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Wake Forest Football: 3 takeaways from Birmingham Bowl

By Connor Muldowney

BIRMINGHAM, AL - DECEMBER 22: Alex Bachman #1 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons runs for a 28-yard gain after catching a pass on a fourth down play against the Memphis Tigers in the first quarter of the Birmingham Bowl at Legion Field on December 22, 2018 in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
BIRMINGHAM, AL - DECEMBER 22: Alex Bachman #1 of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons runs for a 28-yard gain after catching a pass on a fourth down play against the Memphis Tigers in the first quarter of the Birmingham Bowl at Legion Field on December 22, 2018 in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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Memphis and Wake Forest football matched up for the 2018 Birmingham Bowl down in Alabama. What did we learn from the intriguing matchup?

What a game. In what looked like a barn burner early on, Wake Forest and Memphis went down to the wire in a close, low-scoring second-half. The Demon Deacons were able to prevail with a 37-34 win, preserving a Birmingham Bowl victory and three straight bowl wins under Dave Clawson.

Memphis seemed to have the game in the bag when it was up 28-10 with 11 minutes to go in the second quarter. The Demon Deacons couldn’t slow down the Tigers as they secured four touchdowns in the first 19 minutes, but the defense locked down thereafter, holding Memphis to just six from that point on.

Clawson has to feel good about the way the 2018 ended after losing a starting quarterback midway through the year. A winning record isn’t too shabby, especially in comeback fashion.

What’d we learn from the 2018 Birmingham Bowl on Saturday?

3. Run defense struggled mightily

It was a theme throughout the season and it continued on Saturday. Wake Forest could not stop the run and the Memphis Tigers took full advantage.

On a day when the passing game wasn’t working for Memphis, they stuck with the ground attack and it worked wonders. The Tigers were able to account for 214 yards and two touchdowns on 52 carries as they had two 100-yard rushers on the day in Tony Pollard and Patrick Taylor Jr.

If there’s one negative to take away from this game from the Demon Deacons, it had to be that run defense as the secondary was able to hold Memphis to 171 passing yards with an interception.

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