| Wake Forest lost a heart breaker today against the Boston College Eagles, 23-17. The game started ugly for the Deacs but turned around in the second half. Early on it was the same old story for Wake. Boston College looked sound offensively, scoring 10 points in their first 2 drives. The Deacon offense looked, as usual, horrid. The first 6 drives of the game for Wake ended in 5 punts and the end of the first half. BC scored again near halftime on Jon Hilliman’s second TD of the game and the Deacs went into the half down 17-0 with only one drive that produced any first downs. The second half actually produced an entertaining football game. The Wake defense stepped up, forcing 2 punts to start the half for BC while the offense sustained 2 long drives, one leading to a field goal and the other ending with a turnover on downs. Shortly after the start of the 4th, Tyler Murphy hit Shakim Phillips for a 37 yard TD to put the Eagles up 23-3. At this point it looked over, but the Deacs responded with a 15 play, 75 yard TD drive finished off by an E.J. Scott TD run on a jet sweep. BC return man Myles Willis fumbled the ensuing kickoff, setting Wake up with a 1st down at the Eagles 15 yard line. 4 plays later, Wake found the endzone again and cut the lead down to 6 with 6:26 remaining. After another Eagle punt, Freshman QB John Wolford threw an interception that sealed the game. Overall, this might’ve been Wake’s best game of the season. It was the only time they’ve really competed with a high quality opponent, the other being against Louisville in a game where the Cardinals tried to give it away. The defense showed up as always, holding BC to 202 rushing yards, nearly 100 yards south of their season average. Playmaking QB Tyler Murphy was held in check, throwing for only 165 yards and rushing for 77. The difference in this contest was the Wake offense. While it certainly wasn’t an all-star performance, it was more than we’re accustomed to. The Demon Deacons managed 17 first downs, and Wolford completed 22 of 30 passes for 242 yards. The problem still remained with the offensive line however, as Wolford was sacked 4 times and the rushing game was non-existent, totaling only 19 yards. Although there were signs of life, no offense will be sustainable in the final 4 games if the young offensive line can’t make strides. In the end, it was a disappointing outing for the kids but encouraging at the same time. BB&T Field was nearly empty, but you could see passion on the Wake Forest sideline as they scratched and clawed for a win. It’s gut-wrenching to be so close to success and still come up short when you haven’t found any all year, but if Wake comes out like this again, they have a shot to snag at least 1 ACC win in their 4 remaining contests. |  KEY STATS- Total Yards- BC 367, WFU 261 Turnovers- BC 1, WFU 1 Penalties- BC 7 for 54 yards, WFU 6 for 49 yards Time of Possession- BC 29:38, WFU 30:22 |
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AuthorDylan Housman is our lead Wake Forest contributer. He is a lifelong fan of Wake Forest and knows everything there is to know about Demon Deacon sports. ArchivesCategories |
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