New head coach Jake Dickert uses the motto “Built in the dark” to describe the work ethic for Wake Forest. There were times in Friday night’s 10-9 home win over Kennesaw State when the game was being played in the dark. The Demon Deacons lost their star running back early and could have just as easily lost the game.
A Big Blow Early
The Wake offense was dormant for much of the game after losing star running back Demond Claiborne early in the first quarter. Claiborne had three carries for 19 yards but went to the locker room with what later was clearly a rib injury. He tried one more carry but then came off the field in clear pain. The loss of Claiborne exposed the Wake offense as unintentionally one-dimensional. Starting quarterback Robby Ashford struggled to have any substantive drives until late in the third quarter.
Dickert did what coaches do after a win like this. In the post-game press conference, he said he was proud of how his team came through the diversity. “We will be a better team eight days from now (the Western Carolina game) because we went through this.” He said later on, “We did enough to win a game.”
Both Teams Searching For A Flow
It wasn’t as it easy as that may have made it sound.
Wake scored a touchdown on its first drive of the game, going 75 in 14 plays with Ashford bouncing up the middle for the final five yards. The Demon Deacons had 105 total yards in the rest of the first half.
Kennesaw State was not exactly burning up the stat sheets. The Owls ran a very fast-paced offense, often using less than 10 seconds off the play clock. Early on, quarterback Dexter Williams II was finding sizeable gaps in the Wake pass defense between the linebackers and the secondary.
And then when KSU did go to the run, the fundamentals of the Wake defense were lacking. On third and six from the Wake 19, KSU running back bounced through the arm tackles of three defenders and ran it in for the touchdown. Britton Williams missed the PAT to make it 7-6, Wake.
In fact, if KSU had better place-kicking, the Owls likely would have put the game away. Williams also missed a 36-yard field goal before being replaced by Daniel Kinney.
Kennesaw State also suffered from lapses on offense. The fast pace was fine until the execution went south. Then the pace becomes quicksand.
Wake’s QB Challenges
With a 7-6 halftime lead for the Deacs, Ashford was 10 of 14 passing for 104 yards and the one rushing touchdown. With no star running back and no sign of being able to throw downfield, the offense struggled to find any rhythm.
Kennesaw capitalized on its own brief moments out of the offensive darkness. The Owls had three consecutive third-down conversions by running the ball to the edge. The 14-play, 64-yard drive resulted in a 29-yard field goal by Kinney to make it 9-7 KSU.
Ashford found his one big pass play of the night. In the closing minutes of the third quarter, he rolled to his right and found Karate Brenson behind defensive back Alex Ford for a 43-yard gain. The drive stalled inside the KSU 10-yard line. Connor Calvert connected on a 23-yard field goal for the 10-9 lead.
Wake Defense Takes Over
From there, the defense stiffened. KSU was held to one total net yard in the fourth quarter. Wake Forest was forced to punt the ball away with two minutes left in the game. KSU took over on its own 16 with no time outs left. They had three incomplete passes and a run for one yard. Wake Forest took over on downs, and three victory formation plays ended what was not pretty but counts the same in the win column.
Dickert gave his defense the credit for securing the win when the offense was not clicking. “I’m really proud of our defense for limiting explosive plays,” he said. “That isn’t just DBs. That’s everyone working together to out and do it.”
It Is What It Is
Wake finished with 348 yards of offense, while “holding” KSU to 308. Ashford finished the game 20 of 28 passing for 218 yards with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He had a net 42 yards rushing with one touchdown.
With the words of a coach who just escaped a game against a school that had only been in the FBS for one year before this, Dickert talked about his Deacs going in with one mission, and that was to win, so they accomplished the goal. That comes with the admission that there is far more to clean up over the next few days than they would have imagined already.
Claiborne’s status going forward is unclear. Dickert said the running back will go through more medical treatment overnight and be re-examined on Sunday.
Last Word will have more reaction to the game from players later this weekend.
Main Image: Grace Sorrells (Shot with Grace)
