There was a lot to say about the Wake Forest win over Delaware on Saturday. Based on the eyeball attendance figures, few saw it in person. Wake, of course, was already bowl eligible. And even though it was Senior Day for a class that is going to be difficult to replace, to some, it wasn’t as compelling as actual conference race games played elsewhere. But we have what Wake Forest said after the 52-14 win over Delaware.
What Wake Forest Said
Jake Dickert
Wake’s first-year head coach now has more wins in his inaugural season in Winston-Salem than anyone else in school history.
Even with the biggest margin of victory of the season, Dickert said this team is not a finished product. “The best is still out there. Big rivalry game to finish the season [at Duke on Saturday],” he said. “It was a big statement win on Senior Night and exactly what we thought we were capable of doing.”
The style of offense was aggressive. Dickert went for a two-point conversion in the first quarter. He went for it twice on fourth down early in the game. And of course, there was the 79-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Robby Ashford to receiver Carlos Hernandez in the closing moments of the first half. “We’re going to play that situation aggressively, thinking get a field goal,” Dickert said of the long throw that resulted in the touchdown. “We didn’t need to make a statement today. It was just about preparing our guys for situational football. We’re going to need that for the last two games.”
Dickert got emotional when talking about the seniors. Some transferred to Wake Forest to play for him when he took the job in mid-December. Others stuck it out for a final year at Wake after riding through years of ups and downs. The combination has the Deacs at 8-3 on the season. “A special group of men wanted it together, and they don’t care who gets the credit. It is an amazing group of guys, and I think that’s why I’m so proud to coach them.”
Robby Ashford
The senior transferred from South Carolina for his final college season. “It was very special for those guys who’ve been here,” he said. “I’ve been 5-7, 6-6, and it’s not a good feeling. So just to kind of see just how everybody rallied with each other, that’s just a blessing. I’m thankful for all these guys.” He added, “Just thank you to them for bringing me in and allowing me to be their quarterback, and to Wake Forest for allowing me to be their quarterback.”
As we noted in the post-game article, there was the oddity of the lateral play to receiver Chris Barnes. Ashford took the snap, then scrambled toward the line of scrimmage. Just before getting to the line, he turned and tossed a lateral pass to a clearly unsuspecting Barnes. The ball hit the ground and was live. Barnes had enough awareness to fall on it and save a field goal opportunity for Wake.
Dickert was asked if anything in that play was planned. He said Ashford won’t be doing that again. So we asked Ashford about it. “I ain’t gonna lie. I was trying to do a little too much,” he answered. “It didn’t end up costing us, so, but I don’t think I’ll be doing that again,” he said to a room full of laughs.
Quincy Bryant
The senior linebacker told us back in Fall camp that he, Nick Anderson, and a few others made a pact to come back for one more season. Bryant told us at the time that after back-to-back 4-8 seasons, the group of players felt they owed a better outcome to Wake Forest.
“It was nice to see we all stuck it through and we all knew we wanted to win here,” he said after the game. He said with players like Nick Anderson, Davaughn Patterson and Dylan Hazen coming back, they felt they would have an elite defense. “So far, I think we’ve kind of lived up to that standard we wanted to set.” Wake Forest went into Saturday’s game with the #24 team in the country in total defense. That was after back-to-back years of living in the 90s range.
“This is kind of what we dreamed of last December and January. Now we have three wins in November, which isn’t really normal since we’ve been here.”
Bryant said it didn’t hit him until Saturday morning that he would be playing his last home game for Wake Forest. He said he does not doubt that after the emotions of Senior Day and the win, the team can re-focus for the regular season finale at Duke on Saturday.
Carlos Hernandez
He had five catches for 197 yards and two touchdowns on Saturday. He said the team has found the key to success. “I think just finding our identity within the offense,” he said. “Figuring out who we are and what we can do. We can run the ball. We can pass the ball. So once we set that down as an offense, we’ve just got to do our job. Once we do our job, we get outcomes like this.”
Main Image: Wake Forest Athletics
