The Wake Forest Demon Deacons entered their game Saturday night against the North Carolina Tar Heels very confident in their defense after shutting out Boston College last weekend. The Demon Deacons will be heading back to the drawing board immediately after North Carolina dominated the game, winning by a score of 50-14.
The game looked promising for the Demon Deacons early as they struck first after Marquise Williams was intercepted twice. The opening touchdown was scored by Cam Serigne off of a pass by John Wolford, ending the first quarter with a score of 7-0.
The game changed quickly, however, in favor of the Tar Heels. In the second quarter the Tar Heels would score 22 unanswered points made by big rushing plays by Williams and Elijah Hood. Williams also completed a long passing touchdown to Mack Hollins for the touchdown that started the run. Wake Forest would respond with a touchdown of their own when John Wolford made a five yard pass to Tabari Hines, cutting the lead to eight. That would be short lived as the deficit increased to 15 again on the next North Carolina possession.
After the half, Wake had a possession that seemed promising, but ended up resulting in a turnover on downs when Kendall Hinton, who relieved Wolford, scrambled towards the out of bounds and never could find a receiver to get the ball to. UNC would follow up their big defensive stop with another touchdown and they never looked back. Their next two possessions would result in scores and Wake could not find an answer on either side of the ball.
John Wolford’s numbers were not too bad for Wake in the game. He was 16 for 22 with 176 yards and two touchdowns. Aside from two turnovers, North Carolina quarterback Marquise Williams was stellar going 14 for 20 for 282 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also added 12 rushes for 59 yards and another touchdown. Elijah Hood was also fantastic for UNC getting 101 yards and a touchdown on only eight carries.
The Tar Heels outgained Wake Forest 538-to-310. That yardage differential was enough to overcome the two interceptions and Wake’s advantage in time of possession. The big plays turned out to go mostly in favor of North Carolina and Wake Forest spent a lot of the game chasing the Tar Heel playmakers around the field. The Wake Forest defense will have to fix their problems quick as they have struggled a lot on offense and will need their defense to help them stay in games.
Next week, Wake Forest will try to get back to .500 as they host the NC State Wolfpack at noon next Saturday. UNC will hope to stay undefeated against a dangerous Virginia Cavaliers team next Saturday at 3:30 in Chapel Hill.