Film review: Wake Forest 37, Liberty 36

This isn’t a new concept from Dave Clawson but it’s probably the most applicable this sentiment has ever been after any of his 102 games as Wake Forest’s coach.

“I think one of the signs of a good team is when you don’t have your fastball and you can still figure out a way to win,” Clawson said. “So we figured out a way to win, barely, but we’ll take it.”

Wake’s 37-36 win over Liberty isn’t earning any style points. You can drive yourself crazy with the hypotheticals in a one-point win and even though hypotheticals are for losers, they’re impossible to avoid when breaking down this game.

At the end of the day – or maybe, at the end of the one-game season – Wake Forest won. In a bottom-line sport, that outweighs the rest.

This wouldn’t be much of an analysis if we only cared about the result, though. The process, in this case, was fascinating.

Here’s what I picked up while re-watching the game:

- Thanks to the ACC Network geniuses, the first 35 minutes my DVR recorded is Old Dominion-Virginia. Games average around 3 hours and 20 minutes but sure, let’s schedule four games to be played in a 12-hour window, what could go wrong?

I digress.

So I’ll watch the first 13 minutes of game time in Liberty-Wake Forest on the ESPN website replay, which I hate. And then switch to DVR.

- Interesting look on Liberty’s second down play, not lining up until 8 seconds left on the play clock. Seemed to keep Wake’s defense a little off balance but a Rondell Bothroyd bat-down at the line negates any advantage.

- Just a little too grabby by Gavin Holmes on the first penalty. He’s got Demario Douglas covered initially but panics just a little bit when he turns and that’s all it takes for a hold to be called.

- Strong disagree with the next penalty; there’s just as much contact initiated by Douglas, and Holmes does indeed turn and play the ball for a pass break-up.

Think this is a poor call.

- Malik Mustapha makes a huge play early as Kaidon Salter broke the pocket – good thing you read about him in the preview.

- Weird, unfocused, uncharacteristic mistake on this punt. Sideline confusion with 10 players on the field so two defensive tackles, Kevin Pointer Jr. and Tyler Williams, are shuffled onto the field from different areas of the sideline – so they’re both on the field, making it 12, at the snap.

- What a fantastic play by Ja’Corey Johns on this fourth-and-2. Read and react almost simultaneously.

- A little slot receiver bubble to start the game?

Huh, didn’t know Warren Ruggiero is a subscriber.

- “Justin Ellison.” Names aren’t that hard, man.

- I can’t quite tell but it looks like Donavon Greene runs a physical route, almost to the point of a push-off, on this third-down conversion.

As long as it’s not called, it’s a nice route.

- Drop by Greene on the next snap; Sam Hartman puts the ball where it needed to be.

- Je’Vionte’ Nash gets beat and Hartman’s pass to Blake Whiteheart in the flat doesn’t give him much of a chance to do anything with it.

- Nice throw on the run by Hartman to convert this third down, again to Greene.

So Greene has two catches for 27 yards on the opening drive … and gets one catch for the rest of the game? Weird.

- *Justice* Ellison gets tackled at the line for a second straight time by a backside crasher and that’s because Liberty isn’t playing Hartman to pull it and run.

I don’t know if this is a straight zone-read or if it’s like last weekend’s game, with Hartman instructed to just hand the ball off, but when the QB isn’t a threat to run, it gets a hell of a lot harder to be a spread-option team that runs the ball.

- Second-and-9 … Hartman just buries his head into the line? Maybe it’s because it’s 2 a.m. Sunday but I’ve got nothing on this one.

- Will Cobb was the long-snapper on the first field goal.

So either Jacob Zuhr is injured or Cobb has (secretly) replaced him on the depth chart.

- Clawson has the analytical brain and I don’t … but I don’t understand declining this illegal shift.

- Good to see AJ Williams in this game early; he missed the trip to Vanderbilt.

