Sam Hartman and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons beat Vanderbilt down on Saturday, proving that they’re in for another strong year.
There was a ton of uncertainty surrounding the Wake Forest Demon Deacons as they entered this season, and it didn’t go away as they headed into Nashville to take on the then-unbeaten Vanderbilt Commodores. However, Sam Hartman’s grand return put an end to all of that astonishingly quick.
In what turned out to be a 20-point blowout, the Deacs opened the game up early and never looked back. The win gave them a 2-0 start for the sixth time in seven seasons.
Combining that with the fact that over 40 points have been scored in each of the two wins (44 and 45, respectively), it is safe to say that this offensive era at Wake Forest hasn’t gone anywhere, nor will it until further notice.
Now sure, after their high-scoring battle with Elon, the Commodores are clearly no monumental victory (especially for a ranked team). But nonetheless, they are still an SEC squad that has already seen a steep rise from last year, so downing them by three scores on the road certainly doesn’t mean nothing.
The dominating start to this 2022 run has seen the Demon Deacons average 44.5 points per game, just above the 42.9 that they averaged over the course of their entire regular season in 2021. If that similarity is remotely indicative of how the remainder of their current slate will treat them, then the offense is just as good (if not better) than it was before.
Even good offenses are rarely perfect offenses
One concern that has arisen when looking at the offensive regime in further detail is the amount of penalties on behalf of the O-line. Said penalties have been prominent throughout the first couple of weeks, displaying a noteworthy loss of discipline every step of the way.
Speaking of the O-line, it had also appeared to have lost some of its 2021 solidity, especially against VMI in Week 1. While it was only Wake’s season opener, something like that ever becoming a common sight could greatly harm the consistency of the offense’s execution against bigger/better competition as the season progresses.
But again, it was the season opener, and when considering the fact that the issue did not appear as often while the Deacs were in Nashville, it doesn’t feel like too large of a question mark at the moment.
That just leaves the aforementioned lack of discipline on the offensive line’s side of things. However, that could easily be fixed with further practice/coaching.
In short, Wake Forest is still a menacing team on offense, with its unbeaten record being headlined by back-to-back games with 44 points or more scored, along with star quarterback Sam Hartman not skipping a beat in spite of his previously established return from a medical scare.
If Wake can continue to keep its foot on the gas through both its homecoming game and entrance into conference play, it—while far from perfect—will clearly be in store for another exceptional season.