WINSTON-SALEM – The No. 10 Clemson Tigers head to Wake Forest this weekend seeking to stay unbeaten in ACC play.
It’s a sequence Clemson (4-1, 3-0) has dominated through the years and much more so since Dabo Swinney took over. The head coach has by no means misplaced to the Demon Deacons, as Swinney is wanting for his sixteenth straight victory within the sequence.
Wake (2-3, 1-1) is available in recent off a win over NC State and with an offense that's fairly environment friendly. The Deacs are scoring greater than 30 factors per recreation and racking up greater than 430 yards of complete offense per contest.
It’s a novel scheme they use, with that gradual growing mesh play to strive and maintain opposing defenses off-balance. Most years, the Tigers have been fairly good towards this offense, however the final time these two groups met in Winston-Salem, Wes Goodwin’s unit struggled with it.
After stints at Boise State and Louisiana Tech, switch quarterback Hank Bachmeier is now working the Wake Forest offense. While his speeding numbers gained’t blow anyone away, he's a menace to run the ball and have to be accounted for. Running again Demond Claiborne is having a pleasant season, averaging 5.8 yards per carry and near 100 yards per recreation. Goodwin’s unit have to be disciplined of their strategy and not get caught being overly aggressive.
Where Bachmeier has actually made his mark is together with his arm. The redshirt senior is finishing 63% of his throws and is passing for 263 yards per recreation. He has thrown simply two picks up to now. This is perhaps extra of a take a look at than the Tigers received from Florida State’s passing recreation final weekend.
On the opposite facet of the ball is the place the Tigers actually have a bonus. Wake’s protection has been completely horrid in spots, significantly the move protection. That unit has allowed 400 yards of offense in 4 consecutive video games. The solely crew to not hit that mark was NC A&T within the season-opener.
Since then, Virginia threw for 357 yards towards the Deacs, Ole Miss for 357, Louisiana-Lafayette for 257 and NC State for 314. Wake Forest is 129th nationally by way of opponent’s completion share and a hundred and first in third down protection. This is an space that Cade Klubnik and his pass-catchers should exploit.
The Demon Deacons protection hasn’t been superb towards the run both, permitting 169 yards per recreation and 4.9 yards per carry. That means Phil Mafah may very well be available for one other massive recreation.
Clemson does come into the sport needing to shore up some problems with their very own. The Tigers had loads of red-zone struggles towards the Seminoles, failing to attain a single landing in six journeys contained in the 20-yard line. Was that an anomaly or an indication of issues to return?
Nolan Hauser additionally had two of his area objectives blocked final week resulting from breakdowns within the safety on the left facet. You can guess that was a degree of emphasis this week in apply.
At the top of the day, soccer video games have a tendency to return all the way down to gamers making performs and Clemson simply has extra expertise. The Tigers ought to win the battle on the line of scrimmage and on each side of the ball. While Wake will in all probability have some success transferring the ball, the Tigers ought to have extra and this week that success results in touchdowns, not a bunch of area objective makes an attempt.
Clemson 41 Wake Forest 17
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