- There’s a little bad luck on letting Salter out of the pocket to run for this third-and-10 conversion. Here it is on video:

I can’t tell if Ryan Smenda Jr. is the spy or has the running back. If Brendon Harris is the spy, he’s way too far off of the line.

- Really nice play by Chase Jones on this third-and-3 run; especially after the hard count and guys jumping forced WF to change defenses.

- Man, this is a weird fourth-down play for Wake’s defense.

They’ve got three guys – Smenda, Dylan Hazen and Mustapha – all in position to make a play, but they’re just hesitant to fire at the running back because of the pre-snap motion. None of them is blocked; just a beat or two slow to react to the handoff and I’ve got to think it’s because they were diagnosing the motion.

- Hardly the best start to this game for Holmes, huh?

One thing to give up a 5-yard hitch, another to give up 12 yards after the catch.

- Every time you want to criticize Wake’s staff for playing light coverage, keep in mind that players are given option to play press or off coverage.

- Bothroyd is just a special player. On this second-and-9 speed option, Salter makes a good read and turns inside and Bothroyd is so well positioned that he sidesteps the pulling OL and goes from playing the pitch man to tackling Salter for a minimal gain.

Bludgeoning a dead horse here but: Appreciate watching Bothroyd the same way you appreciated watching Boogie Basham in 2020.

- Smenda gets held on a scramble and Wake’s sideline goes nuts – but with a third-down stop anyway and Liberty missing a long field goal, all’s well that ends well in this sequence.

- Second-and-4 run goes nowhere because the right side of Wake’s offensive line gets crushed.

Liberty has six in the box but brings in a safety at the snap – interesting note for later.

- False start on third-and-3 goes on Nash, but a couple of others on that left side moved too.

- And then the actual third-down play is disjointed, looked like another false start could’ve been called, and Hartman throws low for Ke’Shawn Williams.

- Cobb snapping here, too.

- Monster of a play on first down by Kobie Turner, and then a nice swarm by the rest of the defense.

- Jasheen Davis, whoa. This is a grown-man play for a second-down sack. He’s got some maturing to do when it comes to defending the run but he’s already an above-average pass-rusher.

- I’m aware of the reach and audience but good lord, I don’t give two shits about an in-game interview with Matt James.

- Cameron Hite has to hold up on this block longer than he does. A first-down sack after Taylor Morin punt return of 38 yards to Liberty’s 30-yard line is hardly the recipe for success.

- OK OK, the scholarship fund James set up is cool. Passing grade.

- Nice throw, nice route, nice catch with Hartman to Jahmal Banks to convert third-and-7.

Because I kinda kept pace and know what’s coming:

Hope you accumulated that Banks stock.

- This touchdown to Banks … this is where I’d love to be a fly on the wall of Wake’s film sessions.

I think it’s a missed throw by Hartman, thrown to the inside instead of to Banks’ back shoulder. If that’s the case – again, no way of knowing that right now – it’s an incredible adjustment by Banks and a nice job of Hartman of still putting enough arch on the ball that it’s where the 6-4 receiver can make a play over smaller defensive backs.

- Outstanding leverage and burst by Bothroyd on a first-down sack.

- Isaiah Wingfield is going to be fine at nickel, further evidenced by this interception. It’s a really nice play, going step-for-step with the receiver and undercutting the route for the INT.

I, for one, appreciate Wingfield and Mustapha making me and the preview I wrote about second-year transfers making big impacts look smarter.

Notice in the celebration that Harris is out of uniform with a wrist taped.

- This Hartman interception is on him, no beating around that bush, but it’s a lot more bad luck and unfortunate timing than a poor read or anything.

If he throws a half-second earlier and avoids his arm being hit, he’s got A.T. Perry breaking open on the deep post – the same play that netted a 68-yard touchdown at Vanderbilt.

- I forgot how much Forrest Conoly just kind of yells at the viewer and calls it analysis.

- Turner comes free on back-to-back plays to speed up Johnathan Bennett – I can’t remember the last time WF had two bonafide pass-rushers at defensive tackle.

