Game Recap: #13 Wake Forest Trounces Boston College 43-15

Sam Hartman accounted for six touchdowns, continuing to rewrite the Wake Forest and even ACC football history books as he creeps closer and closer to being a top three all-time ACC QB in terms of sheer production as Wake Forest took down Boston College and continued to make its case for a top 10 ranking. Hartman was 25-40 for 313 yards, 5 touchdowns, and one interception, as well as a 10 yard rushing touchdown. The rushing attack was varied but decently prolific, the team rushing for 115 yards on 35 attempts. The top three rushers for Wake all averaged 4 YPC or more.

The defense definitely did their part as well. Boston College was a combined 7-20 on third and fourth down, and the Eagles only had 15 first downs the entire day. The defense kept the Boston College rushing attack to 2.4 YPC, and over a quarter of Boston College’s passing yards came on a single busted play. The defense wasn’t flawless, but they undoubtedly did more good than bad, and the tackling has unquestionably improved by huge margins under Brad Lambert. The defense was -1 on the takeover margin today, which isn’t great, but it was very nearly +1 if not for a fumble after a fumble recovery (seriously). The defensive unit as a whole also tallied 9 tackles for loss, and I’d wager there were a good number more that were for no gain or very minimal gains as well.

There’s a lot of football left to be played, but there’s still very little evidence to go against the idea that, if divisions didn’t exist (they won’t soon), the ACC Championship Game probably would and should be a Wake Forest/Clemson rematch. Sadly, that’s not an option, but Wake Forest is getting seriously close to being ranked in the top 10 nationwide 8 weeks into the season. Oh, by the way, it’s also worth noting that that Liberty game which seemed so awful at the time might not be so bad after all. Liberty is now 7-1, their latest victory being a 41-14 drubbing of BYU, who earlier this season toppled Baylor when they were the #6 ranked team in the nation.

Another week going 1-0. Let’s keep it up. On to the next. Go Deacs.

—SF