It wasn’t pretty, but the Wake Forest Demon Deacons opened the season with a victory at home over the Tulane Green Wave by a score of 7-3. Some of the issues that Wake Forest had been trying to rectify continued to show in this game, however, the defense once again stepped up and made the plays when the team needed them to and resulted in a close margin of victory.
Two quarterback system struggles
The Wake Forest offense struggled to move the ball against the Tulane defense. The team managed just 10 first downs, 79 rushing yards, and 96 passing yards. Coach Dave Clawson said after the game, “Give credit to Tulane, they’re a scrappy group. They were really, really well prepared and we just didn’t make enough explosive plays.” There were opportunities missed on deep throws that Wake Forest would like back. The numbers would have been better had those throws been completed.
Tulane couldn’t find the end zone
Tulane’s offense outplayed Wake Forest in total yards but just couldn’t find their way into the end zone. The Wake Forest defense was able to hold off the Green Wave even after they had success moving the ball down the field. The most telling statistic for the Green Wave is their red zone performance. They were inside the 20-yard line of Wake Forest twice and missed out of scoring points both times.
Jessie Bates and Julian Jackson shine defensively
Bates made seven solo tackles, a few were in the open field, where if he missed, Tulane would have had a huge gain. He ended up as the team leader for Wake Forest in total tackles with eight. Julian Jackson ended the game with 2 total sacks on three different occasions in the second half. When Wake Forest needed to slow down Tulane, Jackson was there to make the play, including Tulane’s final offensive play.
Blocked field goal proved key for Wake Forest
With 11:45 left in the fourth quarter, kicker Andrew DiRocco lined up for a field goal that could have cut Wake Forest’s lead to just one point, however, the kick was blocked. Had the field goal been made Tulane would not have needed to go for it on fourth down on their next drive at the Wake Forest 14 yard line and could have attempted another field goal for the lead and a potential 9-7 win. In the close, defensive game, every point matters and those 3 points missed proved critical.
Up next
Wake Forest will move on to next Saturday’s contest with the Duke Blue Devils in Durham, North Carolina at 3:30 PM while Tulane will have their home opener against Southern on that same Saturday night at 8:00 PM in New Orleans.