With 16 days between games, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons can either linger over the painful loss to NC State a week ago Thursday. Or they can review the tapes, learn from them, and try to regroup before facing the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets next weekend. Two things seem to be certain at this point. GA Tech is the best team Wake will have faced so far this season. And Wake Forest needs more than just minor adjustments to compete in that game. So, what is Wake Forest doing with its bye week?
Wake Forest Bye Week
Wake’s Self-Analysis
As Jake Dickert met with the media this week, it seems as though the offense is going to look at least slightly different. “I think we were trying to do a little too much on offense. We’ve got to simplify our reads,” Dickert said this week. He said that with extra days that come from playing a Thursday night game and then having the bye week, there have been extra days of self-evaluation for players and coaches alike. He added that they are going to be paring things down in the run game to simplify the looks for Demond Claiborne. The senior running back had 12 carries for only 35 yards and one touchdown against NC State.
His assessment of the quarterback play of Robby Ashford is that he has been “Pretty efficient,” and that the decision-making has been “Pretty good.” The transfer from South Carolina is throwing at a 63% completion rate for 697 yards. But he has only one passing touchdown against three interceptions.
The coach said the vibe from the first few days of practice since the film evaluations has been highly competitive. “Especially at the receiver position. Besides Chris Barnes and some periods of Micah Mays and Sterling [Berkhalter], it hasn’t been good enough.”
60 Minutes of Football
Dickert said the issues have been when the team gets penalties and puts itself in third-and-long situations. It’s showing late in games. Through three games, Wake Forest has scored exactly zero points in the fourth quarter this season. And the Demon Deacons are tied for 81st in the country, meaning they are in the bottom half of all FBS schools, when it comes to penalties, with 19 of them over three games. And to Dickert’s point about that making it more difficult for his team as it gets to third and long, Wake is converting on only 38% of third down opportunities, making them 85th in the country.
On the other side of the ball, he is pleased with the defense for the most part, but is visualizing the next step for the unit. “We’ve got one of the best explosive-play rates in the country of not giving them up. We’ve got to lean into that and not press.” He said the process from there is doing better at getting off the field on third down. North Carolina State was six of 13 on third down conversions and two for two on fourth downs against Wake Forest last week.
The Coach Says They Don’t Suck
And the conclusions from this self-reflection, as Wake sits at 2-1 on the season? Dickert opted for the broad picture narrative. “We were picked 15th [in the conference pre-season poll]. We were 4-8 [in 2024]. And we lost 18 starters, right? And this is where we’re at against a team that’s been there for 13 years. We had them against the ropes. We had a terrible [second] half of football. Credit to them. But I’m really encouraged today. And I was really encouraged after the game, watching the film, and I’m still really encouraged. We were left for dead, and we were supposed to suck. And we don’t.”
There probably won’t be t-shirts with that motto, but part of the challenge is something Dickert said earlier in the press gaggle. “I think it says a little bit about the identity of our team that we’re still trying to find it, just a touch.”
Part of what is clear so far is that it is a different Wake team in the second half, and in the fourth quarter in particular. And that’s not good. “We need to be better responders. I think that’s the biggest thing I took away from it [the film] as a team. And that’s what we didn’t do in the second half. We didn’t respond as a collective, myself included.”
Fixing the Mental Part of the Game
During the off week, Dickert has also addressed the mental make-up of the team, coming off a loss that didn’t have to happen. “Winning is a mentality, too,” he said. “I think it’s just understanding that it isn’t just getting out and feeling good and thinking you’re just going to just automatically take somebody down. You’ve got to earn it.”
Dickert said the defense was trying to do too much late in the game, and said the players were “straining.”
Sixteen days may feel like a long time off. But that is a lot to have to fix in that timeframe and still get ready for a Georgia Tech that is going to test every element of your defense. Dickert has spent a lot of time focusing on the Yellowjackets quarterback, Haynes King. More on that during game week. Right now, Wake’s mission is learning how to take the competitive flow from the first half and make it last for 60 minutes.
Main Image: Luke Jamroz-Imagn Images
