Wake Forest will look to use the emotions of Senior Day and its waning postseason hopes to overcome a Duke squad that is eyeing the ACC championship game.
Wake Forest is reeling after losing three straight to then-No. 7 Miami, Syracuse and No. 2 Florida State. With only four wins and two games left—both against bowl-bound teams—the Demon Deacons will look to their seniors to lead them to the postseason.
"It's just the nature of the game," redshirt senior Sydney Sarimento said. "At any time, right now I could walk out of here and do something to myself, rupture my Achilles. Anything can happen. It's just part of the game and luckily, thank God, we've kind of stayed away from that [injury] bug this year."
The Demon Deacon offense will look to regain its composure behind the play of senior quarterback Tanner Price. A four-year starter, Price will line up under center for the last time in front of his home crowd Saturday. He ranks fourth in Wake Forest history for career completions and fifth in touchdowns, yards and attempts. He will look to turn things around on what is sure to be an emotional day for the senior.
After throwing for a touchdown in each of the first eight games of the season, racking up 12 to tie his mark from last year, Price has struggled in the past two games. Against Syracuse and Florida State, he combined to throw for zero touchdowns and four interceptions. Facing a hot Duke defense, Price and the offense have spent their bye week working on new plays to switch things up against the Blue Devils in order to jumpstart the offense Saturday.
"I think they're going to stick what they do best, which is run the football and try and throw it here and there," Sarimento said. "I don't think they're going to try to trick us up because they understand that trick plays might work or they can backfire really bad."
"I've played [Whitlock] since my redshirt freshman year, so we're old pals," redshirt senior offensive guard Dave Harding said. "He's an excellent player. Plays with phenominal effort. That's what sticks out. He doesn't have an off-switch. He constantly moves his feet and that's what I really respect about him. He plays football the football should be played."
Whitlock is not a run-of-the-mill nose guard as far as NCAA norms go. The Wylie, Texas native stands at just 5-foot-11 only weighs in at 250-pounds, so instead of overpowering his opposition Whitlock uses his quickness off the snap to blow by slower offensive linemen and wreck havoc in the backfield.
"[His weight is] very impressive," Sarimento said. "It's 250 pounds of straight muscle. He's just that strong and that physical. The want to just dominate is his greatest asset."
Whitlock currently ranks sixth in the ACC in sacks and third in tackles for a loss and will be the leading force in slowing down a Blue Devil offense that averages 34.9 points per game.
Last year’s loss to Duke was the first time in 12 years that Wake Forest had not walked away from the contest with a victory. In a contest that many players consider to be a rivalry game, the Demon Deacons’ seniors will look for payback and the last laugh by playing spoiler to the Blue Devils’ ACC Coastal Divison championship dream when Duke travels to Wake Forest Saturday.
"We're focused on Wake Forest," Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. "This is an intense rival game. It's been an intense rival game all five previous games that we've coached here from day one. From 2008, I understood it."
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