Coaching Matchup: Wake Forest's Dave Clawson vs Missouri's Eliah Drinkwitz
Wake Forest takes on Mizzou this week in football for the first time ever. Although the two programs have never met, the head coaches leading each team are no strangers. Dave Clawson and Eli Drinkwitz have matched up three times over their careers. From 2016-2018, Drinkwitz was the offensive coordinator at NC State. Let’s take a look at what happened in his face-offs against Dave Clawson’s defense.
2016: NC State 33, Wake Forest 17
Drinkwitz won the first meeting between these two coaches, as he orchestrated an impressive offensive victory over the Demon Deacons. Led by QB Ryan Finley, NC State led from start to finish.
The NC State offense averaged 27 points per game in 2016. This result was their second-highest scoring game against an ACC opponent throughout the entire season. On the other side, the Wake Forest defense averaged 22 points against per game this year. The only offense all season to outscore Drinkwitz and the Wolfpack’s 33 against Wake Forest was the national champion Clemson Tigers.
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Round one went to the offensive coordinator. It was up to Clawson and his staff to adapt for next season.
2017: Wake Forest 30, NC State 24
In round two, it was Dave Clawson’s group that emerged victorious. The key reason for the victory — Wake Forest forced three turnovers, as Drinkwitz’ offense struggled to take care of the football. It was the third-lowest scoring output for NC State from the entire 2017 season.
The Wolfpack averaged an impressive 32 points per game, but Clawson’s group found a way to slow them down. The Demon Deacon defense gave up 28 points per game in 2017, highlighting how Wake Forest had adjusted to the Drinkwitz offense from the year prior. It was an impressive showing, but Clawson’s best performance against the Wolfpack was yet to come.
2018: Wake Forest 27, NC State 24
We recapped this game back in early November, so you can check out a breakdown here.
For our purposes, we’re going to focus on how the Wake Forest defense was able to keep the Wolfpack out of the endzone. NC State was held to only two touchdowns, as the Deacs forced their rivals to kick three field goals. Part of the success for Wake Forest was stopping the run game, as NC State managed only 27 yards on the ground.
Compare that to the season averages, and you can see how once again, Clawson and his staff prepared extremely well for Drinkwitz’s offense. NC State averaged 33 points per game and 143 rushing yards in 2018. The only other teams that held the Wolfpack under three total touchdowns that year were the national champion Clemson Tigers, along with Texas A&M in the bowl game after Drinkwitz had accepted the head coaching position at Appalachian State.
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The Wake Forest defense gave up 32.8 points and 192 yards per game in 2018. The only other team that rushed for less than 100 yards against the Deacs that season was Towson. This game was truly the performance of the year by the Wake Forest defense. And after it was over, Coach Clawson held a 2-1 lead against Drinkwitz.
2022: ?
The players are different and the competition has changed, but the numbers from their previous matchups paint an interesting picture in this coaching matchup. One last important note — since taking over at Wake Forest, Dave Clawson is 2-0 against the SEC, while Coach Drinkwitz is 0-1 at Missouri when facing the ACC.
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Ben is a contributing writer for Deacons Daily A '22 Wake Forest graduate, Ben has also written at RedbirdRants, the St. Louis Cardinals FanSided site, for two and a half years.