An offense that ran out of steam in the second half means Wake Forest’s hopes of bowl eligibility did the same at Miami.

The Deacons battled in the first half and faded in the second, losing 42-14 to the Hurricanes on Saturday at Hard Rock Stadium.

“When we play these … high-level teams, our goal is to get to the fourth quarter and have it a one-score game,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said via Zoom. “And at that point, anything can happen.

“Today, anything did happen. But none of it was good.”

There was window dressing in the final score for a Miami team trying to earn favor with the College Football Playoff rankings and trying to keep quarterback Cam Ward in the Heisman Trophy discussion.

Wake Forest (4-7, 2-5 ACC) was within a touchdown of Miami’s lead until there were about eight minutes left in the game; the Hurricanes added an insurance touchdown with 6:24 left, and Ward threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jacolby George inside the 2-minute injunction to give the game its final score.

That was plenty to overcome a Wake Forest offense that netted 50 yards on 30 plays in the second half; and 33 of those yards came on Wake’s last two possessions, after the outcome was decided.

“In the first half, we had some favorable boxes and we had some good runs,” Clawson said, with Wake’s offense putting up 133 yards on 27 plays in the first half. “And then in the second half, it was just a ton of edge pressure, cover-1.

“When it’s a cover-1 game and you can’t hold up in protection and you can’t separate, it gets really hard.”

Four of Miami’s five sacks were in the second half; Wake Forest only completed one pass in the second half and it was after Michael Kern replaced Hank Bachmeier at QB for Wake’s penultimate possession.

Ward completed 27 of 38 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns, those completions going to seven receivers, and also scored on a QB sneak. Freshman running back Jordan Lyle had 115 yards for Miami (10-1, 6-1), most of them late.

After a first half that featured touchdowns of three varieties — two by air, one by defense, one by kick return — the 11th-ranked Hurricanes and a Wake Forest team guaranteed of a losing record for the second straight season couldn’t separate for the first 22 minutes of the second half.

That was with Wake Forest having three straight possessions that started at its 47-yard line, Miami’s 33 after a fumble recovery, and Miami’s 44.

The results of those drives were: three-and-out; getting a first down on a fourth-down scramble by Bachmeier, but then a false start by DeVonte Gordon, two sacks of Bachmeier, and another Gordon false start, leading to a punt; and a turnover on downs after a fourth-down sack.

“As a quarterback, you’ve gotta do a better job and make better decisions,” Bachmeier said. “It’s a frustrating loss, for sure. They’re a great team but any moment of the game, I felt like we could’ve won it. … I can’t take sacks in certain situations.”

This game got sideways halfway through the second quarter but the result was, essentially, no blood.

Wake Forest was trailing 10-7 and driving. But on the 17th play, Miami’s Mishael Powell jumped in front of a screen pass and returned it 77 yards for a pick-6 — the second straight week Wake Forest has had an interception returned for a touchdown against it.

Momentum was recaptured by the Deacons on the ensuing kickoff. That’s when Demond Claiborne fielded it with his heel touching the goal line, started up the right side and cut left, and out-leveraged the rest of Miami’s coverage unit for a 100-yard kick return touchdown.

It was Claiborne’s second of his career, having also housed one at Virginia Tech last season. Disaster struck on a later kick return, when Claiborne fumbled after Miami had made it a 28-14 lead.

The only other excitement of a first half that only had seven total possessions was a red zone interception thrown by Ward. On a scramble, he tried to throw an improvised shovel pass in the middle of the field; it was picked off by a diving Quincy Bryant.

Miami added a chip-shot field goal in the final seconds of the first half, taking a 20-14 lead into halftime.

Both teams scored touchdowns on their opening possessions. Miami went first, going a lengthy march of 13 plays and 82 yards that ended with George’s 13-yard touchdown catch. There were a lot of positive plays but no explosive ones, which is why more than 6 minutes came off the clock.

Wake’s response was fairly swift. It got started with a 17-yard run by Claiborne on third-and-11 and ended with a 36-yard touchdown pass from Bachmeier to Micah Mays Jr. — who’s from nearby Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. — to tie the game at 7-7.

EXTRA POINTS: Freshman quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski made his debut on Wake’s last possession; all he did was hand the ball off twice to end the game. … Claiborne had 62 yards on 19 carries, putting him 19 shy of a 1,000-yard season. … Davaughn Patterson led Wake Forest with 11 tackles; Jasheen Davis had the Deacons’ only sack of the game.