In some ways, it seems like it was not that long ago that Wake Forest won three of four games, was sitting at 4-4 overall, and had visions of bowl games dancing in their collective heads. And then the last two weeks happened and unceremoniously popped that bubble of hopes and dreams. After back-to-back to losses, the Deacs are now 4-6, and facing a top-10 Miami team on the road next. As we do every week, it is time to check in on what Wake Forest had to say, this time after a loss at North Carolina.
The Demon Deacons had nine penalties for 90 yards Saturday night in Chapel Hill. UNC had one more penalty, but when your miscues don’t cost you the game like they did for Wake, folks tend to overlook those numbers.
Dave Clawson
Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson was left to wonder about his veteran team’s play. “They play so hard and give such great effort and they never quit,” Clawson said after the game. “But the execution and the details and all those things is just not anywhere close to where it needs to be in order to be a good football team.”
Clawson commented on how disciplined play and a lack of mistakes were a hallmark of his Wake Forest teams not that long ago. “Right now, two years in a row, and the last two weeks in a row, we’re not taking care of the football. We have a lot of penalties. And it’s hard for any team to overcome that.”
The Demon Deacons had five first-half penalties, four by the offensive line for things like false starts and snap infractions. “These are guys that have played a lot of football,” he said noting the number of years his offensive linemen have been around. “At times I don’t think we grasp the details of what it takes to win a football game like that.”
The Mistakes
UNC also scored 14 points off Wake’s three second-half turnovers. One of those came off a Michael Kern interception on a pass that was intended for Horatio Fields and was seemingly thrown behind him. Here was Clawson’s analysis of the play. “Horatio didn’t run the right route. But one thing you do as a quarterback is if the receiver doesn’t run the right route, you don’t ever reward him with the football.” Of Kern, Clawson said, “We love him, and he’s a great kid. He’s been here six years. But you can’t make those plays.”
“A lot of the things that happened today were controllable,” Clawson said of the Wake Forest mistakes. “ He called some of the mistakes, “Lack of focus errors.”
Two weeks ago Clawson described his team as ascending. Now it has lost back-to-back winnable games. He was asked Saturday if it can still be an ascending team. He paused before answering. “I do think we go into every game, as opposed to last year, feeling like we have a chance just because we are capable of moving the ball and scoring points.” Clawson said what continues to be missing is a 60-minute complete game. “We have flashes of playing well.”
Jasheen Davis
Even with the career high in rushing yards by UNC’s Omarion Hampton, the Wake Forest defense UNC to 362 total net yards. But Davis was not blaming the mistakes by the offense for the loss. “Ultimately it’s a team sport. There’s things we can do better in order to elevate our game. At the end of the day, you’ve just got to shake this one off,” the defensive lineman said after the game.
Michael Kern
The backup quarterback went from the highs to the lows all in one half of football. When he came in for the injured Hank Bachmeier early in the third quarter, he led a 75-yard touchdown drive. And then he had three turnovers, (two interceptions and a lost fumble), which proved to be costly for the Demon Deacons.
“There’s balls I didn’t have to force,” he said after the game. “Our defense was playing so good. They really kept us in the game, even with the turnovers. I really didn’t have to force any of those balls. I could have just let the game come to me.”
Branson Combs
On having to face Hampton, who finished the day with 35 carries for 244 yards and a touchdown. “He’s a really good back. There’s no question about that. He can do it all. He’s tough to tackle. It takes two a lot. You tell on film that he’s really good, and you get on the field and he’s really good.”
Without pointing fingers at the offense, there was again the theme that even as Hampton had his yards, UNC scored 14 points off Wake’s turnovers. Combs would not say it, but the defense did a lot of its job, even holding UNC to 10 first-half points. “We found a way to get some stops tonight. I do think we did that. We try to do what we can to win,” he said.
