Film review: Wake Forest 37, Virginia 17
Going back over the Deacons’ fourth straight thorough drubbing of an opponent, which checked a lot of boxes – but first, a personal note
So barring something unforeseen, this will be the last correspondence from Wake Up. I’d like to say it’s intentional that the second-ever story sent from here was the film review of last season’s win against Virginia, and now this film review of a win against Virginia will top things off.
But it’s just a happy accident. Which is kind of what Wake Up has been.
As I’ve alluded: This little venture has been much more than I ever thought it’d be. I heard that the McClatchy newspapers weren’t going to be able to provide much of an opportunity past football season, so I hopped on my laptop and came to Substack — which I’d done very little research on — and about 5 minutes later, I had this.
This beautiful little lifeline.
I hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have. From catching up with former players — the two former walk-ons in light of Nick Andersen’s emergence, plus the NFL guys in the spring — to framing the story about Steve Forbes’ first ACC win around a Bob Seger song, I’ve tried to keep yall up to date and entertained on Deacons sports.
I never made it to the summer film review of the 2006 ACC championship game. From what I’ve heard from some of you, that might be a good thing. But it’s still sitting here on my DVR — maybe I’ll get to it eventually.
The film reviews will continue, they’ll just be at Deacons Illustrated — along with the rest of my coverage.
If you haven’t already, I hope you’ll join me there. I’m enjoying being a part of a team again, and the Rivals network has quite the long reach. Access to a recruiting database and national analysts is something “a guy with a Substack” isn’t coming close to providing.
So come on over — and for the love of God, comment on the message board. It’s like I’m talking to myself — and I do enough of that already.
Here’s what I picked up while re-watching the game:
- This pre-game feature on Wake’s turnover margin reminds me: Deacons were plus-2 on Friday night, so they’re plus-7 for the season, which is tied for third in the country.
(though, it’s worth noting: the defense did enough in the first 50 minutes of the game to mean the two turnovers WF forced didn’t factor too much into the game)
- They’ve gotta stop using the “20 out of 22 starters back” number. It was 20 when Je’Vionte’ Nash and Donavon Greene were going to play.
- What was Wake’s offensive game plan?
Well, the three Christian Beal-Smith runs up the gut on the first drive should’ve been an indication.
If not, the three Christian Beal-Smith runs up the gut on the second drive should’ve driven home the point.
- Loic Ngassam Nya was Wake Forest’s offensive player of the game, according to the team’s Twitter account, and it’s unofficially for his catch on this tipped pass.
(getting 5 yards was the real win here)
- Geez this third-and-5 throw to A.T. Perry is a tight window. Deacons were kind of living dangerously on this first drive (until the touchdown, I’m aware).
- So if I’m a Virginia coach/player/fan … I’m pretty pissed that Brandon Chapman wasn’t called for a false start on Taylor Morin’s touchdown. Because he’s leaning forward and even takes a step forward.
I think this *might* fall into the category of Sam Hartman not being set, because he’s looking at the sideline briefly — but I’m not sure this still shouldn’t have been a flag.
As for the touchdown — Hartman does a fantastic job of keeping his eyes on Perry running a post, hence drawing the coverage that way, and that’s why Morin is so wide open.
I love Andre Ware’s “he could’ve punted the ball to him” comment — I remember Ware did the Utah State game in 2019 and I remember coming away impressed with him as an analyst.
- If you’re going to be missing your seventh-year defensive tackle, it’s good to replace him with a sixth-year defensive tackle.
(but Miles Fox’s speedy return would help the Deacons)
- Gavin Holmes started this game and was beaten deep on UVA’s third play, but Brennan Armstrong overthrew Dontayvion Wicks — I am curious about the reasoning behind Holmes starting instead of Caelen Carson.
For the record, Carson wound up playing 56 snaps; Holmes played 43.
- Third-and-3 completion to Wicks and Ja’Sir Taylor was in good position, but beaten by a great throw into a tight window.
One of the few so-called obvious passing downs, I think, that UVA blocked well.
- Costly facemask penalty against Kamara here — but in the grand scheme of things, WF had five penalties for 40 yards. Much better than the previous week’s eight for 74 yards.
- Two parts to the play after the facemask:
1. Luke Masterson is a hell of a linebacker.
2. I believe this is the play on which Evan Slocum is injured. He started at free safety for Nasir Greer and a few yards downfield, he’s being blocked by UVA’s massive tight end, Jelani Woods (6-7, 265). You can see on a different angle of Masterson’s sack that Slocum goes down holding his ankle/shin area.