Miles Fox was OK but it feels like Turner is an upgrade in that area.

- A screen to Ke’Shawn Williams that looks bottled up goes for a 7-yard gain.

I’ll stop at some point but that point isn’t going to be soon.

- Next play Hartman puts a dime on Williams for 42 yards. Gets rid of it on time and makes an accurate downfield throw.

- Good play follows to Banks for 10 yards, and then two Christian Turner runs get WF to the 9-yard line.

- I’m guessing this is one of the main plays Hartman wants back.

He’s got Whiteheart open at the first-down marker, to the left, but instead throws off of his back foot and low to Williams in the end zone. Hartman is pretty lucky it was low enough to be incomplete instead of picked off.

This is a weird, trying-to-do-too-much throw from Hartman we’ve barely seen over the last two-plus seasons.

- Harris’ right arm is in a sling on the sideline. And apparently Justin Williams wasn’t in pads for this game.

- Ivan Mora’s poor kickoff games – this is a working theory – only come when WF is concerned with the other team’s returner and has him directionally kick.

He mishit the previous one and it was short, and Douglas got loose on the return. So here’s his next kickoff pulled out of bounds.

- JJ Roberts can’t miss like this on the perimeter. Turns a 7-yard gain on a hitch into a 19-yard gain and puts Liberty at midfield.

Clawson was complimentary of Wake’s defense with the exception that there were too many missed tackles and the Deacons didn’t challenge enough throws – you’ve got both boxes checked here.

- Caelen Carson challenges this next throw nicely, though, and it’s an incompletion.

- Nice fourth-down conversion by Liberty; WF is in zone partially because of Salter’s running ability, and he makes an accurate throw to Douglas.

- Good play on the ball by Chelen Garnes for the interception but the better play is Pointer with pressure up the middle, forcing Salter out of the pocket. And then you give Kobie Turner credit for staying vertical in his rush lane – there’s that term again – so instead of Salter breaking the pocket and having open field, he’s got a different defensive tackle in his face.

That’s how it’s *supposed* to look.

- So these two throws – especially the second one – are the ones I’m replaying Clawson’s quote about Hartman just being off.

“We were just off. Sam missed throws he can usually make in his sleep,” Clawson said.

- Third-down sack comes with Hartman unable to find anybody open or unable to pull the trigger on somebody who was.

- I think the blocked punt is on Spencer Clapp for not sliding over and/or up in protection.

It’s him and Sean Maginn back as the … I don’t know the term for this, up-blockers? … and the Liberty player jumps over/between them for the block. Maginn is handling guys coming wide, which is why I think Clapp needed to engage the block earlier.

- Man, credit to AJ Williams for holding for Mora’s kickoff and then playing safety valve on the safety return.

I am curious why Mora didn’t punt this. Feel like you see punts after kickoffs more often than not because you get better hangtime and can avoid exactly what happens: Giving up a long return because a kick returner gets, basically, 15 extra yards to work with because you’re kicking from the 20.

WF was already concerned with Douglas in the return game so this is a weird one, at least to me.

- Missed tackles by Mustapha and Chase Jones at the line mean a run that should’ve been a 1-yard gain is a 5-yard run.

- Wingfield gets turned around on a route by Douglas – again, when Clawson is comparing the other team’s best receiver to Greg Dortch as effusively as he was last week, it’s an indicator that he’s good.

- Fantastic awareness by Turner to get his arms up and deflect this pass that winds up as a Jones interception. Realizes it’s a quick pass and even though he’s almost at the QB, gets his hands up, gets a reward for his teammate.

- Nice throws on back-to-back plays to get Perry for 10 yards, and then hit Greene down the sideline on a deep ball.

So last possession Hartman was off; this one he starts with two dimes. And that’s why Clawson said what he said – though the context of this quote is for later in the game, it applies in a small snapshot here:

“We’ve seen that in his career before, that he gets a little shaky and then he recovers,” Clawson said of his QB.

