WHAT WE ARE HEARING: PREVIEW & PREDICTION FOR NO.10 CLEMSON AT WAKE FOREST

Welcome to another edition of What We Are Hearing!

The Tigers are coming off their first road win of the season at Florida State, where Dabo made ACC history. He passed one his great friends and mentors, Bobby Bowden, on his namesake field for most ACC wins in history. With upsets abound last week, the Tigers are back in the top 10 and back on the road to take on Wake Forest. On to the matchup…

WAKE FOREST SYNOPSIS

The Deac come in with a 2-3 record but could easily be 4-1. They lost a couple of nail-biters at home, 31-30 to UVA and 41-38 to Louisiana, but they came up with a big road win last week at NC State. Trailing by 10 points in the fourth quarter, the Deacs converted 3 fourth downs for the 34-30 win. Dave Clawson could have kicked an easy field goal to send the game to overtime but went for it on 4^th and 3, and the gamble paid off. That’s the kind of win that can turn a season around for a team, so the Tigers are catching Wake at a dangerous time.

The Deacs have a savvy, veteran quarterback in Hank Bachmeier. Barring injury, he will become just the seventh active quarterback in the country with 10,000 career passing yards. He spent his first four years at Boise State before transferring to Louisiana Tech for last season. Ironically, his first career game as a freshman at Boise was a 36-31 win over FSU in Tallahassee in 2019. Remember that? It was the beginning of the end for Willie Taggart’s coaching career. Bachmeier won all seven of his regular-season starts that year before losing to Washington in the bowl game. He is no Lamar Jackson but is a very capable and tough runner at 6’2 and 215 pounds. He has completed 63.6 percent of his passes this season for 1,313 yards and 7 touchdowns with 2 interceptions, one of which came last week at NC State. He also fumbled twice in that game but made some big plays for the come-from-behind win. He passed for 403 yards the week before in the one-point loss to UVA.

Bachmeier has some very good receivers at his disposal in the passing game, including three players with 2 scores each. 6’3, 205-pound junior Horatio Fields (#5), a native of Douglasville, GA, made a great, contested catch in the end zone last week in Raleigh for one of his two TD’s. 6’0, 175-pound freshman Deuce Alexander (#81), also from Douglasville, also has a pair of touchdown grabs this season. The veteran of the group is 5’11 senior slot receiver Taylor Morin (#2), who hasn’t scored yet this season but leads the team with 26 catches for 345 yards.

Without question, the Deacs’ biggest offensive weapon is RB Demond Claiborne (#1). The 5’10, 200-pound junior had a monster game in Raleigh last week, rushing for 136 yards and two TD’s on 20 carries. He also had a touchdown catch for the hat trick. Claiborne is joined in the backfield by redshirt sophomore Tate Carney (#30). You may recall his brother, Cade, was a 1,000-yard rusher for Wake in 2018.

Dave Clawson’s offense is the same as it’s been for years with great success. Wake likes to go fast tempo with the unique slow-mesh concept, in which the quarterback holds the ball in mesh point of the back for two counts before handing it off or pulling it out and throwing it. Sam Hartman was a master at it, but the Tigers have been adept at blowing it up in the backfield, and it seems like Bachmeier is still adjusting to it.

Wake has had issues on the defensive side this season, particularly in pass defense. The Deacs have allowed at least 30 points to every FBS opponent this season, including 40 to Ole Miss and 41 to Louisiana at home. They have only forced 6 turnovers this season with 6 sacks.

Wake has a solid kicker in junior Matthew Dennis, but his career-long is only 46 yards. He is 9-10 on field goals this season, but his lone miss was a costly one. It was the would-be tying kick against Louisiana a couple of weeks ago.

Wake is No.59 nationally in scoring offense (30.6 points per game), No.75 in rushing offense (151.8 yards/game), No.27 in passing offense (279.2 yards/game) and No.45 in total offense (431 yards/game). The Deacs are No.105 in scoring defense (31 points/game), No.127 in pass defense (291.4 yards/game), No.99 in rush defense (168.8 yards/game) and No.125 in total defense (460.2 yards/game). They are No.70 in 3^rd down offense (40.3 percent), No.94 in 3^rd down defense (42.19 percent), No.35 in red zone offense, No.88 in red zone defense and No.67 in turnover margin with 6 turnovers and 6 takeaways.

CLEMSON STATUS

The Tigers’ offense was just a little off last week in Tallahassee. They moved the ball well with 500 total yards but struggled to finish drives with touchdowns, settling for seven field short goal attempts. It was good experience for freshman kicker Nolan Hauser, who made all five that he got away, but the protection did a lousy job in allowing two blocks. Hauser could have tied the school record for field goals made in a game if not for that. The defense was outstanding last week—especially against the run. After a disappointing showing against Stanford, allowing 236 yards on the ground, they held the Noles to just 22 rush yards on 23 carries, forcing them to abandon the run early. The Tigers also won the turnover margin for the fourth straight game, which resulted in their fourth straight win, and did not turn the ball over. It has been a total reversal from last season in terms of ball security for the Tigers. If they had protected the football this way last season, they would have won the ACC and made the playoff.

The Tigers are also in good shape from an injury standpoint, which is another reversal from the past three seasons. Even WR Adam Randall, who had surgery on his toe less than two weeks ago, is ready to play. Peter Woods returned to action last week after missing the previous two games.

The Tigers are No.16 nationally in scoring offense (39.4 points per game), No.34 in passing offense (269.2 yards/game), No.33 in rushing offense (196.4 yards/game) and No.19 in total offense (465.6 yards/game). They are No.64 in scoring defense (23.2 points/game), No.78 in rush defense (151 yards/game), No.81 in pass defense (220.4 yards/game) and No.80 in total defense (371.4 yards/game). Bear in mind that those defensive numbers are skewed because the Tigers had their backups in for the entire second halves of three of their five games, which resulted in a lot more points and yards. They are only averaging 2 sacks per game but average 7 tackles-for-loss per game. The Tigers are No.83 in 3^rd down offense (38.71 percent), No.25 in 3^rd down defense (31.34 percent), No.64 in red zone offense, No.42 in red zone defense and No.7 in turnover margin (plus 1.4 per game). The Tigers’ offense hasn’t been this explosive since Trevor Lawrence was quarterback in 2020. They are 11^th in plays over 30 yards and 3^rd in plays over 50 yards.

PREDICTION

Hopefully, the offensive precision that was lacking last week will return for the Tigers. They should be able to put up big numbers in the passing game against this secondary, and Mafah averaged 6.2 yards per carry for 154 yards last week against a much better defense. I keep waiting for Tyler Brown to have a breakout game. The Freshman All-American last season carried the Tigers after early injuries to Antonio Williams and Cole Turner, but he has yet to make a splash as a sophomore. Perhaps this will be the week! If the Tigers continue to avoid turnovers the way they have all season, this will be no contest.

The Prowl toward another ACC Championship and return to the College Football Playoff continues…

CLEMSON    48        Wake Forest    20