Florida State vs Wake Forest Preview
Each week ChopChat’s Harlen Shackleford previews that weekend’s game, here’s the Florida State vs Wake Forest Preview.
The Seminoles should be eyeing their first shutout of the season as long as a good week of practice has tackled the issue of tackling. Last week the ‘Noles defense missed 33 tackles in Florida State’s 56-41 victory at NC State. Coach Fisher said that it was the worst tackling performance he had ever seen out of his program since he’d been head coach.
Florida State vs Wake Forest Preview
Wake Forest and Florida State couldn’t be further apart on offense statistically. It would take a David and Goliath story for the Demon Deacons to be triumphant over the Seminoles this Saturday. With the exclusion of the game against FCS opponent Gardner-Webb who hasn’t won a single road games this season, the Deacons have only scored five offensive touchdowns in 2014. On the latter, Florida State is averaging 4.5 touchdowns per game. But there is one thing that the Deacons can hang their hat on at the end of the day.
Defense.
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When the ‘Noles have the ball:
First year head coach Dave Clawson has led the Demon Deacons to a formidable 2-3 record (considering that Wake Forest is the smallest “Power 5” university). He’s done this with a defense that ranks as one of the nation’s best in several categories.
This stingy defense should present some interesting challenges, but it hasn’t seen the likes of a Jameis Winston all season. It almost seems repetitive to say, but expect Rashad Greene to have a huge game yet again. The senior has been the ACC Receiver of the week in three of the his last four games.
Wake Forest is allowing just 159.6 yards per game through the air. However, with Winston throwing his way Greene can come close to matching this 159.6 mark in receiving alone. The key to having success through the air in this matchup will be to create big plays in open space that result in touchdowns outside of the red zone as Wake Forest’s red zone defense ranks first in the ACC and sixth nationally.
Teams have had sufficient success on the ground against the Demon Deacons though. The Deacons are allowing 171 yards per game on the ground. This bodes well for a stable of halfbacks anxious to prove the critics wrong about FSU’s problems running the ball. If the ‘Noles can be dominant in the run game early and make the secondary play up to stop it this one may be over before it gets started as favorable match-ups should open up for Winston against a very stout secondary.
When the Demon Deacons have the ball:
An offense with as many problems as Wake Forest’s will just have to optimistically hope that FSU can double the amount of missed tackles it had a week ago when it missed 33 tackles against NC State. This would be the only way that the Deacon offense could be competitive. Even at that, it wouldn’t be a guarantee. Wake Forest has rushed for 146 yards on 140 attempts with a long of 36 yards. If you take the one long of 36 yards away, the Deacons are averaging .791 yards a carry…
Jacksonville, FL native true-freshman quarterback John Wolford may very well be the highlight of this Wake Forest offense as he beat out redshirt sophomore quarterback Tyler Cameron. Wolford has passed for 1005 yards tallying six touchdowns and ten interceptions. It would seem that a loud hostile environment may see the true-freshman struggle, as Wolford has been sacked 23 times in total with 20 of those sacks being recorded on the road. Wolford also has a completion percentage of just 48.1% in away games compared to his 59.2% overall accuracy mark. The upside that Wolford possesses is that he can spread the wealth getting the ball to all of his weapons.
The following are Wolford’s top four targets led by true-freshman tight end Cam Serigne.
| RECEIVING STATISTICS | |||||
| NAME | REC | YDS | AVG | LONG | TD |
| Cam Serigne | 26 | 265 | 10.2 | 32 | 1 |
| E.J. Scott | 22 | 239 | 10.9 | 36 | 4 |
| Matt James | 18 | 217 | 12.1 | 36 | 0 |
| Jared Crump | 18 | 196 | 10.9 | 24 | 0 |
Special Teams:
Last year’s Groza award winning kicker Robert Aguayo has been flawless so far this year going 7-7 on field goal attempts with a long of 50 yards. The Seminoles only scored touchdowns against NC State last week– Aguayo was only needed for kickoffs and extra points. Needless to say, he was perfect.
But the toughest challenge of the season may present itself this Saturday for Aguayo as Wake Forest has blocked three kicks in five games — two field goals and one punt — with junior defensive end Tylor Harris blocking two of the kicks himself. This matchup between Robert Aguayo and Tyler Harris may be one of the more unique matchups to keep an eye on throughout the game as last year’s Groza winner is looking to be the best kicker in the country for two consecutive seasons.
Final Thoughts
Considering all that’s in the Seminoles favor coming into this matchup and everything that is working against the Demon Deacons, nothing short of a dominant performance by Florida State should be expected. Last year’s contest saw the Deacons just get “out-athleted” in every facet of the game. Expect much of the same this year as Florida State brings back similar talent on both sides of the ball to line-up against an offense that may potentially go down as an all-time worse for Wake Forest.