FSU football: 3 things Wake Forest has done well through two games

Passing Game

Wake Forest’s starting quarterback Sam Hartman has completed 67.3 percent of his passes for 432 yards, with four touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Historically, Hartman hasn’t been a huge threat to run, but we did see him have 15 carries for 43 yards against FSU in 2019. His biggest target is junior receiver Jaquarii Roberson, who has 10 receptions for 143 yards and two touchdowns.

FSU’s passing defense hasn’t been terrible outside of maybe six individual plays. Notre Dame won 3-4 fifty-fifty balls and had one blown coverage, and Jacksonville State scored both passing touchdowns on blown coverages and missed tackles. I couldn’t believe the stat line when I looked at Jacksonville State’s QB stats.

He only completed 44 percent of his passes and would have had 183 passes on 37 attempts if you take away the final play of the game. Normally if you stop the run and make a team one-dimensional, you’ll have a great shot of winning the game.

FSU has done that as they are only allowing teams 2.34 yards per rush. Wake Forest isn’t crazy explosive, considering they are averaging 5.88 yards per play against two non-Power Five schools. It comes down to eliminating the blown coverages and winning the 1-on-1 battles in the secondary.

One note will be to watch how Wake Forest tries to attack the middle of the defense through the air with Kalen DeLoach suspended for the first half of the game for targeting in the Jacksonville State game.