- The “cute and all” defensive lineman with a nasty facemask on Christian Turner.

- Geez, Wake’s offensive line just gets blown off the ball down here. It’s hard to be a running back when you take a handoff – not even an RPO, this is straight run – and you’re immediately sidestepping your H-back (Hite, in this situation) because he’s picking up a crashing linebacker.

- So let’s link up that failed third-down pass by Hartman, the one where he had Whiteheart open in the left flat:

Sometimes it’s not rocket science.

- Kickoff to the 10 and Douglas fields it on the run – mistake No. 1 – and WF has him at about the 25, but Jackson Hensley loses the edge – mistake No. 2 – and that’s why Douglas gets the Flames to their own 44 to start this possession.

- It’s 20-5 and hard to fathom that this becomes a skin-of-their-teeth, one-point win for Wake Forest.

Things haven’t been perfect but man, that’s a two-touchdown lead.

- Three-man rush and you’re in zone, it’s an awful look to give up a 27-yard scramble up the middle. It’s the poor angles and lack of urgency from the mid-level defenders that take it from just being a 12-yarder to this huge chunk.

- I mean … this middle screen is probably a touchdown if Smenda doesn’t quickly adjust and knife in between defenders.

- My sixth season on this beat and I think Wake Forest has had the same commercial for six years.

- Hopefully none of yall bought into Conoly telling you Hartman was distracted by the passing record.

Have covered the kid for five years. Don’t think Hartman has paid attention to his individual numbers during a game since his freshman season.

- Both of Wake’s first possessions in each half started with a screen pass to the slot receiver.

I knew Ruggiero listens to me!

- Can’t really get too much more blunt than Clawson was, with his halftime assessment that Wake’s running backs were making too many cuts in the backfield.

And then this is the first run of the second half:

- Hartman just doesn’t step into this third-down throw with any confidence. He’s got the throwing lane, Ke’Shawn Williams comes open – it’s just a bounce pass.

Weird.

- Holmes got turned on Liberty’s first play of the second half – same thing happened to Wingfield earlier in the game.

I mean … they’re not taught to do that. At least never that I’ve seen in practice. Don’t know where those habits come from.

- No doubt about Hugh Freeze in two regards: His character and that the man can call an offense.

Liberty spent the entire first half motioning their back wide and getting Smenda out of the middle, and hit the QB draw at the perfect time. Wake’s safeties are both outside of the hashmarks because Liberty just got a nice 27-yard pass on the perimeter. Smenda bails from the middle so they know it’s man coverage – hence, eyes are locked on receivers at the snap, not the QB.

Objectively, this is masterclass play calling and execution.

- Hartman’s first throw is on Perry’s chest … and it’s a drop. So I’m starting to see where this thing got untracked.

- Third-and-2 deep ball to Perry is underthrown and I’m more confused why Hartman reset the pocket.

He’s got time and Perry runs a great route, breaking free on a stop-and-go. Hartman wants to break the pocket to the left but only takes a few steps, sees Perry and resets, but rushes his throw – hence the underthrow, allowing the cornerback to catch up and get a PBU.

Hartman has more time than he thinks to set his feet and launch here.

- It’s alarming that a veteran team let things snowball like this.

Forget the opponent: It’s a veteran team littered with fifth- and sixth-year players that had a two-touchdown lead at halftime and has a few things go wrong to start the second half, and every facet erodes.

Mora’s 29-yard punt is the cause, but I see in play-by-play that Liberty scores another touchdown in a few plays.

- WF snuck DaShawn Jones in there and he gives up an 8-yard pass. I’m kind of surprised to see him in there instead of Zamari Stevenson.

- I missed Carson coming off of the field with an apparent injury. Have heard it could be a hamstring and … well, missing him for any amount of games is going to be tough. Missing him this week could be brutal.

