Wake Forest Football Defensive Preview

A Deacon and Oski walk into a bar fight....

The Wake Forest Demon Deacon marries Mr and Ms. Ruf of NC State

Wake Forest has gone through ebbs and flows in establishing their identity under Dave Clawson. Most recently, they’ve gone through a transformational shift with the slow mesh concept on offense. Defensively, they’ve had several question marks over the years and at times, have struggled to put it all together on that side of the ball. In 2024, the Demon Deacons have given a up a minimum of 20 points in every game against FBS competition this season, and have only held FBS opponents to less than 30 twice (20 vs UConn and 24 vs Stanford). Cal will have ample opportunity to strike with or without some of their questionable players Friday night.

2023 Defense in Review

• Gave up 27 points per game

• yielded 154 yards per game on the ground

• opponents passed for 232 yards per game through the air

• teams averaged 5.8 yards per play and the Demon Deacons in totality gave up 40 touchdowns
  

2024 setup

• led by DC Brad Lambert

• runs a 4-2-5

• given up 31 points per game

  • surrendering 152 yards per game on the ground and 288 yards per game through the air

• had a defense that was opportunistic last season but has only turned teams over 13 total times through eight games

• struggle to contain at the point of attack and thus the back seven is responsible far too often for eating tackles and maintaining gaps

Provisional Starters

DL Jasheen Davis, DL Kendron Wayman, DL Kevin Pointer, DL Zach Lohavichan

ILB Branson Combs, ILB Dylan Hazen

DB Evan Slocum, S Nick Andersen, S Jaxon Mull, Nickel DaVaughn Patterson, DB Zamari Stevenson

Players and personnel to watch

Due in part to Wake Forest’s linebackers and defensive backs bearing so much responsibilities, they get most of the action. DB Nick Andersen is the player to watch for the Demon Deacons, as he leads the team in tackles with 82, 25 more than the next defender. Alongside his one interception and one forced fumble, he tends to find himself in the midst a lot of plays.

One of the consequences in those situations, is at times his stats and the effect he has on the game slide towards empty calories. There are some cases where you can afford your back seven to be that active like Evan Weaver and in other cases, it’s unfortunately people making plays because others haven’t.

Branson Combs and Kevin Pointer are the two other consistent disruptors for Wake Forest. They’ve combined for 11.5 TFL’s and 5.5 sacks on the season, some of the only Demon Deacons who Brad Lambert and Dave Clawson rely on. There aren’t many glaring strengths with this defense, but if there are plays to be made, chances are they are coming from these three.

Here’s how Wake Forest’s defense did against Stanford in their most recent game

How Cal can win this game

If Cal is getting a shot in the arm with a lot of returning players like Justin Wilcox claims, the Bears offensive process should clean itself up. Fernando Mendoza would have a deep threat to throw to, the offensive line would be healthy coming off a good performance against Oregon State, and the unit overall has more areas to attack Wake Forest than they can contain.

With Jaydn Ott continuing to be a focal point for teams to contain on the ground, I’d look at his continued involvement in the passing game to become a strength. The Demon Deacons tend to let skill position players roam with space, especially in their zone looks, so Cal should be hitting the intermediate ball repeatedly until they adjust. Think of how Jack Endries was used against Pitt, find those 7-10 yard throws and see if Endries can rack up yards after the catch.

If you blend together the performance of the NC State game and the Oregon State game, that’s about where I would expect the Cal offense to perform tonight. There’s no reason why the Bears shouldn’t threaten to score 27-30 points, and the onus is on them to convert in the red zone when they do get those chances. Wake Forest is not the most disruptive team in the world but has shown a pension in previous iterations of Brad Lambert defenses to force 3 and out’s. If Cal stays on schedule, they should take care of business. But as we’ve all seen this year, winning the game on paper versus taking care of business on the field can be two different things.