That one was a gut punch. The Deacs led #16 Georgia Tech for nearly 3 quarters, going up by as much as 17 points in the 3rd quarter, only to lose on the final play of the game. The Yellow Jackets stormed
back behind a big day from QB Haynes King to tie the game at 23 on a 33 yard field goal with 2 seconds remaining in the game. Georgia Tech would ultimately win in overtime, 30-29.
I imagine there will be plenty of conversation about the missed offsides call that would have sealed the game for Wake Forest, so let’s just get that out of the way from the jump.
This is clearly a penalty that would have given Wake a first down and ended the game. I have no idea how the refs missed such a massive, game altering call, but that is just inexcusable. That being said, no game is ultimately decided by a single play, and throwing the ball up for grabs in that situation instead of keeping it on the ground and chewing 40 more seconds off the clock was a costly mistake. Still, the refs missing this obvious penalty that would have ended the game on the spot just makes losing this hurt even more.
Despite the loss, the Wake Forest offense looked much better in this game than they have so far this season. While QB Robby Ashford finished just 13-28 throwing the ball, he made several big plays in the passing game, and I thought this was really the first game of the season where his ability to run the ball was utilized effectively—Ashford finished the game with 10 rushes for 82 yards and a touchdown. It really felt like the game changed when Ashford came up injured on a 29 yard run on the opening drive in the 3rd quarter. The Deacs ended that drive with a field goal, but Georgia Tech went on to score 17 points in a row before Wake got their next first down. Deshawn Purdie was just 1-3 for 14 yards and had -3 rushing yards while Ashford was out being evaluated.
All around, this was still the best Wake has played this season. The Deacs finished with 210 rushing yards—behind a 119 yard, 2 touchdown performance from Demon Claiborne—and 443 yards of total offense, over 100 more than their average against FBS teams so far this season. The defense also played well, holding a top 25 team to just 23 points in regulation and keeping that potent Yellow Jacket rushing attack to just 163 yards and 3.9 yards per rush. Sometimes, the best player on the field just takes over, and that’s exactly what Haynes King did in the second half. King finished with 349 total yards and 3 touchdowns in the comeback effort.
I’m sure there will be plenty of talk about the decision to go for 2 at the end of the game, but I’ll go on the record and say I like the call. Claiborne had just gotten injured on a long TD run, Ashford was hobbled, and the GT offense was rolling—I think Wake had a better chance of getting 2 yards than winning the game in a 2nd OT. The play call could have been a little better, but I love coach Dickert trusting his team and trying to win the game in that situation.
Even though this loss definitely hurts because Wake had the game won and it feels like some terrible officiating ended up costing them (the PI call after the missed offsides was also bad), there are still some reasons to be optimistic. The Deacs are continuing to improve, especially on the offensive side of the ball, and there’s a lot of season left to be played. The schedule is still extremely favorable, and if Wake can continue to build and get better, I think today showed that a bowl game is still well within the realm of possibility.
Onto the next.
Go Deacs.
