Behind Enemy Lines: Wake Forest
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Publisher
Boston College hosts Wake Forest Saturday afternoon. It's the Eagles' home finale, ACC finale and regular season finale. And there are ACC title implications.
BC can spoil Wake Forest's conference championship hopes with a win.
Accomplishing that would entail the Eagles logging their first victory over an AP-ranked opponent since 2014.
Here at Eagle Action, we reached out to Deacons Illustrated publisher Conor O'Neill to learn more about No. 21 Wake Forest (9-2, 6-1).
Q: What makes Sam Hartman so effective and how has he taken his game to the next level this season?
O'Neill: Hartman has taken his game to the next level with improved decision making, as we’ve kind of come to expect with Wake Forest QBs as they become more experienced in the offense.
John Wolford was surgical by the end of his senior season in 2017, and it was in Jamie Newman’s fourth season that he took the next step (before the wheels came off of the 2019 season). It’s kind of been the same for Hartman this year (also his fourth season), as he rarely has made the wrong read in Wake’s RPO, slow-mesh offense.
It helps that Hartman raised his weight – the only time BC saw him was the third start of his career, a 41-34 Eagles win that wasn’t that close. Hartman played that freshman season at about 175 pounds – I think Zach Allen could’ve used him as a toothpick – and he’s now at about 210, able to take hits and not feel lingering affects.
Q: The wide receiver duo of Jaquarii Roberson and AT Perry is arguably the best in the ACC. But who are the x-factors on Wake Forest's offense?
O'Neill: Their other receivers haven’t been bad, it’s just that Wake’s offense is typically going to have a slot who’s relied on in crucial spots (Roberson) and at least one deep threat to win 50-50 balls (Perry).
Taylor Morin and Donald Stewart are the Deacons’ other wide receivers, and they’ve been reliable when called upon. Morin was Roberson’s backup in the slot last season and has more elusiveness and agility than Wake’s wide receivers typically do.
There’s been a little bit of a tight end renaissance lately, with Brandon Chapman and Blake Whiteheart both notching touchdowns in the last two games. That’s significant if only because they were the second and third touchdowns for a WF tight end in the last two seasons.
Q: What went wrong last week at Clemson? Was it more than just turnovers and a lack of run game?
O'Neill: Last week was a weird game in that it was a game in three parts: Clemson looked like it would dominate in the first quarter, Wake Forest found its footing in the second quarter and it seemed like it’d be a close-ish game, and then came the third-quarter turnovers and more dominance from Clemson.
As good as Wake’s offense has been for the last five seasons, the one man who’s had it figured out on a regular basis is Brent Venables. Clemson has always been able to create pressure and speed up the slow mesh – I mean, it’s on tape and it’s no secret: You have to blow up the interior of the offensive line – and WF is still searching for how to address that.
Q: How is Wake Forest injury-wise at this point of the season?
O'Neill: They are as hobbled as anybody, with the caveat that we need official injury reports in college football to be certain.
But I digress …
Wake Forest was missing two-thirds of its three-pronged running back attack last week, its starting center, its best safety, its best cornerback and a starting defensive end.
So I mean, it’s not quite on the level of having 15 players out with flu-like symptoms … but they’ve got some key guys missing.
Q: Obviously, defense has been the Demon Deacons' weak point in 2021 (allowing 30.8 points per game). What are their biggest deficiencies on that side of the ball?
O'Neill: In Wake’s two losses this season, the Deacons have given up 330 and 333 yards rushing. In the overtime survival at Syracuse, the Orange had 354 rushing yards; and in the shootout against Army, albeit with an option offense, the Black Knights had 416 yards on the ground.
Frankly: if you can run the ball, you’re going to have success against Wake Forest.
The answer inside the answer is that Wake Forest doesn’t have enough defensive linemen who can get off blocks to make contact, and the linebackers often over-pursue and lose gap integrity.
