Wake Forest is 3-0 heading into Clemson week. Since that was the very attainable goal when the season started, all is seemingly in line. But Saturday’s one-point win over Liberty was not what it could have been. Don’t believe us? Ask the players and the coaching staff. There was a Wake Forest malaise that needs to be dealt with.
The media loves using the term “trap game.” It implies a purportedly easy game sandwiched between two more difficult ones, or two that are highlighted on the calendar. In literal terms, that doesn’t work here. There was not a case where Wake should not have throttled Vanderbilt two weeks ago. But, you could make a case that it was an SEC opponent on the road. It just requires that you forget that for however they started the season, Vanderbilt will still finish at or near the bottom of the SEC East.
But you could understand the Demon Deacons looking ahead to the Clemson game. It would mean they did not give the focus to Liberty that they should have, but it does happen.
Focus, Focus, Focus
At his weekly press conference last Tuesday, head coach Dave Clawson did not rely on the cliché of playing one game at a time. Kudos to Clawson for generally staying away from coaching cliches. But he did say there should be no overlooking Liberty. “Every game at the end of the year counts as one,” he said last Tuesday. “I’m not all about only the eight ACC games. The non-conference games are really important.”
It’s one thing for a coach to say it. It’s a whole other issue for the players to live it. And while Wake Forest is one of the most experienced teams in the country, after the 37-36 win Saturday, some of the Demon Deacons admitted to a less than stellar week of practice leading up to the Liberty game.
“We took them for granted a little bit,” defensive back Malik Mustapha said after the game Saturday night. “I can say that as me trying to be a leader on this team. Practice wasn’t the best this week. I felt we could have had more energy.”
Penalties, Penalties, Penalties
For whatever practice was during the week out of the prying eyes of the media, it led to a return to discipline issues on the field. A week after cleaning up the penalty issues that plagued them in the season opener, the Demon deacons saw a lot of laundry thrown their way again. Wake was flagged eight times for 70 yards. The Demon Deacons are 49th in the country in penalties after just three games this season. To rub salt in the wound, the NCAA has them with two more penalties than they actually have in the game-by-game stat lines. Penalties are just being assumed when it comes to Wake. They are 68th in the country in penalty yards assessed. The lack of consistently clean play is going to cost them when they play a good opponent.
Clawson was predictably not pleased with the penalties Saturday night. “Brutal. Just absolutely brutal,” he said after the game. “The amount of holds we had. Sometimes we can’t get out of our own way. Obviously, that’s on me. We did it one week, cleaned it up a little bit, and then it shows back up.”
Lack Of Sharpness
The penalties are a verifiable statistical sign of issues that need to be fixed. But there was a lack of overall sharpness. Starting quarterback Sam Hartman could not even manage a smile at the podium after the game, despite leading the team to his second win of the season. He gave himself a “D” grade for his performance. He was 26 of 44 for 325 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. The D-grade may have been a little harsh, but it was certainly less than has come to be expected from Hartman. The stat lines don’t tell the visuals of overthrowing open receivers, and that the two interceptions were poor passes. Hartman called the game a reality check for himself and the team.
The offensive line, when not holding, did not manage to open many holes for a viable running game. Wake Forest managed a net 21 yards rushing when factoring in Hartman being sacked three times. That also includes three other times running backs were caught behind the line of scrimmage.
Assuming You Are All That
Mustapha said after the game that there was a sense during the week of practice that Liberty was, “Just a Group of Five team that we were going to handle.”
Linebacker Ryan Smenda said, “A team with some hype got humbled.” He had advice for his teammates. “If we don’t bring that energy to practice in the week, don’t expect to show up on Saturday or whenever you play, don’t expect to have a clean game.” He said, like Mustapha, he could see the energy level not being what it should have been during the week. “You know, we thought we were just going to walk in here and beat the brakes off of them, and that wasn’t the case.”
Looking For The Heat
The defense gave up over 470 yards of offense to Liberty. Yet, it was the defense that saved the game in the final quarter. Mustapha forcing the fumble from Liberty quarterback Kaidon Salter, with Smenda picking it up and returning it to the one-yard line was huge. And there was the critical stop on Liberty’s two-point conversion that would have put the Flames up by a point with about two minutes left in the game.
The glass-is-half-empty view is going to be that Wake was about three yards away from a potential loss that never should have been. The glass-is-half-full crowd is going to say a defense that was rightfully maligned much of last year stepped up in the critical moments of the game. The reality is that there is a glass, and it has stuff in it, whether half empty or half full, and the team is 3-0 going into the Clemson game.
As Clawson said Saturday, “One of the signs of a good team is when you don’t have your fastball and you can still figure out a way to win. We found a way to win. Barely.” They didn’t have their fastball, and it seems to have been apparent in practice during the week that it was missing. But the curveball and the slider were good enough to get through Liberty. They are going to need to have the high heat for Clemson.
