DeacAssured
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2015
- Messages
- 1,815
- Reaction score
- 103
FORGET fsu! WF is GOOD!
This was one Wake Forest should’ve won. This would’ve been no upset. Florida State beat the Deacons 26-19 Saturday, but Wake walked away from this one with a gnawing feeling that it has a better team than FSU and that the next win might be a long ways off. The first loss of the season for the Deacons might turn out to be the biggest loss of the season. Florida State scored late to break the hearts of Wake fans everywhere, but there were no tears of joy for hanging around. Wake wanted no part of a moral victory.
Wake should’ve won this game. “It’s hard to say you’re better than a team when you didn’t beat them,” Dave Clawson said afterward. “We can play with these people.” There will be a lot of these people now. Road trips to Clemson and Georgia Tech await. And then Louisville and Notre Dame come after that. With what’s still ahead for the Deacs, this was one they’ll look back on and see as an opportunity wasted. Wake might be better than it thought it was. Wake is definitely better than Florida State thought. And now the grueling run through the schedule continues.
Now 4-1, it will be interesting to see where the Deacons go from here. Last week’s win over Appalachian State was an emotional high. Saturday’s loss to FSU was an emotional low. Clawson said the team was crushed. [NO WAY!] All week, the coaches and players watched Florida State on tape. They saw the big defensive linemen and the mobile linebackers. They saw the speed of the skill players and the secondary. But they didn’t see the same Florida State team they’d seen all those years ago. They saw the team they played close the past two seasons.
“We went into the game really believing that we could win the game,” Clawson said. And as the game wound down, and all the plays of the day added up to 19-19 with less than a minute to play, it was all going to be reduced to one play. But looking back on it, every play in the entire game was the biggest play of the game.
Wake took away Florida State’s inside run game early. That came as a shock to the Seminoles, who stubbornly tried off and on all day to establish the power game. But the Deacons were stronger up front. FSU’s biggest plays came mostly outside, and of the 149 yards rushing for Florida State, 96 came on two plays. The fact is, Wake reduced FSU to a desperation attack. And that’s ultimately what did in the Deacons. A 69-yard run by Jacques Patrick came when the Deacs had the Noles pinned on their 1-yard line. A 43-yard catch by Keith Gavin came on third-and-20 and led to Florida State’s tying field goal with 6:20 to play.’
And then the FSU touchdown pass from James Blackman to Auden Tate came in the desperate final minute. From the outset, the Deacs figured out the Florida State linemen couldn’t stop the Wake pass rush. They’d seen it on film, but until it became apparent to FSU too in the first quarter, the Deacons didn’t know how Jimbo Fisher and the Florida State offense would react. The reaction was a series of screen passes and runs to the edge, downfield routes and spread formations. Florida State decided it could beat Wake Forest with athleticism. And that was the second great shock to Fisher and FSU.
Wake is every bit as fast as Florida State and even more physical. This isn’t your mother’s Wake Forest football team. Clawson has built a program capable of winning games against the best programs in America. But now it’s going to be tested. Wake might indeed be better than Florida State, but Clemson is too. Maybe a lot better. And Georgia Tech showed Saturday that it’s going to be tough to beat at home. And then will come a blood-letting, the first return of Louisville to Winston-Salem since the Cardinals received inside information from a Wake Forest informant last year and then lied about it.
This is how it’s going to be for the Deacs from here on out. Every game will be an emotional Ferris wheel. And every play of every game could decide it. Wake Forest will try and forget what happened Saturday against Florida State. But it’s likely to linger. This one will haunt the Deacons. Wake ran down Florida State again, something they’ve done time and again in their history. But beating FSU takes its toll as the Deacs found out yet again.
Wake beat Florida State in every way possible Saturday. And then lost at the bitter end. Contact Ed Hardin at 336-373-7069, and follow @Ed_Hardin on Twitter.
This was one Wake Forest should’ve won. This would’ve been no upset. Florida State beat the Deacons 26-19 Saturday, but Wake walked away from this one with a gnawing feeling that it has a better team than FSU and that the next win might be a long ways off. The first loss of the season for the Deacons might turn out to be the biggest loss of the season. Florida State scored late to break the hearts of Wake fans everywhere, but there were no tears of joy for hanging around. Wake wanted no part of a moral victory.
Wake should’ve won this game. “It’s hard to say you’re better than a team when you didn’t beat them,” Dave Clawson said afterward. “We can play with these people.” There will be a lot of these people now. Road trips to Clemson and Georgia Tech await. And then Louisville and Notre Dame come after that. With what’s still ahead for the Deacs, this was one they’ll look back on and see as an opportunity wasted. Wake might be better than it thought it was. Wake is definitely better than Florida State thought. And now the grueling run through the schedule continues.
Now 4-1, it will be interesting to see where the Deacons go from here. Last week’s win over Appalachian State was an emotional high. Saturday’s loss to FSU was an emotional low. Clawson said the team was crushed. [NO WAY!] All week, the coaches and players watched Florida State on tape. They saw the big defensive linemen and the mobile linebackers. They saw the speed of the skill players and the secondary. But they didn’t see the same Florida State team they’d seen all those years ago. They saw the team they played close the past two seasons.
“We went into the game really believing that we could win the game,” Clawson said. And as the game wound down, and all the plays of the day added up to 19-19 with less than a minute to play, it was all going to be reduced to one play. But looking back on it, every play in the entire game was the biggest play of the game.
Wake took away Florida State’s inside run game early. That came as a shock to the Seminoles, who stubbornly tried off and on all day to establish the power game. But the Deacons were stronger up front. FSU’s biggest plays came mostly outside, and of the 149 yards rushing for Florida State, 96 came on two plays. The fact is, Wake reduced FSU to a desperation attack. And that’s ultimately what did in the Deacons. A 69-yard run by Jacques Patrick came when the Deacs had the Noles pinned on their 1-yard line. A 43-yard catch by Keith Gavin came on third-and-20 and led to Florida State’s tying field goal with 6:20 to play.’
And then the FSU touchdown pass from James Blackman to Auden Tate came in the desperate final minute. From the outset, the Deacs figured out the Florida State linemen couldn’t stop the Wake pass rush. They’d seen it on film, but until it became apparent to FSU too in the first quarter, the Deacons didn’t know how Jimbo Fisher and the Florida State offense would react. The reaction was a series of screen passes and runs to the edge, downfield routes and spread formations. Florida State decided it could beat Wake Forest with athleticism. And that was the second great shock to Fisher and FSU.
Wake is every bit as fast as Florida State and even more physical. This isn’t your mother’s Wake Forest football team. Clawson has built a program capable of winning games against the best programs in America. But now it’s going to be tested. Wake might indeed be better than Florida State, but Clemson is too. Maybe a lot better. And Georgia Tech showed Saturday that it’s going to be tough to beat at home. And then will come a blood-letting, the first return of Louisville to Winston-Salem since the Cardinals received inside information from a Wake Forest informant last year and then lied about it.
This is how it’s going to be for the Deacs from here on out. Every game will be an emotional Ferris wheel. And every play of every game could decide it. Wake Forest will try and forget what happened Saturday against Florida State. But it’s likely to linger. This one will haunt the Deacons. Wake ran down Florida State again, something they’ve done time and again in their history. But beating FSU takes its toll as the Deacs found out yet again.
Wake beat Florida State in every way possible Saturday. And then lost at the bitter end. Contact Ed Hardin at 336-373-7069, and follow @Ed_Hardin on Twitter.
