If it seems like a long time since Wake Forest last played a game, that’s because it has been. When last we saw the Demon Deacons, it was two Thursdays ago, and they were losing at home to North Carolina State on the back of an empty offense in the second half. Now Wake has to face a super potent offense in Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon.
Wake Has to Face A Super Potent Offense
The Matchup
The Yellow Jackets are 4-0 on the season and 1-0 in ACC play, having contributed to the current misery at Clemson. GA Tech is averaging 38 points per game and putting up 492 yards of offense per game.
That is certainly going to challenge a Wake Forest defense that has been giving up 317 yards per game, in route to the 2-1 record. The GA Tech offense clearly has the attention of Wake Forest head coach Jake Dickert. “One of the biggest things I look for when looking at an opponent is their identity. And it screams off of the table,” Dickert said in referring to GA Tech earlier this week. “It’s physicality and toughness. And it’s all over the film. It’s the way they play.”
GA Tech’s Challenging Offense
The Yellowjackets’ offense will be unlike anything else Wake sees the rest of the season. It’s a spread RPO that relies heavily on quarterback Haynes King running the ball and taking (and delivering) hits. It’s something that most teams shy away from in terms of the contact on their quarterback. But it is a huge part of that toughness and identity that Dickert referred to. He called King one of the best players in the country, and the quarterback’s coaches and teammates know who he is in terms of his physical and mental toughness, and they lean on it. “They play to his strengths consistently,” Dickert said earlier this week.
King is only averaging 22 passes per game because there is considerable balance between the passing game and the running game with him and Jamal Haynes. King has thrown for 515 yards and two touchdowns, while running for another 274 yards and three more touchdowns. The biggest thing King does is keep the ball moving downfield.
Dickert called the offensive schemes of GA Tech “Extremely crafty.” They use a lot of unbalanced formations and pre-snap motion. “They just found a lot of different and unique ways to get these guys the ball.” Dickert declared it to be “Formational wizardry.”
Wake’s Response
One of the bigger keys to the game for the Wake defense is for each player not to try to over-extend. Linebacker Dylan Hazen brought it up after the NC State loss. He said there were players on defense, reacting to the outside threat of Wolfpack quarterback CJ Bailey by trying to do too much instead of all 11 guys just handling their assignments. Dickert said this week that the players on defense need to have “Their eyes right,” and make the play in front of them instead of what Hazen had called “hero plays.”
GA Tech Preparations
That’s not to say that GA Tech head coach Brent Key does not have concerns of his own. He was very complimentary of the style of play from Wake Forest that he credits to Dickert. “The first thing that catches your eye is how they play. They play hard,” he said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
Typical of most opposing coaches, the first thing they notice on offense is Wake running back Demond Claiborne. After a huge game against Western Carolina (193 yards and three touchdowns), he had only 35 yards on 12 carries in the loss to NC State. That was just part of an entire meltdown for a Wake offense that managed only 44 total yards in the second half. It is part of what prompted Dickert to say the staff is re-examining the offense and the schemes in an effort to get the game plan back to basic fundamentals.
Key is impressed with Claiborne, no matter what the numbers say. “He can hit it from the tackles. He can bounce it outside, and he can make people miss.
If you really want to hear a compliment about another team, Dickert said Georgia Tech has the identity that he sees in the future in Winston-Salem. “I think they are more a little bit like our offense here, you know, maybe to the next degree of a fourth-year offense of where we would like to be and how multiple they are formationally.”
Personnel Changes
Defensive back Rushaun Tongue is out for the season. Wake does not disclose specifics on injuries, but Tongue has an arm/shoulder in a sling.
Receiver Chris Barnes has leapfrogged Carlos Hernandez on the depth chart for the week. Barnes has shown electric speed in the first three weeks. “You have to go out and earn it, and Chris has done just that.”
Main Image: Grace Sorrells (Shot with Grace)
