Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson recaps Louisville loss, breaks down NC State
Coming off a disappointing 48-21 loss to Louisville on Saturday, there is no doubt that the Deacons made mistakes. Combine those with the fire and effort that the Cardinals played with, and it became clear that Wake Forest did not put themselves in a position to win.
“In Louisville, we played a very talented football team,” head coach Dave Clawson said in his midweek press conference. “Like I said after the game, they outplayed us. They deserve a lot of credit for how they played and the energy they brought to the game. We made a lot of mistakes that we can't afford to make — clearly, the eight turnovers. You're never going to win a football game doing that.”
And while those eight turnovers all in some way came off the hands of quarterback Sam Hartman, that by no means indicates that he is at fault for all of them. In fact, Clawson believed that many of them were products of breakdowns all over the field.
“[The narrative of] Sam having another one of those meltdown games, that's not accurate at all with this game,” Clawson said. “I'm not gonna go up here and tell you he had the best game of his career here. [But], you go back and watch the film, and he's responsible for maybe one and a half of those turnovers.”
“The first pick that he threw for a pick six was a perfectly thrown ball, threw it exactly where he should,” Clawson continued. “We were running a comeback, and on a comeback, you come back. Instead of coming back, he drifted and let the guy undercut it. Those are just the type of things that happened in that game that, to me, were a lack of detail.”
When a team loses like that — a full breakdown in nearly every aspect of the game — there are numerous things to learn from.
“It's across the board,” Clawson said. “There's times that we didn't protect well, didn't throw well or didn't catch it. I don't think anybody came into this meeting room on Sunday and said ‘Well, geez, I did my job.’ We made enough mistakes that I think, collectively, we just need to move forward.”
Moving forward this week is key, no doubt. On Saturday, Wake Forest will face off against perhaps their biggest rival, No. 21 NC State, in Raleigh. The Deacs will have to bounce back from their eight-turnover performance against an stout Wolfpack defense.
“Their defensive coordinator, Tony Gibson, knows the system inside and out,” Clawson said. “He does a great job of mixing up calls keeping you off balance [with] fronts, blitzes and coverages. This is an elite unit.”
The Wolfpack unit is loaded with talent, including linebackers Isaiah Moore, Peyton Moore and Drake Thomas. At safety, Tanner Ingle is someone the Deacs will have to watch out for.
“Those guys are all high level ACC players,” Clawson said. “In my opinion, Tanner Ingle is one of the very best defensive football players in the country and the ACC. That guy is a heat seeking missile. The plays he makes as a blitzer, the tackles he makes in space. He's a first-team all-ACC player.”
On the other side of the ball, NC State is missing their biggest offensive piece, quarterback Devin Leary.
“What they've accomplished this year — losing their starting quarterback — is really a credit to [HC Dave Doeren] and his staff,” Clawson said. “They’re 6-2 and nationally ranked. I'm sure they went into this year counting on having Devin Leary the whole year. But they've adjusted, they've had two gut check wins. To come back and beat Florida State and Virginia Tech the way they did were great program wins.”
New starter MJ Morris, who came in in relief last week and threw three touchdowns, will be difficult to prepare for, especially with the Deacs potentially being down DE Rondell Bothroyd. Wake Forest will be his first NCAA start, thus the team will have little film to review. But NC State will also have to input a full scheme with a young QB.
“You have an idea what [NC State is] doing [offensively],” Clawson said. “They also have two extra days to get ready for us. When they put him in, they kept things fairly simple for him. Now they've got nine days to prepare him as the starter, so I’m sure they’ll have a good plan.”
As both teams prepare for what lies ahead, they do so knowing that this game is one that is marked in bold on each other’s schedules.
“Everybody in our program knows that these guys don't give you anything easily,” Clawson said. The in-state rival games are a big deal to us. We still know what we're playing for. It's about preparing for the environment and the opponent. The greater the opponent, the greater the challenge. And these guys are always really good.”
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Essex is the lead football writer and a managing editor for Deacons Daily. Essex served as the Sports Editor for the Old Gold & Black for two years, in addition to roles as a beat and feature writer.