Early season conference games can be tricky. They are even more so when the program on the other side of the field bears a striking resemblance to your own. The Virginia Cavaliers visit Winston-Salem Saturday night to play Wake Forest. Demon Deacons head coach Dave Clawson says the two teams are very comparable.
Virginia is 1-0 coming off a three-touchdown win over FCS opponent Richmond. The Demon Deacons are also 1-0 after a home win over FCS’ North Carolina A&T. That’s not the similarity Clawson was talking about. But more on that in a moment.
The Quarterback Question
The news, if you can call it that, from Clawson’s weekly press conference, was that Hank Bachmeier will be the starting quarterback Saturday. While this had to be expected by most, it still warranted the announcement Tuesday as the depth chart still has that “or” in there at the position with both Bachmeier and Michael Kern listed.
Bachmeier was 19 of 29 throwing for 265b yards, three touchdowns, and no turnovers in the win Saturday. Kern was five of eight for 57 yards. Clawson, as he did immediately following the game, said Kern did not get enough of an opportunity to show his wares Saturday. NC A&T dominated the time of possession so Kern did not have as many series as the coaching staff wanted. Clawson still wants to get Kern his reps, but someone has to start and Bachmeier moved the offense.
“We don’t necessarily have a pre-determined plan,” Clawson told the media. “But we’d like to get Michael in there. After one game against an FCS team, I’m not ready to declare this (the quarterback competition) over. But Hank played really well.” Clawson said the offense had a certain rhythm to it when Bachmeier was in the game.
Look in the Mirror
In terms of the Cavaliers, Clawson said, “I just view this as kind of like two similar teams that maybe didn’t have the season they wanted a year ago. We lost, last year, three games by five points or less. They lost four games by three points or less.” He added that both teams have a wealth of starters back and then characterized this as a big game for both programs.
Independent of any insights as to what Clawson said, Virginia head coach Tony Elliott expressed similar thoughts. He rattled off a list of comparable elements between the two teams. “For us, I think it’s a program type of game because we get to evaluate where we are (from a comparison standpoint). They play extremely hard. They’re very, very well coached. The guys have a lot of confidence. And they understand the identity of who they are. And those are all things we’re trying to establish,” he said at his weekly press conference Tuesday.
Elliott even went so far as to say he looks to Clawson’s tenure as a head coach and at Wake Forest as a model. “Ever since I stepped into this role, I tell you, Dave Clawson’s been awesome. Just to watch his leadership at the coaches’ level in the ACC with the way he conducts himself.”
The Needs for Saturday
Wake got off to a slow start against A&T, even being down 10-7 at one point in the first half. Clawson said the Demon Deacons will need to get off to a better start Saturday. “It was far from the clean game we wanted to play. And we need to get better in a hurry with Virginia coming to town.”
Virginia returns 16 starters on offense and defense. That includes quarterback Anthony Colandrea. He threw for just under 2,000 yards last season as a sophomore. He also had 13 touchdowns against nine interceptions. Last week against Richmond, he was 17 of 23 for 297 yards and two touchdowns. Clawson said what makes Colandrea dangerous is his propensity to use his legs. He added a rushing touchdown to his numbers last week to go with 50 yards on 11 carries.
“Some of their biggest plays are him scrambling around,” Clawson said. “They’ll do a lot of designed runs with him. They love the stretch play.” Clawson said defending that style of quarterback creates unique challenges. “It’s tricky. You’ve got to have your eyes in the right place. You’ve got to be able to have an inside quarterback player and an outside quarterback player. And even if you do that, he can make you miss.”
The Virginia Defense
The Cavaliers’ defense was also a huge factor in the win over Richmond. Virginia had seven tackles for loss and held the Spiders to 100 passing yards. Most of the front seven from last year is also back, while they hit the transfer portal to shore up the secondary.
Elliott talked about how his defense is going to have to be disciplined against Wake’s slow mesh offense. “This week the game is going to be won in the trenches,” he said Tuesday. “We’re going to have to be much more disruptive. We’ve got to find a way to get to the quarterback when they do drop back.”
One More Personnel Matter
One “or” was removed from this week’s depth chart, at the wide receiver position. Donavon Greene will be back in the starting lineup. He was limited in his snaps last week because of missing so much of Fall camp with nagging injuries. Last week he had three catches for 72 yards and a touchdown.