- QB draw again and it’s *only* an 8-yard run on first down because Garnes is in the middle of the field and gets off a block.

- This touchdown run … it’s hard to wrap my head around this other than: Sometimes their guys make plays and your guys don’t.

WF actually has three linebackers on the field – Smenda, Chase Jones and Dylan Hazen. It’s not a misfit run. It should be about a 5-yard gain but Smenda and Garnes both miss, and AJ Williams can’t make a touchdown-saving tackle.

A story in four pictures:

- The 2-point conversion is, I think, the last we see of DaShawn Jones in this game.

He’s got Douglas. Douglas motions through. Jones, for whatever reason, stops in the middle of the defense instead of following Douglas out wide. Kind of easy to convert a 2-point conversion when your wide receiver is unmarked.

- Yikes this WF offensive line. Just blown off of the ball on a first-down run that’s a 3-yard loss.

- Hartman goes to the right place with the ball in a blitz and Ellison doesn’t make a linebacker miss in space – he had little time to make a move.

This certainly feels like a Murphy’s Law start of the second half.

- Fourth-and-1 from your own 34, trailing 23-20 midway through the third quarter, is an analytics-based decision. Clawson gets a readout before every game from an analyst firm with these types of scenarios and they vary from game to game based on the opponent.

So given the numbers say go for this … I think this was a mistake.

WF can’t run the ball and I think around this time is when the Deacons stopped trying (Clawson admitted as much in his post-game presser). So if you’re one-dimensional and the defense knows you’re throwing, it doesn’t matter if you only have 1 yard to gain. It’s so much easier to pass rush when you know the offense is passing.

That’s what happens here. That’s why Hartman has pressure up the middle. That’s why his pass is batted down at the line.

- Jones still in the game and beaten deep, Salter just overthrows Douglas.

- Again, while acknowledging hypotheticals are for losers: Dion Bergan Jr. makes a huge play on Salter when he tries to break the pocket on third-and-9. It saves at least a scramble and based on the way things were going when Liberty got to the second level in this half, possibly saved a touchdown.

He’s not even in his rush lane, he just has the reach and strength to make up for it.

- WF takes over at the 35 and the first play is an RPO that should’ve been a QB keeper all the way.

I think one of two things: Hartman has been told not to run to make Clemson think he’s unable to run, or Hartman isn’t running as much because there’s actually a medical issue involved.

He just looks more hesitant than years past, at least in my opinion.

- Man, this is a bad hold by Michael Jurgens. Back-breaking to finally have a running back bust around an edge and pick up about 15 yards only for it to become second-and-16.

“The amount of holds we had – I mean, sometimes we can’t get out of our own way,” Clawson said.

- Interception after another penalty on Jurgens and this thing feels like a full-blown implosion.

I’m not sure what Hartman sees. ACCN gives you a wide shot and the Liberty safety closed well, but this still feels like a force.

- Wingfield is back to playing cornerback on this third-and-1.

- Garnes needed to make this tackle in the hole; he’s there but pauses just a little bit while filling the hole.

Deacons were lucky he ran into the back of his own wide receiver downfield or this would’ve been the one to put the Flames up two scores.

- OK so this is different from what we saw at the end of fall camp: When Wingfield and Jermal Martin Jr. were on the field together in August, it was Wingfield at nickel, Martin on the outside.

It’s flipped now. Interesting.

- Mustapha is just playing lights out football right now. This play is so strong, when WF needed it.

First appreciate how far away he is when he makes the read; then how quickly he accelerates to avoid the block; and finally the hard hit, keeping form, on the tackle.

- This is the motor and pass rush we saw from Jasheen Davis last fall camp that made him immediately pop out as a guy who’d be good.

Relentless pursuit leads to Salter getting uncomfortable, and Wake’s mid-level zone guys are in position to get him down in front of the first-down line.

- Nice short throws by Hartman to get WF to a third-and-1.

- That sneak was there on other third-and-shorts, I think.

