Got very carried away this time length-wise. But can you blame me?
The Military Bowl was a tale of two halves. Nearly mirror images of each other. In the first half, Wake outgained Temple 262-135 and was +1 on turnovers. In the second half, Temple outgained Wake 241-106 and was +1 on turnovers. The difference in the game was performance in the red zone. Wake got into the red zone 5 times and scored 3 TDs and 2 FGs (27 points). Temple got into the red zone 4 times and came away with only 4 FGs (12 points).
For many people, John Wolford’s performance - and maybe the Bowl game - was defined by a brilliant stretch where Wolford went 10-for-13, including SEVEN completions of 16 yards or more. Those completions went to: Hines for 18, Serigne for 41, Colburn for 21, Hines for a 20 yard TD, Serigne for 16, Wade for 31 and Washington for 17.
That stretch of 13 pass attempts came after Wolford’s early INT. It started with 9:43 left in the 1Q with Wake down 7-0 and ended with 8:34 left in the 2Q with Wake ahead 24-7. So that’s seven completions of 16+ yards in roughly one quarter of play.
From there Wake would need only a 39-yard drive after the Ejiofor interception to stretch the lead to 31-7. That drive was entirely on the ground and featured key runs by Matt Colburn of 7 yards (on third and 5 with a nifty spin move) and 12 yards. It was ultimately finished off by a tough, tough 3 yard TD run from Colburn.
EXPLOSIVE PLAYS!!
Wake had six plays of 20 or more yards (this is just on offense – I’m not counting the 20+ yard play that the defense produced – I’ll get to that later). That tied the season high (Wake also had six against Duke) – but keep in mind that Wake had been stuck at 2-3 explosive plays per game in the second half of the season. Here were the six plays:
Wolford to Serigne for 41 yards. See more on that below.
Wolford to Colburn for 21 yards. The angle route that included a breathtaking juggle before Colburn secured the ball.
Wolford to Hines for a 20 yard touchdown. A great inside cut by Hines and great decision by Wolford to go to the bubble screen when one of Temple’s defenders crashed the box.
Wolford to Wade for 31 yards. Another well-designed play. Almost a pick play with Alex Bachman interfering (legally, I guess) with the DB that was supposed to be covering Wade.
Kearns to Bachman for 20 yards
Kearns to Washington for 21 yards. Great adjustment to the ball by Washington. So happy to see him finally make a difficult catch.
RUNNING GAME
While the passing game generated most of the yards, the running game was quietly humming along early as well. Carney and Colburn had success all the way through the end of Kearns’ first series. On their first 19 carries, Carney and Colburn combined for a very impressive success rate (which I’ve defined as the % of carries of at least three yards) of SEVENTY-FOUR PERCENT (!!). That stretch also featured 5 runs of 9+ yards - three by Carney and two by Colburn.
Once Temple began to anticipate the run (after Kearns first series), things got predictably worse, with the RB’s managing a success rate of only 25% the rest of the way.
PASS TARGETS
Filling in for the suspended Cortez Lewis, Scotty Washington led the way:
Washington – 10
Hines – 6
Serigne – 5
Bachman – 3
Wade – 2
OTHER NOTES - OFFENSE
Temple’s defense seemed completely unprepared when Wake went up-tempo. Just lost at times.
Wolford was getting beat up pretty good even before the injury that knocked him out of the game.
Pass protection really struggled. Oddly enough this is an area that seemed to get worse towards the end of the year. Some of the complicated (overly cute?) stuff that Wake did to pull guards and tackles for most of the season now seems to be creating holes in the OL that defenses are exploiting. The tackles are also struggling a little more in their one-on-one matchups.
KYLE KEARNS
The Kearns INT was a bad decision made under pressure. Similar in that respect to an INT against Clemson that was overturned. Unfortunately, that’s part of the maturation process. It’s how freshmen QBs develop into dependable juniors and seniors. The bigger task for Kearns may be developing a better on-field rapport with his receivers. They don’t seem to be able to handle his passes when they aren’t thrown perfectly (although it’s worth noting that Washington made one very good play for Kearns). The issue with drops was a carryover from the Clemson game. That’s not all on the receivers though, Kearns need to put his throws on the body more often. That too will come with experience. I think the trend lines are very good for Kyle.
TEMPLE’S EXPLOSIVE PLAYS
The defense actually withstood surrendering 8 explosive plays. These 8 plays were 62% of their total offense (excluding sacks). Outside of these plays Temple generated only 164 yards (or 110 yards net of sacks).
Walker to Jennings for 48 yards (1Q). Watson was beaten on the play.
Walker to Kirkwood for 21 yards (2Q). Henderson was beaten on the play.
Jahad Thomas 23 yard run (2Q)
Walker to Jennings for 58 yards (3Q). A short pass play blown wide open by a missed tackle from Amari Henderson – who was then wiped out by Josh Okonye - and then Jessie Bates was beaten soundly in the open field.
Walker to Bryant for 31 yards (3Q). Henderson was beaten on the play, but the Temple WR may have pushed off.
