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The Wake Forest Demon Deacons

Looking for predictions, analysis, and news on your Wake Forest Demon Deacons? Look no further, we've got you covered here at NCCollegeSports.com!

Wake Forest vs. Boston College Recap and Analysis

10/25/2014

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                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. 


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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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Wake Forest vs. Boston College Preview

10/23/2014

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Realistically speaking, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons have two winnable games remaining. The last time they underwent a winless conference season was during the 1995 season, when the Deacs went 1-11 with their only win being against Navy, a year in which they also scored no home victories. If Wake can’t come up with a win against Boston College this Saturday, then it likely all comes down to a matchup with the NC State Wolfpack to try and avoid the schools worst season in nearly two decades.

                Possibly the most frustrating part about the Wake Forest season thus far is that they seem so close yet so far away from being a quality team. The defense has been outstanding this year, only allowing 25 points a game, a number inflated by a horrendous amount of turnovers and lack of ball control from the offense. A great example is last week, when the Deacs went down 30-7 against Syracuse. 14 of those points came off of defensive touchdowns for the orange. This sets up an interesting matchup with the Eagles, who come in boasting the 9th best rushing attack in the nation, averaging nearly 290 yards per game on the ground. After losing Heisman finalist and Doak Walker award winner Andre Williams to the NFL, the Eagles rushing attack has been carried by senior dual threat QB Tyler Murphy, a Florida transfer who has rushed for 766 yards and 8 TD’s this season.

                Boston College has quite a defense of their own, however, and will come into this game with a lot of confidence after holding Clemson to just 17 points in a narrow loss last week. The Eagles defense ranks in the top 20 in points allowed in the nation and has only allowed more than 17 points once in ACC play this season. This is bad news for the Deacons, who come in with possibly the worst offense in FBS college football. Wake Forest ranks LAST- yes, LAST in rushing among FBS teams, with a dismal 36.7 yards per game on the ground. They also rank 126th in the nation in scoring with only 14 points per game. In case you aren’t counting at home, that is third to last. Freshman QB John Wolford hasn’t been bad, but the offensive line leaves a lot to be desired and if you can’t block you can’t move the ball.

                So to sum it all up, what we have here is a Wake Forest team who can stop people and kick the ball (they rank in the top 5 in the ACC in almost every kicking stat), against a team from Boston who runs it well and also stops people. This is one of only two realistically winnable games left for the Deacons this season. But will they get over the hump?

                PREDICTION- Boston College- 20, Wake Forest- 10. This one is pretty simple, the Eagles are just the better team. While they haven’t been overly impressive, they have a win over USC and a close loss to Clemson. The Deacons defense will hold the BC rushing attack in check as well as anyone else has this season, but they’ll get enough points to just squeak by as Wake’s offense once again struggles to keep up. 


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GAME INFO- 


TV- Regional Coverage
Radio- Wake Forest IMG Network
Start Time- 3:30
Date- October 25th
Location- Winston Salem, NC
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    Dylan 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.

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