Clemson vs. Wake Forest: Tigers Start Slowly but Come Roaring ...

Clemson hit the road to take on Wake Forest this week. The Tigers went in as 3-touchdown favorites against the 2-3 Demon Deacons. Since the Georgia game, the Tigers had come out firing in the 1st quarter, outscoring opponents 90-0 but that was not to be the case today. Wake scored first but the Tigers did rebound and at halftime had a 28-14 lead. The Tigers pulled away in the 2nd half with three touchdowns while holding the Deacs scoreless to leave Winston-Salem with a 49-14 win.

Wake got the ball first and the Tigers gave up a 9-yard run on 1st down but after that they pushed the Demon Deacons backwards and forced a punt. Clemson started their drive with an 18-yard catch by T.J. Moore, followed by another 5-yarder, but then Cade Klubnik misfired on a couple of passes, leaving the Tigers to punt. Wake took over at their 21.

Wake’s second drive started better, both running and passing, but the Tiger defense shut them down near midfield. The offense looked like one of the cylinders wasn’t firing. Klubnik wasn’t accurate, the offensive line wasn’t pushing people around, and Phil Mafah couldn’t get the running game going. The Demon Deacons were clearly wanting to avoid giving up big pass plays by playing 2-high safeties. They punted and Wake got the ball at their 27.

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The Deacs moved out past midfield and got a pass interference call to put the ball at the Tiger 33. Three plays later they found the end zone and took the lead 7-0 with 1:32 to go in the quarter. Wake’s offensive line was getting the job done against the Tiger front, giving their QB plenty of time to make reads and good throws. Mafah started Clemson’s next drive with a nice 12-yard run. That was followed by a 14-yard catch by Troy Stellato to move out past midfield, and a 3-yard catch by Mafah to end the quarter. On the 1st play of the 2nd quarter, Klubknik missed an open receiver and was almost intercepted. On 3rd & 7, Klubnik hit Stellato at the Wake 32. Shortly thereafter, he connected with Antonio Williams for a 22-yard TD. At 13:39 left in the half, the score was tied 7-7.

Clemson’s defense started figuring things out, like defeating the slow mesh with penetration up the middle. They got an interception by Kylon Griffin and their drive consisted of a 22-yard pass to Jake Briningstool down to the 2 followed by a 1-yard run by Mafah. Clemson led 14-7 with 12:32 left in the half.

The Deacs moved out near midfield, helped by another pass interference penalty. Khalil Barnes made an acrobatic interception on a tipped pass to give Clemson ball at their 42. A couple of catches by Jake Briningstool and Williams, but mainly Mafah’s legs put the ball inside the Wake 5. Mysteriously, Clemson threw 2 passes but they fell incomplete. Klubnik scrambled on 3rd and got to the 2. Garrett Riley suddenly remembered he had Phil Mafah and put the beef package in. (Demonte Capehart at TE and Peter Woods at FB in an I formation with Mafah at tailback. I was having flashbacks to my days at Clemson in the Danny Ford era.) Mafah had a hole the size of Death Valley and walked in. Clemson led 21-7 with 6:46 in the first half.

The Tiger secondary continued their handsy play and Barnes got called for another pass interference penalty that gave the Deacs the ball at their 37. The slow mesh bit Clemson again as Wake Forest completed a slow-developing pass for 38 yards to the Tiger 9. A couple of plays later the got into the end zone to cut the lead to 21-14 with 3:18 to go. On Clemson’s ensuing drive Mafah ripped off 22-yard run, punishing defenders in his path. He followed that with a 15-yard run that also had a personal foul added to it. A Jay Haynes run and an Adam Randall catch gave Clemson 1st & goal from the 8. Stellato hauled in a slant pass for the score to make it 28-14 with 1:31 left.

Wake sought to score again but penalties hurt them and they had to punt. The Tigers got the ball at their 22 with 30 seconds and 1 timeout left. They weren’t able to do anything with it, however, and they went to halftime with a 28-14 lead.

Clemson came out firing in the 2nd half. They tried to run Mafah, but Wake’s D-line bottled him up. Working through the air, they moved to the Wake 29. A couple of Briningstool catches gave them a 1st down at the 14. Klubnik’s accuracy was noticeably off today, but his receivers were bailing him out with nice catches. Adam Randall got into the end zone from 9 yards out to give Clemson a 35-14 lead. On Wake’s next possession, the Clemson defense pushed the Deacs backwards and forced a punt that was fielded at the Tiger 47.

Briningstool started the drive with a nice catch and run that showed his agility. T.J. Moore followed with a 15-yard catch. The Tigers went razzle-dazzle with a screen to WIlliams who threw it 28 yards to Briningstool to score. Clemson led 42-14 with about 7 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Wake went to their backup QB but it didn’t do them any good. They punted and the Tigers took over at their 15.

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Klubnik’s inaccuracy continued and the Tigers couldn’t get a 1st down. A bad punt gave the Deacs the ball at the Tiger 45. Wake couldn’t do much as they continued to hurt themselves with penalties and the Tiger defense gave them nothing. Williams made the fair catch of the punt at the Tiger 13.

Clemson got a sustained drive going with some good runs by Keith Adams Jr. He ended up bulldozing his way into the end zone with about 9 minutes left to give Clemson a 49-14 lead. Wake moved down the field and into the red zone against Tiger reserves, but the reserves were able to keep them from scoring.

Clemson went to their reserves on offense on the next drive. They acquitted themselves well, moving the ball well into Wake territory. At the rate they were moving, they probably would have scored but the clock ran out and Clemson came away with the 49-14 win.

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After a slow start, Clemson got going in the 2nd quarter and pulled away from Wake Forest. The Tiger defense played well, as expected, but The Deac’s offensive line was having a lot of success early on keeping pressure off their QB when Clemson was rushing four. The Tiger offense played a very balanced game with Mafah getting over 100 yards rushing and Klubnik throwing for over 300 yards. Next week Tony Elliot returns to Death Valley with his Virginia Cavaliers. Check back with us over the next few days for reviews and previews, and thanks for stopping by today! What’s your take on today’s game? Let us know in the comments section below.