GAME OVERVIEW
Wake’s performance on Saturday reminded me of several wins during the peak Grobe years. No turnovers. Few penalties. Won the special teams battle. All of those were important factors, but the real key was, of course, the +5 turnover margin. That more than offset Indiana’s large margin in explosive plays. Indiana had 8 explosive plays totaling 324 yards, while Wake had just three explosive plays totaling 82 yards.
OFFENSE - STATS
Total Yards: 352 (compared to 389 against Duke and 175 against Tulane)
Explosive (20+ yard) Plays: 3
# of Drives > 40 Yards: 5
% of RB carries 3 yards or greater: 47% (compared to 59% against Duke and 44% against Tulane)
DEFENSE - STATS
Total Yards Against: 611
Explosive Plays Against: 8
# of Drives > 40 Yards Against: 8
Disruptive Plays by the DL: 3
Turnovers Forced: 5
SPECIAL TEAMS – STATS
“Special” Plays: 2 (46 yard field goal, and a blocked FG attempt)
WAKE’S EXPLOSIVE PLAYS
26 yard pass completion from John Wolford to Chuck Wade
23 yard run by Matt Colburn
33 yard pass completion from John Wolford to Tabari Hines
RUNNING BACKS
After finding success with a 75/25 (percent) run-pass mix against Duke, Wake would again look to the running game against Indiana. This time the play calling was 63/37 (percent) run-pass. However, the Wake run game was less effective than two weeks ago against Duke. The Deacon running backs gained 3 yards or more on 47% of runs, and 5 or more yards on five carries. The best moments for the RBs were two long runs by Matt Colburn: 23 yards at the end of 2Q and 17 yards at beginning of 3Q.
It’s interesting to note that the RBs have rarely been tackled for a loss. On Saturday they had zero TFLs on 34 carries.
It’s remarkable how much Colburn has improved from last year. He looks quicker and far more elusive. Keep in mind that one of the knocks on him during recruiting was a perceived lack of durability. He’s held up OK this year, but I’d prefer not to see him have too many more games where he gets 20+ carries (it was 29 against Indiana). I’d be concerned about the wear and tear.
PASSING GAME
Wake would gain 10 or more yards eleven times. 8 of those 11 plays would come courtesy of the passing game. The slot receiver committee of Chuck Wade and Tabari Hines were the busiest and most effective receivers on the day. Wade’s TD catch at the end of the 2Q was a huge play. Hines leaping 3Q reception was superb.
Here is a breakdown of Wolford’s pass targets:
Slot receivers (Wade/Hines): 9 completions on 14 pass targets (64% completion percentage). 4 completions of 10 yards or more.
Running backs: 4 completions on 5 pass targets (80%). 2 completions of 10 yards or more.
Outside WRs: 2 completions on 6 pass targets (33%). 2 completions of 10 yards or more.
Cam Serigne: 1 completion on 4 pass targets (25%). 0 completions of 10 yards or more.
The lack of contribution from Wake’s outside WRs continues to be a story. If you average the 3 FBS games, you get an average contribution of 2 completions on 7 pass targets (a 32% completion percentage).
Wolford has been getting more time in the pocket, but there are times that he seems to be holding the ball a long time. Either he’s not getting through his progressions quickly enough, his WR’s aren’t getting open, or he’s hesitating to before making certain throws. He usually ends up pulling the ball down and running with it.
OFFENSIVE LINE
The pass protection was good for most of the game. In 3Q the BTN announcers began to question why Indiana was not blitzing more given the relative ineffectiveness of their 4-man rush. Indiana did begin to get more creative with their blitzes in 4Q and Wake did struggle over a short stretch. In that stretch, Cam Serigne appeared to miss a couple of assignments that led to Wolford getting hit.
Ty Hayworth had a terrific block that helped lead to Matt Colburn’s second longest run of the day.
Individual breakdowns:
Phil Haynes (1): 3Q false start
Ryan Anderson (1): 3Q pass pressure
DEFENSIVE STANDOUTS
The Duke game was effectively The Duke Ejiofor Show, but the Indiana game had more players making key plays. Here are the ones I noted:
Jessie Bates had two INTs off pass deflections, including a pick-six
Duke Ejiofor had two pass deflections (1Q and 2Q)
Jaboree Williams showed that Marquel Lee isn’t the only Wake LB capable of great timing on a blitz when he knifed the Indiana OL for a big sack at the beginning of 2Q.
LBs Williams and Grant Dawson and DE Chris Calhoun all made nice plays to stop a 2Q fourth down conversion attempt just short of the line to gain.
Chris Calhoun’s 2Q hit on the QB caused the underthrown ball that was picked off by Brad Watson.
Josh Banks 2Q pass pressure led to a holding penalty. Banks was solid all game long.
Paris Black has got a couple of fingers on a pass that ended up hitting Grant Dawson right in the numbers for an INT. Black continues to look good when he’s on the field.
