SWC75
Bored Historian
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 32,771
- Like
- 63,122
- We just beat #2 Clemson to go 4-3 and suddenly the remaining games all seem winnable. All we have to do is win 2 of 5 games to make a bowl…all we have to do is win 2 of 4 games to make a bowl….all we have to do is win 2 of 3 games to get to a bowl….now we have to win 2 of 2 games to get to a bowl. And we’ve lost three in a row, so the confidence has sagged and the frustration level has risen, which will make it harder to do. I think we were basically Leon Spinks beating Ali when we beat Clemson- or Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson.
- Also making it hard is that we have to go on the road to face Lamar Jackson again, then come home to play a Boston College team who has been playing very well.
- And we might have to do it without Eric Dungey. Zach Mahoney is the best back-up quarterback in a long time but we are 1-7 in the games he’s started.
- Then there is this particular game. We had a 38-21 lead just before the half and everything seemed just dandy. Our offense was finally putting both yards, (425 of them) and points on the board. We let them get away for a 44 yard play with 16 seconds left, which set up a field goal. OK, so we were still up 38-24 at halftime. Orange fans had smiles on their faces. The second half was 5-40, as we were out-gained 196-382 and had two turnovers. Being dominated is one thing. Being dominated by Wake Forest after we’d competed so well against all kinds of high profile teams is something else. And being dominated ina game you were dominating is really shocking and disheartening.
- Even more disheartening is that Wake used a handful of simple plays to destroy the defense we’d been so proud of. It was either a sweep by Matt Colburn, who rushed for 239 yards and 2 scores or a keeper by John Wolford who rushed for 139 yards and 3 scores and passed for 363 and 2 more, all to the tight end Cam Serigne, (119 yards and those 3TDs). We could enver adjust to them.
- In some ways it was Syracuse playing a better Syracuse. Just like us, the played hurry up all day,. Just like us, they wanted to get off a ton of plays, (89) and wear down the other team and they did. Wofford played like Eric Dungey without all the dramatic leaps: it was the art of the possible. Colburn is the sort of back we wish we had. All their receivers were big, tall guys. Dave Clawson came there form Bowling green two years before Dino Babers came here and he’s just had the opportunity to build a better team because he’s had more time. They have the kind of team we hope to have in another year or two. Right now, we just aren’t good enough to make our dreams come true.
- We are now -6 in turnovers this year. Dino said that Wake Forest wasn’t a team where he was worried if they got behind us because they didn’t have the speed of the teams we’ve bene playing, so we could afford to play more aggressively and get turnovers. For the second straight game we got a turnover on a muffed punt, (this time we took advantage of it.) But we still haven’t had a defensive takeaway in the last 6 games yet we gave up 9 touchdowns. It’s all uphill when you don’t make your own breaks.
- We came in having given up only 26 third down conversions in 118 attempts, (22%). That was #1 in the nation. Wake was converting 39% of their first downs. We were converting 42%. We were only 6 of 18 on offensive third downs and Wake was 8 of 16.
- Cole Murphy missed two of four field goals. One was long but the line-drive he hit wasn’t close. He’s back to “box of chocolates” mode: you never know what you are going to get.
- The play calling was again strange. After we’d gotten the momentum-changing defensive PAT and then driven to the Wake 33 with a chance to take back command of the game. We then went to the end zone on long passes three times in a row and got nothing, followed by Murphy’s inadequate attempt at a 51 yard field goal. Wake then drove 67 yards to take the lead and control of the game. Why not try to get a first down?
- Then there was the bizarre sequence late in the fourth quarter when Rex Culpepper came in on 4th and 5, replacing an apparently uninjured Mahoney. Culpepper had pooched a punch in an earlier game and maybe he was going to do that again. Nope. Rex threw a bad pass that had no chance to be completed and Wake took over at our 30 with 6:40 to go, up 54-43. I guess we were trying to fool them. We only fooled ourselves.
- Also making it hard is that we have to go on the road to face Lamar Jackson again, then come home to play a Boston College team who has been playing very well.
- And we might have to do it without Eric Dungey. Zach Mahoney is the best back-up quarterback in a long time but we are 1-7 in the games he’s started.
- Then there is this particular game. We had a 38-21 lead just before the half and everything seemed just dandy. Our offense was finally putting both yards, (425 of them) and points on the board. We let them get away for a 44 yard play with 16 seconds left, which set up a field goal. OK, so we were still up 38-24 at halftime. Orange fans had smiles on their faces. The second half was 5-40, as we were out-gained 196-382 and had two turnovers. Being dominated is one thing. Being dominated by Wake Forest after we’d competed so well against all kinds of high profile teams is something else. And being dominated ina game you were dominating is really shocking and disheartening.
- Even more disheartening is that Wake used a handful of simple plays to destroy the defense we’d been so proud of. It was either a sweep by Matt Colburn, who rushed for 239 yards and 2 scores or a keeper by John Wolford who rushed for 139 yards and 3 scores and passed for 363 and 2 more, all to the tight end Cam Serigne, (119 yards and those 3TDs). We could enver adjust to them.
- In some ways it was Syracuse playing a better Syracuse. Just like us, the played hurry up all day,. Just like us, they wanted to get off a ton of plays, (89) and wear down the other team and they did. Wofford played like Eric Dungey without all the dramatic leaps: it was the art of the possible. Colburn is the sort of back we wish we had. All their receivers were big, tall guys. Dave Clawson came there form Bowling green two years before Dino Babers came here and he’s just had the opportunity to build a better team because he’s had more time. They have the kind of team we hope to have in another year or two. Right now, we just aren’t good enough to make our dreams come true.
- We are now -6 in turnovers this year. Dino said that Wake Forest wasn’t a team where he was worried if they got behind us because they didn’t have the speed of the teams we’ve bene playing, so we could afford to play more aggressively and get turnovers. For the second straight game we got a turnover on a muffed punt, (this time we took advantage of it.) But we still haven’t had a defensive takeaway in the last 6 games yet we gave up 9 touchdowns. It’s all uphill when you don’t make your own breaks.
- We came in having given up only 26 third down conversions in 118 attempts, (22%). That was #1 in the nation. Wake was converting 39% of their first downs. We were converting 42%. We were only 6 of 18 on offensive third downs and Wake was 8 of 16.
- Cole Murphy missed two of four field goals. One was long but the line-drive he hit wasn’t close. He’s back to “box of chocolates” mode: you never know what you are going to get.
- The play calling was again strange. After we’d gotten the momentum-changing defensive PAT and then driven to the Wake 33 with a chance to take back command of the game. We then went to the end zone on long passes three times in a row and got nothing, followed by Murphy’s inadequate attempt at a 51 yard field goal. Wake then drove 67 yards to take the lead and control of the game. Why not try to get a first down?
- Then there was the bizarre sequence late in the fourth quarter when Rex Culpepper came in on 4th and 5, replacing an apparently uninjured Mahoney. Culpepper had pooched a punch in an earlier game and maybe he was going to do that again. Nope. Rex threw a bad pass that had no chance to be completed and Wake took over at our 30 with 6:40 to go, up 54-43. I guess we were trying to fool them. We only fooled ourselves.
Last edited: