Wake Forest’s seniors have come close to beating Duke multiple times but with a stout defense might have their best chance yet this weekend.
The Demon Deacons will open ACC play against the Blue Devils Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Wallace Wade Stadium. Wake Forest escaped with a 7-3 victory in its season opener against Tulane last week, and will likely need another strong defensive performance Saturday to knock off Duke for the first time since 2011.
The win against the Green Wave was the team’s third victory during head coach Dave Clawson’s tenure when scoring seven or fewer points. The Demon Deacons have just four wins during that three-year span when scoring more than seven points, and ranked 119th out of 127 FBS teams last year in scoring offense.
Wake Forest averaged 17.4 points per game in 2015 en route to 3-9 record, including 1-7 in the ACC.
“The object of the game is to win, and we won,” Clawson said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “But I don’t think our offense left that game saying we did our job and we’re satisfied by any means. As a group, they know they’re better than that.”
Wake Forest’s defensive effort against Tulane was led by redshirt freshman defensive back Jessie Bates with eight tackles, and 10 Demon Deacons had at least four tackles.
Redshirt junior defensive lineman Julian Jackson was part of that group, making two tackles for loss and forcing a fumble that ended Tulane’s potential game-winning drive in the closing minutes.
“They do an outstanding job in every aspect of defense,” Blue Devil head coach David Cutcliffe said Tuesday. “Wake Forest is a different Wake Forest team than they’ve been. They are developing a program.”
Offensively, Wake Forest uses a dual quarterback system with junior John Wolford as the superior passer and Durham native Kendall Hinton coming in off the bench as a running threat. Although Wolford passed for just 79 yards Thursday night, he picked Duke’s secondary apart in last year’s regular-season finale, racking up 338 passing yards and two touchdowns in a 27-21 loss.
Hinton did not play against the Blue Devils last season, though he led the Demon Deacons with seven rushing touchdowns in 2015 and was the only player to reach the end zone in Wake Forest’s opener.
Clawson confirmed Tuesday that he would use both quarterbacks against Duke, but declined to give away any more details about his game plan.
“Two-quarterback systems are always hard to prepare for because you don’t know what they’re going to come out with,” Blue Devil linebacker Ben Humphreys said. “They’re both very, very capable of running that offense, and they’re going to be able to have great games if we don’t prepare for them well.”
Three of Wake Forest’s top four receiving threats from last season are also back with another year of experience under their belts.
Wide receivers Cortez Lewis and Tabari Hines and tight end Cam Serigne combined for nearly 1,500 receiving yards and 11 touchdown catches in 2015, and the trio could create matchup problems for the Blue Devil secondary.
Serigne was particularly effective against Duke last year, posting a career-high 135 yards and a touchdown.
The Demon Deacons will also look to repeat their success on the ground from 2015, when they picked up 112 yards on 23 carries. Wake Forest’s running game was also disappointing against the Green Wave, with returning starter Tyler Bell out with an injury and no clear threat on the ground other than Hinton.
Clawson said he expects Bell to return this week, but said true freshman Cade Carney—who rushed for just 21 yards on seven carries in his college debut—would still start the game.
Although Wake Forest returns all five of its starting offensive linemen, the Demon Deacons rushed for just 79 yards on 34 carries in their season opener.
“We really tried to establish the run in that game. Our 1st-and-10 calls were probably 75 percent runs because we really believed we could run it against those guys,” Clawson said. “It’s hard to say we were successful running it.”
Wake Forest may struggle to put points on the board if Duke’s experienced secondary can shut down Wolford and the Demon Deacon receivers, but Wake Forest has already proven it can win without a lot of scoring.
If the Demon Deacons can force a couple of turnovers to give their offense short fields to work with, they could manufacture just enough points to pull off the upset and boost their chances of making their first bowl game in five years.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.