Quotables and Notables: Wake Forest Game
Andy Backstrom (
@andybackstrom)
Publisher
Injuries have decimated Boston College for the second season in a row. And, for a program still trying to accumulate ACC-caliber depth in the third year of head coach Jeff Hafley's stay, that kind of misfortune can be debilitating.
At then-No. 13 Wake Forest Saturday, BC was without three of its Week 1 starting offensive linemen, a starting wideout, plus two cornerbacks—and later three—among other players. Drew Kendall was sidelined with a broken wrist, meaning that Jackson Ness had to move over from guard to make his first career start at center. That came with growing pains, including a handful of procedural penalties.
In the back end, the Eagles had to move things around again. When corner Elijah Jones let the game with injury, nickel Josh DeBerry moved to the outside, opposite of true freshman Amari Jackson. Free safety Jason Maitre slid down to nickel, where he spent most of the 2020 season, and redshirt freshman Cole Batson slotted in at free safety.
The secondary did its best, with Batson even coming up with his first career interception, but Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman and the Demon Deacons' arsenal of wide receivers were too much for the shorthanded Eagles to overcome in a 43-15 victory.
QUOTABLES
The closest BC got to tying the game was in the second half when quarterback Phil Jurkovec scrambled in for a touchdown, and then Batson came up with a diving, tip-drill interception that gave the Eagles the ball near midfield down, 28-15, late in the third quarter. Most notably because of a missed 2nd-and-6 wheel route pass to running back Pat Garwo III, BC failed to capitalize on the takeaway—a theme of the 2022 campaign—and
Hafley trotted out his punt team on 4th-and-6 from the BC 46-yard line.
The Eagles had gone for it earlier in the game on 4th-and-11 from the Wake 37. After that, Wake drove 88 yards for a touchdown that put pretty much put the game out of reach. Postgame, Hafley explained that, due to field position, those fourth down situations can't really be compared.
"Totally different field position," Hafley said of the late third quarter scenario. Plus [37], be aggressive. Worst case scenario, make them drive 60 plus yards to score a touchdown."
Not only did the Eagles continue to struggle with scoring points off turnovers, but their red zone issues persisted as well. On BC's second drive of the game, it marched all the way to the Wake 5-yard line. Then things went sideways. Jurkovec threw a dangerous pass to the back of the end zone that could have been picked. Running back Alex Broome was stopped for a loss of two on the next play. After that, a false start penalty on right tackle Jack Conley backed BC up even more.
Hafley burned the second timeout of the drive before Jurkovec's 3rd-and-12 pass fell incomplete. The Eagles, who entered the week 103rd nationally in red zone touchdown percentage (52.94%), had to settle for a 29-yard field goal.
"We gotta score a touchdown there," Hafley said. "We're playing the No. 13 team in the country that scores 41 points a game. You get down to the five, and you have to score touchdowns to win the game."
This was the second year Hafley's defensive system faced an experienced and proven Demon Deacons offense that's among the best in the FBS. The slow-mesh yet high-octane unit had its way with BC. Hartman accounted for six total touchdowns. After starting 1-of-4, he completed 15 of his next 17 pass attempts, taking what the Eagles were giving him in zone coverage. A slew of back shoulder throws did the trick, too. Sixth-year Eagles defensive end
Marcus Valdez was honest postgame about just how hard Wake's RPO-heavy offense is to defend, even when you've prepared for what's coming.
"They put everyone in bind: the backers in a bind, guys fitting in the run," Valdez explained. "We have run/pass fits. They have to stay in there, depending on the call. It sucks, honestly."
The play that restored wind in the Eagles' sails, or wings if you will, was the 61-yard touchdown pass from Jurkovec to
Zay Flowers in the second quarter. It was only made possible by a peculiar sequence. First, Danny Longman dashed for 24 yards—nine more than his previous punt traveled—on a fake punt. BC went for it on the ensuing fourth down—the aforementioned 4th-and-11—and, although Jurkovec was initially strip sacked, Conley forced the ball out of the hands of Wake D-Lineman Jasheen Davis, who had recovered Jurkovec's fumble. Ness hopped on
that fumble, and the Eagles were gifted with a fresh set of downs. Soon after, Flowers had his house call.
"It was just a 1-on-1," Flowers said. "And I pride myself on winning 1-on-1 matchups, especially if he's off, and it's a deep ball. So it's just win my route and get in the end zone to help my team stay in the game."
Hafley added: "They play with very aggressive safeties, and you gotta take some shots to have them deepen up. And we were able to do it on that play, which was a really good throw and a really good catch, and it gave us momentum. And it kind of put us back in the game. We couldn't get it to one possession. It stayed at two possessions for a while, and then it got away from us."
With the loss, BC dropped to 2-5 on the season. The Eagles still have two top-25 opponents—North Carolina State and Syracuse—remaining on their schedule. And they rank toward the bottom of the country in most major offensive statistical categories. Even so, the players haven't thrown in the towel yet.
Similar to how BC played Clemson tight in the first half, the Eagles didn't really unravel versus Wake until late in the third quarter. The execution is far from what anyone inside or outside the program expected or wanted at the start of the year. The effort, however, can't be questioned.
Hafley recalled postgame how, once he entered the locker room, he was impressed by what was taking place.
"We had one player who called up the whole team," Hafley said. "Most of the time in those situations that I've been in, you get guys kind of sulking in their lockers. Complaining, probably saying they're not playing enough. Probably saying something about a coach. And coaches doing the same thing. But I walked into the locker room, and we got a guy talking as positive as can be, keeping the team together. I almost didn't have to address the team. And that's impressive."
Valdez expanded upon the anecdote, saying that do-it-all graduate DB Jason Maitre was the veteran described above.
"He's a very good leader on this team," Valdez said of Maitre. "A guy I'd go to war with any day. He's great. I love him. He brought it up. And he said, we're gonna keep growing. We fought today. Our record is what it is, but what can we do? We can't sulk about it. On to the next game.
"At the end of the day, we can't pack it in. We gotta keep going."
NOTABLES
— BC's Phil Jurkovec had as many passing yards (174) as Hartman in the first half. But, after starting 15-of-26, he finished just 20-of-38. Jurkovec also gained 41 yards on nine carries, however, he netted only 21 rushing yards because of sacks.
— Actually, the Eagles' leading rusher on the day was punter Danny Longman, who picked up 24 yards on BC's fake punt call in the second quarter.
— Five different Demon Deacons reeled in at least three receptions Saturday. Three of them found the end zone, too, with both Jahmal Banks and Taylor Morin each scoring twice.
— BC wide receiver Zay Flowers recorded his eighth career 100-yard receiving game—that's tied for second most in program history. He also matched a career high (set earlier this season) with 10 receptions.
— Eagles backup quarterback Emmett Morehead came in during the fourth quarter when the game was out of hand. That's the fifth time he's seen action this season, and BC was getting blown out in four of those games. Morehead was 4-of-7 for 38 yards.
— BC wideout Jaden Williams was out with injury, so true freshman Joe Griffin stepped up. He grabbed four passes for 50 yards in the loss.
— Eagles free safety Cole Batson made the most of his increased playing time. In addition to his interception—just BC's sixth pick of the year—he also had eight total tackles (tied for the team lead), including five solos.
— Led by defensive end Rondell Bothroyd (two TFLs), Wake piled up nine TFLs against BC as well as two sacks and five quarterback hurries.
— BC amassed 11 penalties for 104 penalty yards. Of those 11 penalties, four were false starts.
