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OFFICIAL WAKE FOREST FOOTBALL v. ELON thread

Yeah it was fine to start with, but when it's the 4th quarter and you are actually in the game, it doesn't make a ton of sense.
 
In looking back at some quick highlights, it seems to me like Elon put at least 7 men in the box consistently and dared Mitch to make the correct reads and get the ball out quickly enough. I think the strategy was smart and worked pretty well for them, hence our failures in the run game. Mitch should have been dominant in the pass game, but he went through his reads too slowly and held onto the ball too long. It was only his second game action ever, and I imagine things will pick him for him quickly in that department.

All of that aside, our OL still should have been better against a team of Elon's quality. I also wonder whether our TEs and WRs just did a terrible job blocking, because it sure seems like there were a few plays that one of them whiffing a block cost us a chunk of yards.
 
Thoughts a day after seeing the game in person and no replay:

Defense:

- Secondary showed out. There were a couple of times the receiver was open, but the throw was off. Other than that, they played really well. They kept short routes in front of them and closed quickly. Open field tackling is very much improved. I only remember one missed tackle by the secondary. Also, tackling technique is much better - the secondary was wrapping up and not trying to shoulder chuck players down (especially one on one). If this continues, it will be huge in limiting big pass plays. We know what we have in Malik - elite run support safety, played well in pass coverage. DB of the night for me was DeShawn Jones. He played really well, stayed with his man, got a pick, and really closed out and tackled well. Rankin showed himself a serviceable backup and I'm glad he got his redemption pick - that will go a long way to cement in his head that mistakes don't make the player - you keep playing.

Linebackers - Didn't notice too much. A few blitzes. Thought Jacob Roberts played a really good game. Hazen got washed a few times, but on the whole, decent effort from the corps.

Line - got pressure (and played really well against the run) early, but seemed to wear down over the course of the game. I'm not sure we have the size and depth for this to be a reliable unit. There is some quickness though, so I expect this year to be a little feast/famine and marked by inconsistency.

Offense:

Mitch - uneven game. Clawson seemed a little frustrated by his play in the post game. He managed the game fine. Needs to make reads more quickly, or learn to just take off. Of the sacks he took, I think only one was really on the OL, most were his internal clock/decision making. It looks to me that he needs to expand his idea of what "open" is, especially with the receivers we have. a quarter step at this level is open and trust the receivers to make a play. Don't know what he saw on the pick-6. He has the defender in the air and tried to slip it past him, but the defender quick jumped and got there in time. but regardless, the lane wasn't open. I think he has good tools and not a bad night for his second start ever. Initially was a little concerned that his hesitancy was that the receivers weren't getting separation, but I think Mitch just needs to trust them more.

Line - This is concerning. They weren't awful, but they weren't good against a team they should dominate. I think a lot of it is that we don't do a lot of drive blocking, which mitigates size/strength advantages and puts more pressure of the RBs to have patience and hit holes as soon as they open (making the RBs more reactive rather than running hard at where they are trusting a hole to be once they get there).

RBs - Claiborne will be good (16 carries, 80 yards). Ellison has a sub par game (10 carries for 20 yards). I am missing Will Towns. I like his size paired with Claiborne's speed. Claiborne's blocking has improved a ton since last year, which hopefully will get him more run.

WRs - Was hoping to see more of the second unit, but we have good receivers. Grimes has improved a ton and can be trusted. Banks is next man up in the tall, contested catch position we've had. He had a great game.

TE - 3 catches for Hite and showed speed I didn't know he had. Would love it if he filled the Serigne role.

Special teams

3 KOs deep in the endzone, 2 shallow endzone, 2 out of the endzone that weren't returned past the 25. Good showing.

Punts - first couple were end over end and shortish, but Mora settled in.

PR - Morin is great - unfortunate for the one punt to bounce off our helmet of our guy who was pushed into the Morin, so spatial awareness to work on

KR - Key can be dangerous back there.

Dennis was perfect.

Overall, I think our return game looked better than it is b/c Elon's kicker hit them low and gave us time to return it, but overall, ST were a strength.
 
OL was far from impressive but many of the running plays that went nowhere were right into the teeth of a loaded box. And holes appeared to be there on a handful of Ellison runs but he danced around too much in the backfield and the holes disappeared.

Elon knew Wake would try to establish the ground game regardless of the numbers disadvantage so they gameplanned well.
 
deacswin said:
Take away the pick 6 and if a couple of those DPIs get called, we probably wouldn't be talking as much about our OL problems. The "close" game exacerbated our line issues and run game, not to mention the freaking running clock (hate the new clock rules). Elon clearly wanted to focus on shutting down the run, pressure Mitch and have their db's play very physical. With pass interference not being called, it allowed them to come after us. It didn't help that Mitch hesitated to throw the ball at times and our OL wasn't picking up the delayed blitz.
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Yes they played with 7 and 8 in box later in the game, when they knew we'd want to run clock, and they smashed us, its a pure numbers game. . . felt a little outcoached at that point.
 