Ryan Janvion was active and did a great job securing a difficult catch for a 4Q INT.
Julian Thomas-Jackson continues to excel in his subpackage pass rush role. He added a 3Q sack.
The entire front seven should get credit for holding Indiana’s heralded RB Devine Redding to just 22 yards on 10 carries through 3 quarters. Redding padded his stats in the fourth quarter against Wake’s prevent defense. As a result the final stats didn’t reflect what a strong performance Wake’s run defense had on the day.
Credit the starters on defense with playing a lot of snaps. Injuries were probably a factor somewhat on the decision not to roll many second stringers out there, but there’s no denying that Wake had a lot of guys that played a lot of snaps on Saturday.
THE NOT-SO-GREAT MOMENTS
Indiana started the game with a 75-yard TD to Nick Westbrook. That play involved Amari Henderson trying to make a play on the ball instead of tackling Westbrook. The diving Henderson also took out Brad Watson, who may have been able to make a play. From the TV angles I wasn’t able to figure out why Henderson had no safety help on that play. But he didn’t. Indiana would throw at Henderson several more times in this game (he would get beaten for a 3Q TD on a fade route). To Henderson’s credit, I think he’d played a role in Jessie Bates 2Q pick-six when he made contact with the intended receiver right when the ball arrived, and added a nice pass breakup in 4Q.
Brad Watson bit on a play action fake and turned loose Ricky Johns for a 65 yard completion early in 3Q. That play was reminiscent of a near disastrous play against Tulane where Watson bailed on coverage when Tulane’s QB looked like he was going to run. Watson had an uneven day, with some clear positives as well. He had the blocked FG, an INT, a key 4Q pass breakup and some solid tackling.
PLAYING TIME NOTES
A’Lique Terry got at least one series at center and appeared to play well. Nathan Gilliam filled in at LT when Herron briefly left with an injury.
Chris Stewart was a surprise starter alongside Josh Banks. He played a lot and had a nice day.
Kalin McNeil saw at least a few plays at rover.
INJURIES
Marquel Lee missed a portion of the game but returned (and delivered a big hit late in the game). Duke Ejiofor received assistance from the trainers a couple of times, but didn’t appear to miss too many snaps. Justin Herron also left briefly but returned after one series.
OTHER NOTES
Full credit to Mike Weaver. The 6 points on field goals were big, and he looked solid on the 46 yarder. Then add in the punting, which included a 57 yarder and 3 punts downed inside the 20. He was a more than capable fill-in.
Wake’s performance on Saturday reminded me of several wins during the peak Grobe years. No turnovers. Few penalties. Won the special teams battle. All of those were important factors, but the real key was, of course, the +5 turnover margin. That more than offset Indiana’s large margin in explosive plays. Indiana had 8 explosive plays totaling 324 yards, while Wake had just three explosive plays totaling 82 yards.
OFFENSE - STATS
Total Yards: 352 (compared to 389 against Duke and 175 against Tulane)
Explosive (20+ yard) Plays: 3
# of Drives > 40 Yards: 5
% of RB carries 3 yards or greater: 47% (compared to 59% against Duke and 44% against Tulane)
DEFENSE - STATS
Total Yards Against: 611
Explosive Plays Against: 8
# of Drives > 40 Yards Against: 8
Disruptive Plays by the DL: 3
Turnovers Forced: 5
SPECIAL TEAMS – STATS
“Special” Plays: 2 (46 yard field goal, and a blocked FG attempt)
WAKE’S EXPLOSIVE PLAYS
26 yard pass completion from John Wolford to Chuck Wade
23 yard run by Matt Colburn
33 yard pass completion from John Wolford to Tabari Hines
RUNNING BACKS
After finding success with a 75/25 (percent) run-pass mix against Duke, Wake would again look to the running game against Indiana. This time the play calling was 63/37 (percent) run-pass. However, the Wake run game was less effective than two weeks ago against Duke. The Deacon running backs gained 3 yards or more on 47% of runs, and 5 or more yards on five carries. The best moments for the RBs were two long runs by Matt Colburn: 23 yards at the end of 2Q and 17 yards at beginning of 3Q.
It’s interesting to note that the RBs have rarely been tackled for a loss. On Saturday they had zero TFLs on 34 carries.
It’s remarkable how much Colburn has improved from last year. He looks quicker and far more elusive. Keep in mind that one of the knocks on him during recruiting was a perceived lack of durability. He’s held up OK this year, but I’d prefer not to see him have too many more games where he gets 20+ carries (it was 29 against Indiana). I’d be concerned about the wear and tear.
PASSING GAME
Wake would gain 10 or more yards eleven times. 8 of those 11 plays would come courtesy of the passing game. The slot receiver committee of Chuck Wade and Tabari Hines were the busiest and most effective receivers on the day. Wade’s TD catch at the end of the 2Q was a huge play. Hines leaping 3Q reception was superb.
