Three Up, Three Down: Delaware

The Good

Offensive Production. Wake racked up an amazing 481 yards of offense, 302 on the ground and 179 through the air.  Five touchdowns.  A 100+ yard rushing day for Matt Colburn.  Eight different players catching passes.  The offensive production was close to being beyond reproach for this game other than a couple of things I plan to mention shortly.  There's not too much else to say here, the offense was a clinic for most of the game.

Beastly Defense. Seriously, any time you hold an opposing team to under 100 yards of offense, you’re doing plenty right. Combine that with holding the Blue Hens to 2-9 on third down, and it seems almost churlish to criticize the defensive unit, especially when you consider that most of those yards were after the game was already salted away.

John Wolford's Redemption. It was nice to see the embattled former starter get his mojo back after a definitely less than auspicious start.  He made plays with his legs and his arm, and considering the stressful circumstances surrounding his entrance into the game, I'm more than willing to forgive John's early gaffes if he can keep up this level of play.  Well done, John, and I hope you can keep this up during Kendall's hopefully brief absence.

The Downs

Hinton's Injury, This isn't a traditional downside in the sense that it was a freak accident and these things happen, but my heart breaks for Kendall Hinton.  For a guy to work so hard to get the starting job and be playing so amazingly only to go down like that is extremely bothersome.  I'm glad it's "just" a sprain and not a tear (apparently), but either way it flat out stinks.

Missed Field Goal. Really, special teams?  You're going to miss a 31 yard field goal?  Come on.  How does that happen?  It didn't matter this game, but it might matter in another.  I can understand missing a 50+ yarder, even a 45+ yarder, but 31 yards?  That should be an absolute guarantee.  Come on, fellas.

Gifting 14 Points. Those two turnovers were atrocious.  Absolutely awful stuff.  At one point Delaware had 14 points and less than 50 yards of offense, while we had nearly quadruple that production and only three more points to show for it.  Truth be told, I thought the fumble was a fairly close call, and fumbles like that are kind of one of those "stuff happens" plays as long as they don't turn into the new norm, but that interception by John Wolford was honestly one of the worst I've seen in a long time.  Now as I said, John redeemed himself rather nicely over the course of the rest of the game, but in that moment, I was ready to explode.  I'm sure no one on the team needs me to tell them this, but that kind of stuff is pretty much inexcusable.

The Bottom Line

3-0, baby.  Halfway to that magic number.  I have to be honest, other than the Hinton injury there's not too much to dissect in detail here.  Really, other than a few plays, we completely dominated the Blue Hens and there's not too much fault to be found.  There's only so many ways one can say "we destroyed the competition" and frankly that's more or less what happened tonight.  The game wasn't really as close as the 17 point differential would indicate, and boy howdy does that ever say a mouthful.  I'm tired after the emotional rollercoasters of these games and it's only going to get crazier from here.  Get well soon, Kendall.  You too, Cade Carney.  Much love to the offensive line, by the way.  They showed out tonight.

On to the next.  Go Deacs.

--SF