Wake Forest Opponent Recap: Week 9

Yesterday was tough for the Deacs, but Wake still has a shot to get to 6 wins and a bowl if they can win 2 of their final 4 games. Let’s check in and see how the rest of schedule is looking.

Vanderbilt 7—#12 Ole Miss 33

Vanderbilt just has no chance in the SEC. After falling down 26-0, Vandy decided to put 6-7, 235 lb. 3rd string QB Walter Taylor into the game, and he added a little spark. He completed just 4 passes for 38 yards but ran the ball 20 times for 59 yards and the Commodores only touchdown on the day. This team is probably not winning another game this season.

Old Dominion 27—#25 James Madison 30

Old Dominion has been looking pretty solid lately, making Wake’s near loss to them at the beginning of the season look a little better. After beating App State last weekend, the Monarchs had the ball with 32 seconds left with a chance to hand a very good JMU team their first loss of the season. Unfortunately, time ran out on ODU, and they moved to 4-4 on the season. Grant Wilson had a solid game with 277 passing yards and 2 touchdowns in the loss.

Georgia Tech 46—#17 North Carolina 42

The Yellow Jackets continue to be the most confusing team in the conference. They have now beaten #17 twice in Miami and UNC, and those games came immediately after home losses to Bowling Green and Boston College. Tech’s season so far has been a perfectly alternating L-W-L-W-L-W-L-W, so if you extrapolate that pattern out to the end of the season, GT will finish the year by beating #1 Georgia at home. All the talk of UNC’s improved defense seems to have been premature, as the Tar Heels gave up over 600 yards, including 246 yards rushing...in the 4th quarter alone.

Clemson 17—NC State 24

I guess Dabo is getting his wish of losing a few games to “lighten up the bandwagon,” because Clemson is just not good this year. The Wolfpack finish the game with just 202 total yards, but a Payton Wilson pick-6 and a 72-yard Kevn Concepcion touchdown pass helped NC State win this one. I don’t know what is going on with Clemson, but there is technically a chance that they don’t even make a bowl game this season.

Virginia Tech 38—Syracuse 10

Syracuse might just be done. After starting the season 4-0, the Orange have now dropped 4 straight and have been outscored 150-34 in those games. The Hokies sacked Garrett Shrader 8 times and held Cuse to 0 total rushing yards, and all of a sudden, VT looks like a top 5 ACC team.

Pitt 7—Notre Dame 58

After a very good game against Wake Forest, Pitt QB Christian Veilleux put up a horrible 4 interception performance in a blowout loss. Sam Hartman had a pretty average game with 288 yards and 2 interceptions, but Audric Estime’s 3 rushing TDs led the Fighting Irish to the easy win. After the loss, Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi said “We lost a lot of good players last year. We thought we’d replace them, and we obviously didn’t do a good job with that.” I’m sure that went over well in the locker room.

#20 Duke 0—#18 Louisville 23

Hopefully the Blue Devils were not saving all of their points for this week. Duke finished the game with just 202 yards and Riley Leonard had maybe his worse game as a Blue Devil, completing just 9 of his 23 attempts for 121 yards and an interception. Louisville held Duke to 51 yards rushing on 21 carries, which maybe gave the Deacs a blueprint to shutting down the Blue Devil offense on Thursday.