- Liberty does WF a favor with the after-the-whistle penalty here.

I do wonder, though, if you see defenders going to extra lengths to secure tackles because of how many times early in the season we’ve seen ballcarriers spun to the ground but not go down – like Turner’s touchdown run against VMI – and get up and run for a long gain.

- Man, even the Warren Ruggiero Special – fake bubble screen to slot, throw deep – only goes for 9 yards.

Even one of the few things that worked in this third quarter for WF didn’t work that well.

- Nick Sharpe came in for Maginn and he gets a great block on Quinton Cooley’s burst of a 4-yard run.

Remember: He’s the litmus test for Wake’s offensive line. Sharpe is 330 pounds – DeVonte Gordon is the next-heaviest offensive lineman at 308. Even Phil Haynes was (listed at) 310 in his last season.

WF recruits undersized, multi-sport athletes and bulks them up to be offensive linemen because those are the guys who are able to win matchups in fourth quarters when they’ve already played 60-80 snaps. We’ll see over the next few years if Sharpe can prove they don’t *have* to adhere so strictly to that.

- Maginn returns to start the fourth quarter, while Hartman throws without his feet set with pressure in his face.

- Hartman has happy feet on this third-and-10 throw to Perry.

- Ahh, good to see the target “Jaquarii Roberson on a quick out route” play still exists. Morin is a little shorter but has a wide enough catch radius that you’ll likely see this several more times this season.

- Liberty has a light box but charges a safety in at the snap.

This is kind of the inverse of what I’ve said in the past about Wake’s offense. Before it’s been: You can make WF stop running the ball if you just make it look like you want to stop them.

This game was: You can entice WF to keep running the ball with alignments, then stop it by getting creative with defensive line movement and blitzes.

- Sure felt like Banks had more than six catches. Think that’s because three of them (maybe four) came on third downs.

Have put in a request for an interview so hopefully can have a story on him this week.

- Mother of Mercy, Jurgens. Three penalties for 25 yards on him alone in the second half.

Put in a request for him, too. Hopefully there’s enough trust involved to know I’m not just going to lambaste the guy about his penalties.

Some PFF digging: Jurgens was called for four penalties in both the 2020 season (579 snaps) and 2021 season (948 snaps).

Three penalties in a span of roughly 30 snaps against Liberty is eye-popping.

- Something you probably already now:

I get immense joy from fast-forwarding through replay reviews in these re-watches.

- The amount of near-miss plays for Liberty to take more control of this game is alarming. This third-and-20 should’ve been picked off by two or three different DBs.

Instead it falls incomplete and Matthew Dennis makes a game-tying field goal in the fourth quarter from 46 yards – significant for his early confidence.

- Good hangtime and 2 yards into the end zone on this kickoff.

In closing: I have no idea what the deal is with Wake’s kickoffs.

- Three runs to start Liberty’s possession and this drive has the feel of, “OK you pulled even, this is where we ram it down your throats.”

Great penetration by Kendron Wayman and Kobie Turner on the left side to create a TFL on the third run, though.

- Mustapha and Smenda really make this play on the fumble. And it’s fascinating how it plays out.

Remember the blitz against Vanderbilt that resulted in Coby Davis’ pick-6? Three linemen, then three second-level defenders blitz?

Well this is a delayed version of it.

Bothroyd gets initial pressure, forcing Salter out of the pocket – you know he’s going to break it at first sign of duress – and that’s when Mustapha, Smenda and Wayman charge in.

It’s fascinating to me because if Bothroyd doesn’t get home, does the secondary blitz come get picked up by the rest of the line? You’re asking corners to cover for a long time, if so. It all worked out, obviously.

- Wingfield’s worst play in three games by far, lagging behind a WR on a short hitch and letting him get around the edge for 24 yards.

- I am starting to think Caelen Carson is the most-important player on the defense.

That’s got a lot to do with what else WF is putting out there at cornerback without him. Roberts’ disappearance in this game is perplexing.

