FSU Football: Noles roll Wake Forest for fourth win in 2018
By Kelvin Hunt
FSU football needed to beat Wake Forest to keep its bowl hopes alive and they did just that.
1st Half
FSU football won the toss and elected to defer to the second half. Wake Forest marched down the field aided by a three third down conversions but had to settle for a 32 yard FG to go up 3-0 with 11:54 left in the first quarter.
FSU promptly went three and out on their first possession and didn’t look like they practiced during the bye week. Wake Forest took over and moved the ball to mid-field before being forced to punt, pinning FSU on its own 17 yard line.
The Noles promptly go three and out and punt it away with Wake Forest getting the ball on their own 49. Wake Forest goes 51 yards on nine plays for a touchdown to make it 10-0 with 6:00 to go in the first quarter.
FSU returns to kickoff to the 16 yard line to begin with poor field position as usual. They finally managed to get a first down before being forced to punt once again. Wake Forest started their drive on their own 26 yard line and promptly marched down the field and went for it on fourth and 8 when clearly in FG territory.
Brian Burns came up with a huge sack on the play and FSU took over on its own 40 yard line and 60 yards on six plays for a Cam Akers TD run to make it 10-7 with :24 left in the first quarter.
The ‘Noles defense forced a punt and FSU moved the ball well. Deondre Francois hit Keith Gavin for a huge play and Gavin fumbled the ball into the end zone for a touchback. However, the FSU defense was able to deflect a WF pass and get a Stanford Samuel’s interception deep in Wake Forest territory.
FSU takes the short field and feeds Jacques Patrick three plays for 14 yards to make it 14-10 with 9:50 left in the second quarter.
Wake begins their drive on their own 25 and promptly goes three and out with FSU football taking over on their own 27 yard line and of course to three and out as well with a manageable third and six. Logan Tyler with a huge 52 yard punt that puts Wake Forest on their own 24 yard line.
The Noles forced a punt near midfield on a fourth and one play where I was surprised they didn’t’ go for it. Deondre Francois hit Tamorrion Terry on a huge TD play but it was called back for holding.
However, the Noles rebounded nicely and moved into the edge of field goal range. However, instead of settling for a long field goal Willie Taggart went for it on fourth and three. Francois hit Nyqwan Murray for a 33 yard touchdown to make it 21-10 with 2:01 left in the second quarter.
Wake Forest moved the ball to midfield but was forced to punt with :38 second remaining. FSU received the ball with less than :30 seconds remaining but played it fairly conservative before allowing time to run out of the half.
2nd Half
FSU football received the ball to start the second half and got a glimpse of something we thought we’d be seeing more of.
scored on a huge run on the second play of the second half to make it 28-10 with 14:30 remaining. The FSU defense got a stop on downs on Wake Forest’s first possession of the second half and took over on their 46 yard line. The Noles moved the ball into field goal range and Ricky Aguayo connected on a 49 yard field goal to make it 31-10 with 11:19 remaining.
Wake Forest couldn’t get much going on their possession as FSU’s defense started pinning their ears back. FSU received the punt and started on their own 18 yard line. The FSU offensive line gave Francois lots of time and he hit Nyqwan Murray for a couple of big gains. D.J. Matthews also got in the mix before the Noles had to settle for a 38 yard Aguayo field goal that he missed wide right.
Wake Forest had nothing doing on their possession and was forced to punt with FSU’s drive starting on their own 39 yard line. The Noles had nothing doing on their possession with Logan Tyler launching a 43 yard punt that pinned Wake Forest on their own 15 yard line. The FSU defense shut them down again with Wake Forest playing their backup quarterback.
The Noles began their drive on their own 23 yard line with Francois hitting Cam Akers for a nice 16 yard gain to end the third quarter. However, the Noles had to punt shortly thereafter but it was good to see a couple of reserve players like Pops Upshur and Keyshawn Helton with receptions.
FSU’s defense forced Wake Forest to punt and the Noles saw Deondre Francois connect with true freshman Tre’Shaun Harrison for a 21 yard TD to make it 38-10. The game was basically over at this point with 9:43 remaining in the game. FSU football went on to win 38-17.
Thoughts
It was a rough start but it was great to see the Noles bounce back after getting punched in the mouth. The FSU defense absolutely shut down Wake Forest’s offense after giving up the first 10 points of the game.
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The FSU offense did was it was supposed to do against one of the worst defenses in the country. FSU football needs two more wins in the next five games to become bowl eligible.
They’ll welcome Clemson to Tallahassee next Saturday with a noon kickoff.