Here is a breakdown of Wolford’s pass targets:
Slot receivers (Wade/Hines): 9 completions on 14 pass targets (64% completion percentage). 4 completions of 10 yards or more.
Running backs: 4 completions on 5 pass targets (80%). 2 completions of 10 yards or more.
Outside WRs: 2 completions on 6 pass targets (33%). 2 completions of 10 yards or more.
Cam Serigne: 1 completion on 4 pass targets (25%). 0 completions of 10 yards or more.
The lack of contribution from Wake’s outside WRs continues to be a story. If you average the 3 FBS games, you get an average contribution of 2 completions on 7 pass targets (a 32% completion percentage).
Wolford has been getting more time in the pocket, but there are times that he seems to be holding the ball a long time. Either he’s not getting through his progressions quickly enough, his WR’s aren’t getting open, or he’s hesitating to before making certain throws. He usually ends up pulling the ball down and running with it.
OFFENSIVE LINE
The pass protection was good for most of the game. In 3Q the BTN announcers began to question why Indiana was not blitzing more given the relative ineffectiveness of their 4-man rush. Indiana did begin to get more creative with their blitzes in 4Q and Wake did struggle over a short stretch. In that stretch, Cam Serigne appeared to miss a couple of assignments that led to Wolford getting hit.
Ty Hayworth had a terrific block that helped lead to Matt Colburn’s second longest run of the day.
Individual breakdowns:
Phil Haynes (1): 3Q false start
Ryan Anderson (1): 3Q pass pressure
DEFENSIVE STANDOUTS
The Duke game was effectively The Duke Ejiofor Show, but the Indiana game had more players making key plays. Here are the ones I noted:
Jessie Bates had two INTs off pass deflections, including a pick-six
Duke Ejiofor had two pass deflections (1Q and 2Q)
Jaboree Williams showed that Marquel Lee isn’t the only Wake LB capable of great timing on a blitz when he knifed the Indiana OL for a big sack at the beginning of 2Q.
LBs Williams and Grant Dawson and DE Chris Calhoun all made nice plays to stop a 2Q fourth down conversion attempt just short of the line to gain.
Chris Calhoun’s 2Q hit on the QB caused the underthrown ball that was picked off by Brad Watson.
Josh Banks 2Q pass pressure led to a holding penalty. Banks was solid all game long.
Paris Black has got a couple of fingers on a pass that ended up hitting Grant Dawson right in the numbers for an INT. Black continues to look good when he’s on the field.
Ryan Janvion was active and did a great job securing a difficult catch for a 4Q INT.
Julian Thomas-Jackson continues to excel in his subpackage pass rush role. He added a 3Q sack.
The entire front seven should get credit for holding Indiana’s heralded RB Devine Redding to just 22 yards on 10 carries through 3 quarters. Redding padded his stats in the fourth quarter against Wake’s prevent defense. As a result the final stats didn’t reflect what a strong performance Wake’s run defense had on the day.
Credit the starters on defense with playing a lot of snaps. Injuries were probably a factor somewhat on the decision not to roll many second stringers out there, but there’s no denying that Wake had a lot of guys that played a lot of snaps on Saturday.
THE NOT-SO-GREAT MOMENTS
Indiana started the game with a 75-yard TD to Nick Westbrook. That play involved Amari Henderson trying to make a play on the ball instead of tackling Westbrook. The diving Henderson also took out Brad Watson, who may have been able to make a play. From the TV angles I wasn’t able to figure out why Henderson had no safety help on that play. But he didn’t. Indiana would throw at Henderson several more times in this game (he would get beaten for a 3Q TD on a fade route). To Henderson’s credit, I think he’d played a role in Jessie Bates 2Q pick-six when he made contact with the intended receiver right when the ball arrived, and added a nice pass breakup in 4Q.
Brad Watson bit on a play action fake and turned loose Ricky Johns for a 65 yard completion early in 3Q. That play was reminiscent of a near disastrous play against Tulane where Watson bailed on coverage when Tulane’s QB looked like he was going to run. Watson had an uneven day, with some clear positives as well. He had the blocked FG, an INT, a key 4Q pass breakup and some solid tackling.
PLAYING TIME NOTES
A’Lique Terry got at least one series at center and appeared to play well. Nathan Gilliam filled in at LT when Herron briefly left with an injury.
Chris Stewart was a surprise starter alongside Josh Banks. He played a lot and had a nice day.
Kalin McNeil saw at least a few plays at rover.
INJURIES
Marquel Lee missed a portion of the game but returned (and delivered a big hit late in the game). Duke Ejiofor received assistance from the trainers a couple of times, but didn’t appear to miss too many snaps. Justin Herron also left briefly but returned after one series.
OTHER NOTES
Full credit to Mike Weaver. The 6 points on field goals were big, and he looked solid on the 46 yarder. Then add in the punting, which included a 57 yarder and 3 punts downed inside the 20. He was a more than capable fill-in.
Last edited:
