{"id":82326,"date":"2025-11-09T09:40:50","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T14:40:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=82326"},"modified":"2025-11-09T09:40:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T14:40:50","slug":"what-wake-forest-said-after-the-virginia-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/11\/09\/what-wake-forest-said-after-the-virginia-win\/","title":{"rendered":"What Wake Forest Said After the Virginia Win"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was quite a bit of newsworthy information that came out of the Wake Forest win at Virginia<\/a> Saturday night. The 16-9 win by the Demon Deacons puts Wake in a bowl game for the first time in three years. It is the second win this season over a team that had at least a portion of the ACC conference lead when they played Wake. And the Deacs still have three games left with the ability to improve their bowl status. So let\u2019s hear what Wake Forest had to say after the Virginia win.<\/p>\n

What Wake Forest Said<\/h2>\n

Jake Dickert<\/h3>\n

The first-year Wake coach has been at the helm of quite a turnaround. Wake went 4-8 each of the last two seasons. Now they are 6-3 with three games left. \u201cI get way too much credit. It\u2019s a player\u2019s game,\u201d he said in the post-game press conference.<\/p>\n

This same Wake team gave up 42 points to a bad Florida State team last week. So how did they manage this on Saturday night? \u201cI\u2019ll be honest, I had the team too fired up last week. That was my fault. I felt like we played out of sorts. So just getting back to the basics.\u201d<\/p>\n

The offense was still lagging behind. Quarterbacks Robby Ashford and Deshawn Purdie were a combined nine of 23 passing for 64 yards and no touchdowns. The offense managed all of 203 yards. \u201cI thought we had to play kind of a dirty, nasty, time-possession kind of a game,\u201d Dickert said. \u201cThe biggest difference in the last three weeks is that we haven\u2019t hit a downfield pass. It\u2019s made driving the football really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Wake brought the defense. This is a unit that was correctly dismissed the last two seasons, as they ranked in the bottom third of the country in total defense. They moved up to as high as 23rd<\/sup> this season before the Florida State game. They showed up big on Saturday night, creating three turnovers by Virginia. The Cavaliers had 10 fumbles this season, but had not lost any of them going into the Wake Forest game. \u201cOur defense is one of the best in the country. I\u2019m not afraid to say that,\u201d Dickert said. \u201cCredit to this coaching staff. And credit to the players for buying in. Credit to the belief they have each and every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Langston Hardy<\/h3>\n

The defensive end has been one of the prominent figures on the revitalized defense. He and fellow defensive end Gabe Kirschke spend a lot of time putting pressure on the opposing quarterback.<\/p>\n

He said the scheme and the work during the week are the answers to the turnaround from last year. \u201cWe have eight different guys rotating, so we\u2019re all fresh,\u201d he said. \u201cI think the big thing is the practice. We know that any one of us can make a play out there. And we don\u2019t play selfish ball. We\u2019re just going to go out there and do our job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardy said an in-game key has been on first down. \u201cI think the biggest thing that we were trying to focus on was eliminating their first down success,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve had a lot of third-and-shorts on the season. So our goal was to try to limit that and make sure we could get our rush up there on third down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hardy also gave a lot of credit to veteran defensive back Nick Anderson. \u201cHe does a great job of getting us all back on the same page. One thing can happen and get us off a little bit. But he centers us back together and just makes us ready to go out there and defend that goal line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carlos Hernandez<\/h3>\n

He had Wake\u2019s only touchdown of the night on an 88-yard punt return. He was asked after the game what he saw when he fielded the punt on one hop. \u201cSpace. Space,\u201d he joked. \u201cCredit to my guys for doing a job blocking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hernandez has had an up-and-down season at receiver. But Dickert has noted repeatedly that he felt Hernandez could have a big impact on special teams. \u201cJust to hear that, the confidence he [Dickert] has in me just keeps me going, knowing that I can be the player I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dylan Hazen<\/h3>\n

The linebacker had the play that probably most symbolized the defensive effort for Wake. The Deacs had just gone up 16-9, completing a nine-minute drive with a field goal.<\/p>\n

UVA running back J\u2019mari Taylor broke to the left for six yards. But Hazen was waiting, and as he made the tackle, he also clean stripped the ball from the running back\u2019s hands. It was not apparent what had happened at live speed. So Hazen tried to make it clear to the officials.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I was raising the ball up in the air, like, hey, look at me,\u201d he said. \u201cI was telling the ref they\u2019ve got to review that. I\u2019m glad they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hazen has seen both sides of the defense over the last few years. There was the underperforming unit of the last two seasons, and then there is the 2025 version. \u201cIt just feels amazing that we have that ability to send the pressures, have the cover guys. The defensive line is amazing. The cover guys are amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s surreal.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the poise of the players on defense feels different than in previous years. \u201cWe\u2019re treating each snap like it\u2019s its own life,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re staying poised. And we’re staying consistent. We\u2019re not getting bored of the little details. I think that\u2019s crucial for the success.\u201d<\/p>\n

He joked that he was happy to talk to the media after a win. \u201cThe last two times you got me, we lost. I was sort of a little Debbie Downer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Demond Claiborne<\/h3>\n

The senior running back<\/a> had 75 yards on 25 carries. He said the nine-minute drive that solidified the win was about the fine points from practice. \u201cIt\u2019s just execution. Just doing our job. Just doing what we practice all week,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes we can get in those environments, and we can lose our minds on those big stages. It\u2019s just being composed and being truthful and staying with each other is what matters the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

He took note that on a night when the offense was not as productive, the defense stepped in and stepped up. \u201cEverybody came together and picked up the slack of what the other person or other group might not have been doing necessarily. So for that, I\u2019m appreciative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Main Image: Amber Searls-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was quite a bit of newsworthy information that came out of the Wake Forest win at Virginia Saturday night. The 16-9 win by the Demon Deacons puts Wake in a bowl game for the first time in three years. It is the second win this season over a team that had at least a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":82329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2,17,35642,35643],"tags":[34742,33867,9582],"class_list":["post-82326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acc","category-featured","category-news","category-virginia-cavaliers","category-wake-forest-demon-deacons","tag-carlos-hernandez","tag-dylan-hazen","tag-jake-dickert"],"modified_by":"Tony Siracusa, CFB Managing Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82326"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82330,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82326\/revisions\/82330"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}