He stays in the game for another snap or two, and then doesn’t play again.
- Holmes beaten again for the touchdown that’s overturned — though there was a little offensive pass interference here.
- Third-and-19, 20-yard pass to Wicks — I think this is the play that drives home for Wake’s staff that it couldn’t just drop seven into coverage, rush three with a spy, and keep UVA’s offense away from big plays.
- This is the first of six snaps from inside Wake’s 10-yard line, and UVA never scores.
Nick Andersen gets put in a blender following some motions and still helps string out this option.
- This is a pretty clear hold on Taylor in the end zone. Low probability of getting away with that one.
- Two solid run stops and on the reset first- and second-and-goal plays, first by Ja’Corey Johns and then by Coby Davis.
- First time getting a close-up view of Tyler Williams — he played this game with a hard cast on his right wrist/hand.
- Andersen breaks on this fourth-down PBU so well — you almost forget that his anticipation and breaks were the best part of his performance last season.
He’s writhing in pain … and then trying to get up … trainers get to him … and I guess the only bit of info you need here is that he ended up trying to run off of the field before trainers stopped him, and he played 67 of 90 snaps in this game.
- This was a huge drive for WF to flip the field and get a field goal to go up 10-0.
“You certainly like to play with a lead and then the rest of the game it became a two-score game,” Dave Clawson said. “I think whenever you’re behind by two scores, you’ve got to change your thought process offensively a little bit.”
- This wasn’t Beal-Smith’s “best” game, but this 12-yard run from the 5-yard line was him at his best, with a jump cut that faked out a few defenders.
- Quite the catch radius on a high throw for Jaquarii Roberson to convert third-and-2.
“I think everything has just been together. We’ve been fighting together, everything that we’ve practiced has just been coming together,” Roberson said.
- Count me in favor — if it’s even a discussion — of offensive linemen reacting when a defender jumps into the neutral zone to take the automatic 5-yard penalty.
I know sometimes it’s better not to, and to snap the ball and have that free play — but to me that always runs the risk of committing a turnover or something and the flag gets picked up. Better to just take the 5 yards — especially here, as it gets WF a first down.
- Blake Whiteheart has more speed in the open field than I thought he did. This was a nice little 20-yard catch and run.
- I did *not* realize how interesting of a trajectory Nick Sciba’s 46-yarder had. That thing took a right turn when it was over the 20-yard line.
To borrow a favorite golf phrase of mine, because Sciba has gotten into golf in the last year or so:
No room for comments on the scorecard.
- So look, Wake Forest played a really good game. Making this a great — there’s that word again — start to the season.
But there’s also this:
I have no idea what to make of this UVA team. One of the most shocking things about this game was the Cavaliers’ willingness to abandon the run. I mean, after the first drive it just felt like every designed run was a QB keeper or an obligatory handoff to keep the Deacons honest.
“We knew they were going to come out and try to get explosive plays through the air,” safety Traveon Redd said. “We knew they may try to run to open up the pass, but more importantly for us it was about the pass.
“Basically, it was pretty simple to us: tackle the ball up, make them be very methodical up the field.”
The defense wasn’t going to be fixed in one week and I’m not sure it’ll be fixed at any point this season. But if they’re just going to have Armstrong throw the ball 50-60 times a game and run only when they’re bored — this is going to be a long season for them.
I say all of that because this 10-play drive starts with eight passes, and then Armstrong scrambles on the ninth play and the 10th is a QB keeper.
- This drive ultimately ends in a field goal after gains of: 13, 6, 6, 21, 9 and 8 — that there is the definition of bend-don’t-break defense.
And that kind of defense is perfectly suitable if your offense is going to score the way Wake’s has been.
- DJ Taylor doesn’t make the play on the first-and-10 quick-pass sweep, but he disrupts it enough for Andersen (and others) to come clean it up.
Again: the resurrection story of DJ Taylor fascinates me.
- This third-down stop by Andersen is just remarkable.
The hit, yes. But also pay close attention to how he maneuvers around tackle and is still in position to make the play.
Not to beat a tired storyline … but how he made it out of the state without one of the ACC teams snatching him up is beyond me.
- “It looks like they’re playing in slow motion at times, but it is part of their scheme and they execute it at a very high level.”
