“Self-Awareness Week” for Wake Forest football has come to an end, as the prep work goes full speed ahead for the SMU game this Saturday.
Don’t look for Self-Awareness Week on the school calendar. The name for the bye week is the creation of head coach Jake Dickert. “We’ve got to be man enough to look at what we do well, what we don’t do well, and go out there and attack those solutions,” he told the media at his weekly press conference on Monday.
Wake Forest Self-Awareness Week Leads to SMU Prep
Wake is 4-2 on the season and 1-2 in conference play, while SMU comes in at 5-2 overall. The Mustangs are also now one of three prohibitive front-runners in the ACC race at 3-0. The two losses came early in the season to Baylor and TCU.
After getting the anticipated win at Oregon State two weeks ago, the bye week was spent with a mix of giving players some needed time off (they do not have another off week the rest of the season) and fixing particular parts of their game. “Our guys have been working their tail off the last week, and they’re going to take another step forward,” Dickert said.
Controlling the Controllables
He added that it was a mix of fixing what needs work, but also getting better at the parts of the game that are going well. “I think it’s easy to point to some of the negative.” It took him no time to include the Deacs’ performance in the red zone. There has also been a significant lack of production on third down throughout the season. Wake is only converting on 37% of third downs for the season. That is 94th in the country. It is only 28% over the last two games. The two issues point in a fixable direction for Dickert. “We’re not quite finishing blocks, to I think the standard of what we’re capable of on the perimeter and in the interior.”
Defensively, the Deacs are now ranked 32nd in the country in total defense. Still, Dickert found room for improvement there as well. “Too many penalties that have led to explosive plays,” he said. “When you get four roughing the quarterbacks, those are 15-yard explosive play penalties. And teams are capitalizing on that from us.”
Perspective on the Defense
For whatever needed improvements Dickert sees for his defense, there is an admirer on the other side of the field. SMU head coach Rhett Lashlee had high praise for the Wake Forest defense during his weekly press conference. “What they’re doing is really good. They’re really good on defense. They’re one of the best in the country against the pass.” He also had thoughts on what Wake Forest looks like under the guidance of Dickert. “They probably play harder, or as hard, as any team we’ve played since we’ve been here.” To quantify that, Lashlee is in his fourth year at SMU. “That just speaks to that they believe in their head coach and their staff and what they’re doing.”
Quarterback Questions
Both teams have a quarterback who is less than 100% healthy right now. SMU’s Kevin Jennings has been battling a recurring ankle injury for several weeks. Through a lot of limping, he threw at a 54% completion rate for 290 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception in the 35-24 win at Clemson last week. Dickert compared Jennings to a quarterback he coached at Washington State. “Actually reminds me a little of Cam Ward,” Dickert said in bringing up last year’s Heisman Trophy finalist. “Plays tremendous off script. Flicks the ball to find guys late and makes big, explosive plays. Really athletic on the perimeter.”
Meanwhile, the quarterback position is still a question mark for Wake. Robby Ashford did not play in the win in Corvallis two weeks ago. In his place, Deshawn Purdie went 14 of 27 for 270 yards and four touchdowns.
Ashford got eased back into limited reps last week. Dickert said Ashford would be practicing this week, but was noncommittal when it came to who his starting quarterback will be come Saturday.
Expectations
The line has SMU as a three-and-a-half-point favorite. But Lashlee doesn’t see it that way. The Mustangs play top 10 Miami next week, but says Lashlee, “That game’s not any bigger than this one.” He said if SMU gets ahead of itself, the groundwork is there to get beat by Wake Forest. “They [Wake Forest] had the number seven team in the country beat,” Lashlee said. “They’re at home. It’s pretty much a pick ‘em game because they’ve earned that. They’re a really good football team.”
Time Well Spent
Wake has now had its two bye weeks and will have six consecutive games to finish out the regular season. Dickert said he gave the players some downtime over the weekend for having what he called “Purposeful rest.”
Dickert’s self-awareness led him to admit that he is bad at having downtime. He laughed at admitting how he spent some of his weekend. “We got some pumpkins carved on Sunday. That was a big deal,” he said. “I’m the best there is at taking the guts out and finding the seeds,” he quipped. “But my mind was firmly on what this team needs to do to keep getting better.”
Main Image: Grace Sorrells (Shot with Grace)