- Pretty clear Hazen is the No. 3 linebacker; he’s the one subbing in when WF goes to this third-and-short package with three linebackers on the field.

- Chase Jones has to make this play. It’s a TFL on third-and-1 and the RB’s momentum is minimal; Jones lunges and loses him.

- Same drive, Wingfield makes a nice open-field tackle. Quite the significant development that he’s become versatile and reliable after last season.

- We’ve gotta come up with a name for this third-down look from Wake’s defense. “3-up, 3-down”? “Six pack”?

I’m open to suggestions.

It’s Bothroyd, Pointer and Turner in 3-point stances; Wayman, Smenda and Jones standing. Bothroyd and Wayman fake rushes on the edge so the pressure comes up the middle and flushes Salter, who throws low.

- Well so … this is Wingfield’s worst play of the season.

I mean, he looks like he just loses his footing. It’s unfortunate timing more than anything.

- Huh. So the play doesn’t count. But Hartman does in fact have license to run the ball.

- I don’t know why or how I remember some of the shit that I do, but this Ke’Shawn Williams catch looks like – at least to me – a carbon copy of the catch Kendall Hinton made against Florida State late in the third quarter of the 2019 game.

Here those both are:

I don’t know, you tell me: Are they as similar as I see them?

- Man, I almost like the Williams catch to get WF down to the 1-yard line better than the big play down the middle.

He makes something out of a 12-15-yard gain because he’s got the elusiveness and – hey, plug incoming – he knows how to set up blocks. Greene makes a nice downfield block and Williams stretches it into a 34-yard play.

- This 1-yard touchdown run by Ellison is the most decisive run of the night for any WF running back. See hole, hit hole.

It’s hard but it’s not as hard as it’s looked in this game.

- Wake’s DBs are told to keep everything in front of them in these situations – obviously the worst scenario is getting beat deep for a long touchdown pass – but Martin has to be tighter with Douglas on this route.

He’s giving him 7 yards of cushion on a throw 17 yards downfield.

- Bergan with a huge play as Salter broke the pocket.

Can’t remember many games in Wake’s recent history that the nose tackle has had that profound of an impact. Zeek Rodney had a few grown-ass man games in 2017 and ’18.

- Martin had another tough play, but then records a PBU on a shot to the end zone. Redemption means knocking away a touchdown.

- Smenda comes in too high on this tackle in space on third down but he’s strong enough to make up for it. He holds on and WF rallies to him for the tackle.

- The touchdown … I mean, Mustapha makes a nice play and Douglas is just a baller. You can criticize Mustapha for trying to make the catch instead of batting the ball down but I don’t think there’s merit. One, if he bats it down he might just hit it into Douglas and two, when you’re in that situation instinct takes over and you can forget it’s fourth down.

I think Douglas enters the transfer portal tomorrow, Wake Forest is throwing the kitchen sink at him. He’s been that good.

- There are several reasons Wake’s run defense was abhorrent at the end of last season but one of the main ones is that Ja’Corey Johns was out.

And if you need further proof, his discipline on this 2-point stop works.

It’s a bastardized Philly Special – and Johns does the one thing that’ll blow this play up every time: He stays home. He gets tempted to follow Salter but Garnes is with him, so he faces up with the motion man and ushers him to the sideline as the rest of the pursuit gets there.

At the risk of being obvious, just a special, win-preserving play.

- AJ Williams makes … I think a good play on the onside kick. It hasn’t gone 10 yards but if you’ve got coverage guys in front of the ball blocking, it becomes easier for somebody to recover after it’s gone 10 yards. (if that makes sense)

Now the focus is on Ke’Shawn Williams’ health – he gets crushed.

And that’ll be all, folks. This is the free film review. If you enjoyed it and want to read more than one of these … subscribe.

If you’re already a subscriber … stay tuned for a whole lot more coverage this week.

Seems like a big game coming up.