Wake Forest

Little Dave first discovered his ability to meander across the moral line for his own devices in middle school. 4th grade was the absolute sweet spot for lunch choice. Yes, there is a school cafeteria offering, but with this amazing maturity, you are able to clearly communicate to your parent what you want in your daily brown bag. Unfortunately, Dave did not have the home resources that his classmates seemed to possess. He got a PB&J every day with a clear, sad ziplock of whatever carrot / celery mix Mom nabbed at 6 am. What our boy did have was size, as Little Dave was not so little. By week two, he had a steady rotation of “trade partners”, and was regularly enjoying ham & swiss, homemade chicken salad and a cornucopia of salty snacks with a delicious piece de resistance of pudding. It was amazing what staring down a prepubescent 9 year old on the back of the bus will deliver. 

Well, Dave Clawson ended up a pretty large boy, but his big coaching break brought him to a very small school with an even more miniscule budget, fan base and desire to be great at football. So, he had to go back to his roots and figure out a way to do more with much, much less. Mission accomplished. Wake gets away with a morally bankrupt offensive philosophy, in my opinion just because of who they are. This mesh concept in the backfield only works if it is not blown up right in front. If you watch the nominally talented offensive line work, you understand. Most lineman shoot their hands out in front about shoulder width and engage. The three interior boys from Winston Salem shoot their hands wide and flat out hold everyone in front of them for 2-3 seconds as that freeze happens behind them. I guess the theory is that if you do it every play, it is just deemed normal. It’s not, it is a pandora of penalties on every down. Listen, Clemson has seven guys on their two deep D line that are gonna play on Sundays, and they could not get close to disrupting this offense. We fared just a little better, but for most of the day, looked generally hockey-veteran toothless. Give him credit,  because in addition to being a press conference idiot, he is an offensive genius, and on this Saturday, morally corrupt genius won easily. This is not sour grapes, you just gotta find a way to beat this garbage - especially at home - and we do not currently have the horses in the barn to do it.

The two most glaring holes in our storm shutters were our our offensive tackles and the entirety of our d line. Not an excuse, but do not forget that our two starting tackles as we exited Fall camp are both still wearing sweats on the sideline, and one has enough free time, he is attacking a grad degree. The two backups were a click better than turnstiles this week. If Wake rushed three, the two outside guys brought sugar and cream to the tea party on Jordan’s lap. Both were meant to be backup guards, and with the defensive lines we have coming up on the schedule, look for a bunch of double TE sets to give JT a little more freedom to set his feet. Obviously, this also resulted in a myriad of blown runs to the edge as well. If somehow we can get Robert Scott back soon, and he did dress out so he is close, then we have a chance to band aid this exterior mess. 

This was the first game that Jordan was not just Africa sidewalk hot, but if this is the floor, I’ll take it. He missed about five throws, still had no picks, and in the second half settled into a terrific rhythm. He is clearly not healthy in his lower half, as the ground game is nonexistent, and the result is an all out overcommitment by every defense in the direction of the runner being handed off to. It was obvious from the stands on about 15 plays that if JT had kept it and gone the other way, he had pastures to play. But, right now, he is not that guy. A few more weeks of non contact , and we might see the electric bugaloo that is a loose Jordan. The playcalling, which was crazy great on the opening script, went dormant for the rest of the first half. I think that the coaches honestly looked at film and felt that we would be able to run at will against this bunch, and it took a colossally bad called series at the end of the first half to finally convince them that running traditional sets behind this set of tackles was a nonstarter. After that, the only thing that stopped us were the older dudes wearing vertical prison stripes. I don’t rewatch losses, but I sincerely hope that the Washington holding call in the 3rd quarter was a borderline arrestable offense, because that call (along with the Greedy whiff), changed the game. That call turned an imminent 7 points into a 3rd and a Denver airport Uber. In a blink, the game was seemingly out of reach.

Until we fought back again. Gotta love Norvell teams. A one legged Jared Verse and a precocious freshman Payton fought through the grabby Forest to give us another chance in Candy Land. The offense fed off the reinvigorated Doak denizens and got this to a one score game with 9 minutes to play. Then, the moment we were hoping for…the no mistake Sam Hartman threw a short jump ball right to us on a crucial third down. Five eleven Greedy Vance somehow allowed a guy behind him to reach over the top of his gold helmet - probably scratched a tomahawk off in the process - and steal the ball. Drive continues, and our crowd goes into a stunned silence and hope heads for Tennessee Street. 

This defense is just down too many big talented bodies right now. Your best lineman in still on crutches, and the aforementioned Mr. Verse was competing on heart alone. Cooper is a spaceeater, but not a playmaker, and McLendon was only available for a half dozen plays himself. Payton also left the game  hurt late. The sad truth is that Jessica Alba blew through town without calling, again, and we are not talented enough past the hurt starters to bring wins against good offenses right now. 

On the back end, I am hoping for a changing of the guard. The safeties are still playing great, but it is good to see Shy Brown getting so many snaps and making plays all over the field. But, our staff obsession with Jarrian Jones has to end. It is time to play AZ Thomas on most downs. He matched up with Wake's best guy in AT Perry the entire 4th quarter - which should tell you something - and gave up nothing. He is tall, and can really run. He will take some lumps, but to have a corner that actually plays the ball would be welcome awesomeness. 

Hey Chuck, is it Thanksgiving already? Our poor Charley Brown of a kicker has the confidence of an acne infested 9th grader in the Playboy Mansion. If Coach pulls him out of this, it will be a case study for psychiatry professionals across the country. That missed kick at the end of the half sounded like a contest winner shanking the attempt for a grand at halftime. OooF. What we do from here on out is a mystery. Extra points feel fortunate. We might be going for it on every 4th down inside the 50 for the remainder of the season. What a mess. 

But alas kids, the World is still ok. Your Noles are 4-1 and even if the next two weeks are a predictable tough road, this team is going bowling with wins over GT and Louisiana. Any other combo of wins probably means a rival went down and you have reversed a 5-7 record from last year. If you pull a win out of Raleigh, you are playing for the ACC Championship appearance on October 15th. So, hang in there my fiends. Would you have signed up for 7-5 or 8-4 when Jordan went down before the half at Louisville, or before a Brown block in the Big Easy? Exactly. Remember that as we ride this fun rollercoaster through a competitive season for the first time in 5 years...Go Noles!