Breaking Down Wake Forest’s Struggles Against FSU and the Road to Recovery
In this story:
There is no sugar-coating the beating the Deacs took Saturday night in Tallahassee. Wake Forest went down 42-7 to the Seminoles. The offense was non-existent until garbage time in the fourth quarter. Penalties and miscues killed any offensive momentum Wake got with the ball. The defense also gave up some very uncharacteristic plays over the top that we have not seen all season.
So the questions all Deacon fans are facing are: What went so wrong, and how can we correct these mistakes before heading down to Charlottesville?
Penalties and Mistakes Haunt the Deacs Offense
In the first half, two big Demond Claiborne runs were called back due to holding penalties. These runs would have set the Deacs up nicely in Seminole territory, but instead put the Deacs behind the sticks with an offense that struggles in passing situations. These Claiborne runs had the chance to counter the Seminole's offensive attacks, but the Deacs were unable to get out of their own way.
The offensive line also played a very sloppy game. A false start penalty forced the Deacs to punt whenever they were lining up to convert a fourth-and-one. There were additional false start penalties that backed the Deacs up as well. Both Claiborne and Ashford expressed frustration with these miscues.
When the Deacs finally made it into the red zone for the first time in the second half, disaster struck as the ball was snapped over Robby Ashford's head and recovered by Florida State. Even though it was just a 14-point game, this appeared to be the nail-in-the-coffin for the Deacs.
In the two ensuing possessions, Wake had a dropped pass on a fourth-down conversion and an Ashford interception that allowed Florida State to really blow the game open. Overall, the Deacs committed two turnovers and 11 penalties that cost them over 90 yards. This is definitely not a winning recipe.
Untimely Breakdowns in Coverage
This Wake Forest defense has been one of the best in the nation when it comes to preventing big plays. However, this was not the case Saturday night. Wake Forest gave up an average of 22.6 yards per pass completion to the Seminoles. The Deacs forced some big third downs only to give Florida State big plays over the top.
Florida State receiver Duce Robinson had five receptions for 148 yards and a touchdown while looking unguardable at times. Castellanos had 271 passing yards in just 12 completions. The Demon Deacon defense looked porous against FSU and will need to make some key corrections this week in order to get back to their identity.
QB Problem
It is no surprise to anyone who has watched Wake the past two weeks that they have a quarterback issue. Robby Ashford started this game and had some good plays in the first half using his legs, but the passing game was essentially nonexistent. Ashford missed many open receivers and just looked very uncomfortable in the pocket all night.
With no passing game, Wake left themselves with a very thin margin of error that was broken by all the mistakes they made. Purdie came in at the end and made some good throws. He is definitely the better passer, but he showed some major turnover issues in the SMU game. Overall, the Deacs have a quarterback conundrum that the coaching staff will have to work this week to try to solve.
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Justin is a student at Wake Forest University. He is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and aspiring finance major interested everything sports. In his freshman year, Justin completed an internship with the Wake Forest Ticketing Department where he gained some valuable insight into the sales and operations aspects of collegiate athletics. Before working with Wake Forest On SI, Justin was a contributing writer for Wake Forest’s student publication The Old Gold and Black. Currently, Justin serves as a student manager on the Wake Forest Men’s Tennis team. In his free time Justin enjoys spending time with his family and friends on the golf course and traveling.