Wake Forest football looked out of its element against Clemson

It was an ugly one in Memorial Stadium Saturday morning, as 10th-ranked Wake Forest football was bullied for all four quarters of their 48-27 beatdown against the Clemson Tigers, which officially kicked the ACC out of the playoff race for the 2021-22 CFB season. But the question now is simple: What’s next for the Deacs?

Well the answer isn’t new, but it is now much louder: Find some rhythm on defense. While the offense put up their lowest score of the season, it was still the better part of 30 points. The issue is always that Wake Forest can’t stop a breeze whenever their opponent has the ball, regardless of who the opponent even is.

Clemson, while on the come-up, has struggled offensively all year. Also, it was revealed during the week heading into their matchup with Wake that star wide receiver Justyn Ross would not return for the Tigers. However, that did not stop them from putting up even more points than UConn allowed just last weekend (44).

And it’s not as if the Tigers played flawlessly, either. Clemson made a multitude of mistakes, to the point where it almost looked like they were trying to keep the game interesting, yet the Deacs just kept laying eggs of their own in return.

With the meeting concluding how it did, both Atlantic Coast powers are still in the running to represent their division in the ACC title game, with Wake Forest — surprisingly — remaining as the Atlantic’s frontrunner.

While we’re on that topic, important “news” definitely needs to be addressed: Wake’s loss to UNC does not count as a loss in league play. This is because the two scheduled one another in an out-of-conference slot, all the way back in 2015.

Now despite the fact that this exchange was planned almost seven years ago, folks on social media are still confuzzled (if not outraged) that the Demon Deacons have received such “unfair” treatment. But why should they be punished like that for putting a conference rival where they could have put Elon?

Nonetheless, due to that scheduling, Clemson beating Wake Forest gives the Deacs only their first loss in league play this season. That, along with the win over NCST, means that all Wake has to do is beat 6-5 Boston College to make the ACC title game. In other words, the Tigers didn’t hurt Wake’s conference run at all. That is perhaps the only positive that the Demon Deacons can take from their week 12 slaughtering.

As for Clemson, they are now much further in their own hunt for the divisional crown than before. With a league record of 6-2 headlined by this latest victory, they need BC to topple Wake Forest next week, along with the Wolfpack falling at least one more time between now and the end of the regular season (NCST currently leads Syracuse, 21-7).

If both of those events occur, Clemson will be able to show the Atlantic Coast Conference that while they were down, they were never out.

Regardless of how this entire debacle unfolds, though, one must give respect to Wake Forest due to how well they have done this year. Of course, people are going to talk smack, but an outstanding showing from them nonetheless. And even with a loss to Clemson, Wake meeting Pittsburgh in the title game would be quite entertaining.