I feel like our linebackers have been invisible for the last 5 years. Roberts did stick out though.
 
We always forget. Clawson ain’t showing all the new wrinkles in this offense until he has to. I’m convinced there is a roll out package and multiple run packages. You can’t judge right now when Griffis was confined to the pocket. We played a game last night we don practice tomorrow.
 
macktheknife said:
We always forget. Clawson ain’t showing all the new wrinkles in this offense until he has to. I’m convinced there is a roll out package and multiple run packages. You can’t judge right now when Griffis was confined to the pocket. We played a game last night we don practice tomorrow.
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with all my heart, I wish I could believe you . . . but I've been a fan for far too long.. . .
 
wakefan1995 said:
Vandy is going to kill us on Kickoff returns. Be prepared for them to get a few big returns before we just start kicking it out of bounds.
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Our kickoff guy had 4 touchbacks on 8 kickoffs last night, and on the 4 kickoffs that were returned the best field position that Elon got was to the 26 yard line.

This is an incredibly weird thing to be concerned about after what we saw last night.
 
macktheknife said:
We always forget. Clawson ain’t showing all the new wrinkles in this offense until he has to. I’m convinced there is a roll out package and multiple run packages. You can’t judge right now when Griffis was confined to the pocket. We played a game last night we don practice tomorrow.
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Is that why we ran a jet sweep for the first time in.......... I can't remember???
 
wakefan1995 said:
Vandy is going to kill us on Kickoff returns. Be prepared for them to get a few big returns before we just start kicking it out of bounds.
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Not too sure about that. The long return against Hawaii was against a weird KO formation where they overloaded themselves to the left, but kicked it the middle of the field. He has some speed, but not a forgone conclusion that we'll get torched. Carson kicked pretty well last night (at least better than we've seen in recent years).
 
What's the situation with LB Hudson #15? Was in shorts and not on depth chart.
 
deacon14 said:
Our kickoff guy had 4 touchbacks on 8 kickoffs last night, and on the 4 kickoffs that were returned the best field position that Elon got was to the 26 yard line.

This is an incredibly weird thing to be concerned about after what we saw last night.
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The height he was getting on his kicks is what impressed me. In the last few years, if we tried to kick it deep, the trajectory was so low we couldn't get down field to cover. Now, at least if it isn't a touchback, we've got some hangtime to allow are coverage team to get downfield.
 
I think our kickoff guy is pretty damn good based on just last night. He has a lot of airtime on them and it's clear he's been instructed to kick it to the goal line.
 
Get Hudson back soon.

Carson healthy.

How long is Chaney out? He's got a little interior size at 6'4/280 as a backup. Crespi played a lot, was surprised by that.

Run more jet sweeps. YES!

Griffis is a baller, he likes contact, I really think he wants to run the ball. He's kind of like Kirk Cousins, in that he likes the physicality of the game, unlike Hartman who was not having any part of contact last year.

We need to hand the ball to a 3rd back, just for wear and tear. At least 5 carries for Carney next game and same v. ODU.
 
Elon predominantly played cover zero and just attacked the box with a variety of blitzes (this is why the run game struggled; hard to run with that many guys in the box; especially when WF doesn't test the edges with the run). WF burned Elon for a few big plays early, but as the game went on, Griffis seemed to hold the ball a little longer, and WF wasn't quite as good at protecting Griffis; also, if opposing defenses are going to continue to leave the corners on an island, there are going to be a ton of DPIs. Apparently, part of the cover zero strategy is to just maul the WF receivers with the thought that the reffs will get tired of calling DPI after awhile. Really sucks. If this is the way games are called at home against Elon, not that jazzed about the likelihood of WF getting DPIs on the road against name opponents and coaches that work the reffs the entire game.

The difference between a disappointing second half and a 40+ blowout came down to a fraction of seconds on Elon blitzes. With a little more time and/or a quicker trigger, those sacks become big plays. We can expect the same from bigger more talented defenses. So, Mitch is going to have make faster reads, even if it means throwing the ball away, and the tackles need to better protecting. Lots to work on.

FWIW, the secondary appears to be massively improved. Realize WF was playing Elon, but the secondary seems so much more athletic and faster than last year. Run defense seemed better than expected. Will see if that's more a function of Elon or the defense being deeper and more talented despite last year's losses.
 
There wasn't any real reason for Wake to run the ball given the looks Elon showed. I mean sure you're going to do it to keep the defense honest but when teams have like 7 guys in the box, running it makes no sense.
 
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