Walker to Kirkwood for 23 yards (3Q). Thomas Brown was beaten on the play, but seemed to have good coverage.
Walker to Bryant for 27 yards (4Q). Brad Watson was beaten on the play.
Walker to Bryant for 35 yards (4Q). Watson slipped and missed the tackle.
OTHER NOTES - DEFENSE
Wake’s defense has been SO good all season on third-and-long. It’s been Elko time. But this game was particularly special in that department. It’s like Wake went on offense. Temple finished the game 1 for 12 on third down.
Want a stat that underscores how many players came up big on defense? Here it is: TWELVE DIFFERENT PLAYERS were credited with all or part of a TFL (tackle for loss).
Pro Football Focus graded all of the players in the game, but only published the top 4 grades: 1) Ejiofor, 2) Kemp, 3) Yarbary and 4) Janvion. I agree that Ejiofor was the best player (again) but Yarbary was really, really good. So was Josh Banks.
Brad Watson was flagged for two PI penalties.
THE TD PASS TO SERIGNE
Great play design. Wake had screen passes set up to both wide to the left (Carney) and right (Hines). The single-high-safety and the other LBs overcommitted to stopping those screen plays on the edge. Wolford sealed it with a fake to Hines that the defense completely bought it. Serigne just split the LBs and the middle of the field was wide open. Well designed and well executed. Touchdown Deacons. Momentum Wake Forest.
THE FUMBLE RECOVERY
Full credit to the undersized preferred walk-on long snapper Dayton Diemel for getting downfield so fast and for digging the ball out of a small scrum. Huge play.
THE “DEACON TOUGH” TD RUN
After that play, how many of you turned to someone and said: “Man, I love Cade Carney!”? Next to Jessie Bates bowl-clinching pick-six against UVA, will that run (and muscle flex) go down as the most memorable play of the season?
THE INTERCEPTION
Exhibit A for why the Rover position can be a weapon. We need more playmaking from the position and did we ever get it against Temple. On this play Kemp (who typically lines up on the inside shoulder of the slot receiver) simply left his man and, when the QB tried to go to the open slot WR, went up in the air and deflected the pass. Ejiofor made the INT. Great play. I would love to see Kemp continue to progress and really solidify himself as a difference-maker.
THE SACK
2nd and goal from the 6 yard line with the score 31-23 and 5:27 left. On a pass play, Willie Yarbary flat-out knifes through a double-team and flushes the QB into a pursuing Duke Ejiofor for a loss of 22 yards.
THE RETURN
How big was that? After Armstrong had two big returns called back this season. While Wake might not have needed it in the end, it felt so HUGE at the time.
THE SENIORS
It was remarkable how many seniors came up big in their final game. In many ways this was the real Senior Day.
Three of the top 4 leaders in tackles on the day were graduating seniors (Watson, Brown and Lee). Those three combined for 21 tackles, including 14 solo. Brown wins MVP. Josh Banks was excellent. I mentioned above that Pro Football Focus gave Janvion a high grade.
And how great was it that Ali Lamot got a run stuff? Lamot hasn’t gotten on the field that many times in his career, but was called into action to provide some relief to Banks and Yarbary. I don’t think he played many snaps, but came up big on that play.
Another graduating senior – Julian Thomas-Jackson – quietly had what might have been the second-best game of his career. He had a pass pressure, a pass deflection and caused a fumble on special teams that Temple managed to recover off a lucky bounce.
Then Johnny Armstrong tops it all off with The Return.
THE FANS
To everyone that made the trip to Annapolis: you were amazing. Simply amazing. So much fun to be a part of that. My section stood for probably 80% of the game. Everyone around me was cheering the whole time. Yelling or shaking a gold pom pom or doing something to will the team on. Young and old. Men and women. Great, great stuff.
I was asked after the game why our home games aren’t more like that. I guess it’s different when your most hardcore fans are all sitting together. Whatever the reason, let’s bring more of that back to BB&T next season!
THE FUTURE
Clawson in the postgame news conference:
“My goal is to stay at Wake Forest as long as they will keep me”
Clawson addressing the team in the locker room:
“For the younger guys the bar has been set. We cannot go backwards. Bowl games and winning seasons have got to be minimum goals – and those are not easy goals. But now we want to start climbing the ACC and eventually play for championships.”
ONE LAST THOUGHT
When I was reflecting on the win after I got home on Wednesday I thought about a conversation that I heard about in the winter of 2015. It was Clawson trying to solidify the commitment of OL Nathan Gilliam – and I’m going off of memory here so I hope this is accurate. Gilliam’s brother had played in the SEC and at that point Gilliam was a top target of Mississippi State’s late in the process. So he has a chance to play in the SEC as well. I heard that Clawson’s closing argument to Gilliam came down to a promise: “WE WILL WIN BOWL GAMES AT WAKE FOREST”.
I noticed Gilliam – already looking a good deal older and much bigger – was in the middle of the celebrations both inside and outside the locker room. Pretty cool stuff.
GO DEACS!
