back to reality. “The whole game was disjointed. It was sloppy.”
Clawson credited Cal and head coach Justin Wilcox for the preparation through their bye week, and then coming across the country to make it work. Conversely, he took the blame for Wake’s bye-week prep. “I’ve got to look in the mirror. Obviously, I didn’t do a good job out of the bye week in getting these guys ready. I don’t think there is one position group on our whole football team that can say, ‘Hey, I did my job today.’”
Hank Bachmeier
The sixth-year quarterback had two touchdown passes and one rushing. But he also had three interceptions, including the one at the end that wrapped up the game for Cal. He was just as prepared as Clawson to shoulder the responsibility for the loss.
“I take ownership of this loss,” he said. He pointed to having the ball in his hands with the game on the line, which is what any quarterback wants. But the turnover was fatal for this game.
The word rhythm was there again. “We couldn’t get first downs early on. And they were scoring,” he said. “As an offense, you’ve got to get first downs. You’ve got to score points. And we couldn’t do that early on.”
Bachmeier was asked if he puts too much pressure on himself to make a significant play when the offense lags. “I think there’s a fine balance of pushing the envelope sometimes,” he answered. “I think for the most part I just try to do my job on each play.”
Going back to his time at Boise State, Bachmeier has had a periodic tendency to try to thread the needle with his passes, when the needle should have been left alone. At the end of Fall camp, he told a reporter that he felt comfortable he was past that. But the interception at the end of the game was thrown into double coverage. So in the post-game press conference, he was asked about that Fall camp conversation again. “He, [defensive back Liam Johnson], made a great play. I should have progressed [to a different throw] on that play. And yeah, there’s a fine concept of when to do that and when not to do that.”
Nick Anderson
The defensive back talked about the difficulty of defending a Cal offense that had 10 minutes more in time of possession than Wake Forest. “They presented a balanced offense,” he said. “You had to honor and try to stop the run game. And then they just kind of methodically went down the field.”
He said the slow start was troubling. “Coming off the bye week, the whole message was, you know, we’ve got to come out fast. We learned that the hard way in the Louisiana game.”
He also added a simple summation. “We didn’t play good football and they’re a good football team.”
Taylor Morin
He had extra unhappiness. Even with his nine catches for 110 yards, he was part of an offense that was sluggish and committed turnovers. He was also part of a special teams unit that had what Clawson called one of the worst performances for that unit in years.
“Quite frankly, they just outplayed us,” the sixth-year receiver said. “Coming out of a bye week, it’s all about who can get into a rhythm the fastest, and they did that.” Again, the word rhythm was front and center concerning the offense.
“It’s very frustrating. Especially at this point in the season too, right? It’s November. We’re supposed to be playing championship football and playing our best football of the year. But we came out and we sputtered.”
The Deacs must go 2-1 in the final three games to be bowl-eligible. They are on the road against UNC and Miami over the next two weeks before returning home for the regular season finale against Duke.
