Syracuse is 91st<\/sup> in the country at 348 yards per game. The season has been somewhat typical of recent years for the Orange. They started off 4-0 against a mostly inferior schedule. Then as they got into conference play, the injuries and the losses both mounted. Quarterback Garrett Shrader has been limited the last few weeks by a shoulder injury. Babers had been going to different variations of a Wildcat formation with running back LeQuint Allen<\/a> and converted tight end Dan Villari<\/a> taking a large portion of the snaps.<\/p>\n With the offense in a hole, the defense has done little to help the cause. Syracuse is 63rd<\/sup> in the country in total defense, giving up more yards than they gain. Thus, the losing six of the last seven.<\/p>\n Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson<\/strong> said Tuesday that the unknown of the Syracuse offense can be a challenge to prepare for. \u201cI really don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on with them at quarterback,\u201d he acknowledged. \u201cThey kind of broke out a lot of the wildcat stuff,\u201d he said referring to the sets with Allen and Villari. \u201cThey sometimes have a quarterback on the field. And they broke it out against Pitt and had a lot of success with it.\u201d He said his defense is preparing for two different quarterbacks and will adjust based on personnel they see from one play to the next.<\/p>\n Wake has its own issues to fix on offense. If being ranked 91st<\/sup> in the country, (Syracuse), is not good, it is still better than the Demon Deacons who are 107th<\/sup> in the country at 322 yards per game. Clawson replaced starting quarterback Mitch Griffis<\/strong> (who had been the ordained heir apparent to Sam Hartman<\/strong> going all the way back to Spring camp) with backup Michael Kern<\/a> last week. It will again be Kern in Syracuse on Saturday.<\/p>\n Clawson is also having to dig deep into what is vexing his team after seven straight years of bowl games. \u201cIf you just look at it, we\u2019re just probably across the board maybe not as good as we\u2019ve been the last few years,\u201d he said Tuesday. \u201cSometimes players just need to get experience. And sometimes when you\u2019re in a winning program when they play for the first time, they find out it’s harder.\u201d He noted that the team is still working hard at practice and he believes there is still talent on the roster. \u201cI thought we\u2019d take a little bit of a step back this year just because of what we lost. I\u2019m disappointed we took as big of a step back as we have.\u201d<\/p>\nEnough Challenges of Their Own<\/h3>\n
Changing the Kicking Game<\/h3>\n
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