As any team\u2019s regular season ends, there is the inevitable review of the season just concluded. Any virtuous and sincere look back finds some positives mixed with negatives no matter the final outcome of the season. So where did Wake Forest\u2019s season go off the rails, (and yes, it did derail)?<\/p>\n
There are many in the fan base that are good with the team finishing the regular season 7-5. They have been around long enough to remember the days when a seven-win season was a celebratory event. But head coach Dave Clawson<\/strong> raised the bar with last year\u2019s 11-3 season. The team proved that success at a high level is possible. The question then is more about if it is sustainable. Clawson has spoken often about the new level of expectations that he has for the program and that should be embraced throughout the school.<\/p>\n In the days to come, Wake Forest will find out which bowl game it is going to for the holidays. The Demon Deacons will go bowling with a 3-5 conference record and a 6th-place finish in the ACC Atlantic Division. The school will appropriately include in its media releases that this is the seventh consecutive year Wake has earned a bowl game. Ironically, during that seven-year stretch, this will be the fourth time Wake Forest is playing in a bowl game with a losing conference record.<\/p>\n Therein lies some of the rub with the expectations. It was just over a month ago, October 22nd<\/sup> to be exact, that Wake Forest was sitting at 6-1 and ranked in the top 15 in the country, depending upon the poll. But whether it was at that pinnacle of 6-1 or the season nadir of being 7-5 after the loss at Duke, there is a little mirage built into the won-loss dynamic. Four of the wins came against an inarguably meager out-of-conference schedule. There was FCS-level VMI. There was a road game at Vanderbilt. While much was promoted about playing on the road in the SEC, it is still Vanderbilt with an administration that historically doesn\u2019t care enough about the program to give it proper funding or facilities.<\/p>\n There was a too-close-for-comfort win against Liberty. The Flames are the closest thing to a strong non-conference opponent on Wake\u2019s schedule. They finished 8-4 and are losing their head coach, Hugh Freeze, to Auburn. Then there was Army, which is 5-6 as it awaits its season finale against Navy. The four wins were fine, but realistically anything less than four wins with that schedule would have been unacceptable. The combined record of the four out-of-conference opponents sits at 19-27.<\/p>\n And that gets us to the conference part of the schedule. The zenith of that part of the schedule is debatable. Was it a double-overtime loss to perennial power Clemson in a game that had people hoping Wake could play with the elites? Or was it the win over Florida State? The team had to juggle its attention as Hurricane Ian was bearing down on parts of Florida. As late as Monday night of game week, the team hotel in Tallahassee was advising Wake Forest that there were no backup generators, and it could be without power during their stay.<\/p>\n The downsides were obvious. There was the lambasting in Louisville with an epic third-quarter meltdown, and the loss at NC State thanks to the Wolfpack\u2019s masterful defense. The three-game losing streak concluded the next week with a home loss to Coastal Division champ North Carolina.<\/p>\n The upside pitch on the three conference wins is that those schools combined for a winning record of 19-17. The combined record of the five ACC teams that beat Wake? 42-18. That could be taken as a sign that the Demon Deacons could handle the lesser of the teams on the schedule, but the more successful programs were too big of a hill to climb, at least this year.<\/p>\n And why was it so hard this season? From Spring camp, all the way to the start of the season, this team was touted for its experience and its veteran leadership. The numbers were put together to show that the offensive line had hundreds of games under its collective belt. The quarterback spot was being manned by the true rarity in the sport\u2026a fifth-year player who spent all of his years with one program. The defense had a load of returning talent from last year\u2019s divisional championship team. So how did 7-5 happen?<\/p>\n After the loss at Duke Saturday, Clawson had specific thoughts about the defense. \u201cIt\u2019s been our Achille\u2019s heel all year, our inability to defend the deep ball,\u201d he said. Indeed, Saturday\u2019s loss was a microcosm of the season with blown assignments on defense, being unable to contain a dual-threat quarterback, and giving up the big yardage plays. On one fourth-quarter drive, Duke had it first and 20 twice and got the first down both times. Defenses that know how to close the deal don\u2019t give that up.<\/p>\n Clawson expanded on his thoughts on the defensive issues. \u201cOur play on the perimeter all season has been a problem,\u201d he said. \u201cWe got a lot better defending the run. But we\u2019ve given up too many big plays and they are all in the passing game.\u201d He took responsibility. \u201cThat\u2019s a problem and when it doesn\u2019t get fixed, you know, to me, that is on me.\u201d<\/p>\n Any coach is going to take the blame when things go wrong. But a lot of the off-season focus was on the defense. New defensive coordinator Brad Lambert<\/strong> was brought in from Purdue. He brought new linebacker coach Glenn Spencer<\/strong> and safeties coach James Adams<\/strong>. Lambert had the quantifiable results at Purdue with the #40 overall defense in the country. So, what wasn\u2019t working at Wake? Yes, there were key players missing at the end. But as Clawson said Saturday, by week 12 of the season, every team is missing key players with injuries.<\/p>\nRiding High<\/h3>\n
Things Get Real In Conference Play<\/h3>\n
Getting To The Root Of The Problems<\/h3>\n
Plenty Of Responsibility To Go Around<\/h3>\n