Andre Ware is pretty good at this.
- And right on cue, Justice Ellison busts loose for a 63-yard run.
There’s not a WF offensive lineman who’s blocking poorly on this play — but Zach Tom and Ngassam Nya, I would say, have the “key” blocks that allow Ellison to get into the second level.
- The next two plays are the same play, if not they’re really close. And getting 4 yards on the first play is fine … but the 3-yard loss probably could’ve been avoided.
But for the third straight drive, the first three plays are three handoffs.
- For the life of me, I had no idea defensive holding wasn’t an automatic first down if it’s not a pass. That sounds like a made-up rule (Thor voice: “All rules are made-up”)
I’ll be curious to ask Clawson today if he knew this was the rule — and if Hartman should’ve thrown the ball anyway to get the automatic first down.
- Before Hartman’s fourth-and-1 sneak, Clawson says one last thing to him. It’s quick but man, I’d love to know what it was.
- Ellison’s touchdown plunge is another first-half example of Wake’s faith in the offensive line.
- You’ve heard, as long as you’re subscribed at Deacons Illustrated, that Wake Forest’s defensive ends — the top four of Rondell Bothroyd, Jasheen Davis, Ja’Corey Johns and Luiji Vilain — are playing at an extremely high level.
Johns gets a sack here, and this is what they combined to do in this game:
- Third-and-12 and it’s a rifled 15-yard pass to Wicks — I mean, going down the list, I’m not sure the Deacons will see more than two quarterbacks who are on Armstrong’s level of arm talent.
And neither of the two I’ve got in mind are in the next four games.
- Bothroyd gets a sack through a hold, with a hat-tip to Ryan Smenda Jr. for finishing off Armstrong.
- Kamara with a nice burst to draw the holding call.
And then you really knew UVA’s offense was reaching newfound levels of frustration when it couldn’t even get yards on third-and-26.
- Then a timeout to avoid delay of game before the punt. This is a bad, frustrated team.
- If UVA is just going to give Taylor Morin 8 yards of cushion … easy pitch and catch for 15.
- You can see how much it’s been hammered into Christian Turner to secure the ball when he runs up the middle.
- Wake Forest is going slow on this drive — hopefully you noticed that. The Deacons milked almost 5 minutes off of the clock, stalling inside the 5-yard line and settling for a 23-yard field goal.
The ability to go fast offensively is cool. The ability to change speeds and remain effective is what every offensive coach in the country truly wants.
- I still hate first-and-goal runs from the 10.
- I’m just going to stick these couple of tweets here to explain what I think is Clawson’s reasoning on Ivan Mora handling kickoffs.
- Seems to me like Zion Keith was late to get a call or check here — he’s out of the screen until just before the snap, when he comes running up to cover Jelani Woods.
And 13-yard catches on second-and-16 will make a defensive coordinator go insane.
- In the age of NIL … I’d advocate for shirts that say, “Traveon Redd. Football player.”
Put the outline of a big foam “No. 1” finger on it.
Step 3: Profit.
- Halftime must be the most boring part of the game for yall, so many damn commercials.
Let me tell ya: halftime is sometimes the busiest part of the game for me. It’s a lot of writing, research, a bathroom break and, if we’re at Truist Field, loading up on snacks.
- I’m really interested to see how long it is before we start seeing Malik Mustapha in defensive packages. He’s making an impact on special teams and Clawson made it seem a couple of weeks ago like he was getting up to speed with the defense, having missed most of fall camp with an injury.
He’s a hell of a special teams player right now, though.
- I don’t know how Gavin Holmes drops this pass on the first play of the second half.
- Smenda makes a mistake in chasing Armstrong up the middle while he’s the spy, and Armstrong breaks out for a 31-yard scramble. There might be a little fault here for Johns, the DE on the side he escapes to.
I pointed it out during the game and made it seem like Smenda had been playing poorly — this honestly might be his only negatively graded play. He had nine tackles, forced a fumble later in the game, and his 76.0 grade on PFF was the best of any WF defender.
So moral of the story here: Never judge a player’s performance based solely on one play.
(unless it’s a kicker)
- I don’t understand how every UVA play from inside the opponents’ 20 isn’t a play to Woods. What a massive red zone weapon.
- I mean, hindsight is clear and Ke’Shawn Williams getting to the 17-yard line on this kick return makes it obvious.
But a high kick fielded inside the 5 isn’t supposed to be returned. File that away.
- UVA gets a little momentum and scores, making it 20-10 — also hindsight, this was the most-important drive of the game for WF.
And it starts with a strong 9-yard catch by Morin.
- Two strong-ish runs by Beal-Smith set up the 44-yarder on the RPO to Roberson. Expertly set up by an experienced offense and great play-caller.
- I had zero idea how good of a 2-yard run on fourth-and-1 this was by Beal-Smith.
He’s hit behind the line, he surges through, he’s still going to be short if he doesn’t give it that extra little oomph.
If Beal-Smith doesn’t get it, you’ve just had your first empty possession of the game, given the ball back to a UVA team that can feel momentum shifting, and that just marched 85 yards on you for a touchdown the last time they had it.
This was a massive play.
- The next play, throwing out of the Heavy Deac for the first time and having Whiteheart wide open for the touchdown, is Warren Ruggiero at his finest.
“That came right out of Virginia’s playbook.”
All due respect, that’s out of Wake’s playbook and was two years — TWO YEARS — in the making.
- UVA subbed and the referees didn’t give WF a chance to sub — rules dictate if the offense changes personnel, the defense is allowed to do the same.
Just FYI, any time you see Clawson with a perturbed look on his face and his arms out at 90-degree angles — that’s his beef.
- Just a *little* too much cushion allowed by Ja’Sir Taylor allows UVA to convert second-and-11 (after a sack that was awarded to Jasheen Davis but probably should’ve been half a sack to him, half to Masterson).
- Good lord this UVA touchdown is a trainwreck.
Starts with the center snapping the ball before while Armstrong is making a check.
Bothroyd gets held.
Armstrong does an incredible job of remaining poised.
“No question they’re going to take a look at it.”
One more time for the people who might be new here: Why have replay review at all if you’re still going to miss blatant calls like this?
“Virginia catches a break.”
Because the replay official decided it was time for a bathroom break? Again: Why have review if you’re going to miss calls anyway?
But sure go ahead, keep clinging to the notion that reviews somehow save the sanctity of sports.
- This ensuing kickoff, after Ke’Shawn Williams shouldn’t have brought out the last one?
Ja’Sir Taylor is deep.
- Tend to think this 31-yard pass from Hartman to Roberson is his best throw of the game. He steps up in the pocket and throws an accurate mid-level ball down the middle to Roberson, hitting him in stride.
- Well … uh … Wake Forest played really well in this game. And some things didn’t bounce the Deacons’ way.
But this snap when Hartman is trying to make a check that hits him square in the gut, but he’s able to catch it and turn it into an incompletion, has got to be one of the luckiest plays I’ve seen in a while.
- The touchdown to Perry is an excellent timing route and throw by Hartman. Tight window, ball is delivered on time and where only Perry can make a play.
- Zach Murphy earned his keep on this hold for the PAT.
- Ahmani Marshall makes this kickoff tackle while bulldozing a blocker.
As noted during the game on Twitter: He’s a year or two away, seemingly, from being in the running back rotation — but he’s making an impact on special teams every game now.
- For the record:
I had this as offensive pass interference against UVA as soon as the flag came out. Kind of felt like this call deflated the Cavaliers.
Bothroyd coming 30 yards down the field to celebrate the call with Taylor is a snapshot of how good the chemistry is for this team.
- At some point this year, I’ll review a fourth quarter in its entirety.
It ain’t going to be this one, though.
- Ah, here’s the Ke’Shawn Williams redemption with a 29-yard catch on third-and-18. Found a soft spot in the zone and Hartman found him.
WF was 7-for-15 on third downs in this game — according to my notes, the distances for the first five conversions were: 1, 5, 2, 1, goal (12 yards).
Offense is easy when you stay in third-and-short situations.
- This Sciba field goal — his streak is at 19 now, fwiw — is where I stopped keeping play-by-play notes.
- Interesting story — I’m not sure how much it’s been told — about Jim Grobe regretting that he moved away from the blueprint that got the Deacons to the ACC championship and Orange Bowl in 2006 told by Andre Ware.
I’ll throw that on the back burner; maybe a summer story.
This is where I’m going to leave you, at least for now. Thanks for joining me here for the past 11 or so months. It’s been a pleasure to Wake Up yall with these stories.
Been a GREAT/FUN read Kid! Look forward to continuing the pleasure at Rivals. Thanks for all...