CHARLOTTE — Dave Clawson wanted to see the yo-yo lose its momentum.
Earlier in the week, ahead of the ACC football championship game matchup with Pitt, the Wake Forest coach pointed to a season full of up-and-down performances for the defense. Strong showings were followed by poor ones. And Clawson said, after a stout performance in the season finale against Boston College, he’d like to see the unit string together two quality games in a row.
On Saturday against an offense averaging more than 42 points per game and led by a Heisman hopeful, Wake Forest lost 45-21. The blame of this loss could not be placed on the Demon Deacons’ defense even though it did no favor for their statbook.
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“I mean, you look at 45 points, but how many short fields and off of punts and off of interceptions and they had a pick six. It's eerily similar to a game we had in the same stadium a year ago,” Clawson said, alluding to Wake Forest’s 42-28 loss to Wisconsin in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. ”Our defense certainly played well enough for us to win if we play our typical offensive game, but with, again, the turnovers and the short fields off of the punt returns, it wasn't enough.”
The Deacons weathered a couple quick shots to the mouth. In their first two series, Pitt authored 75-yard scoring drives. Five plays into the game, Panthers quarterback Kenny Pickett took off for a 58-yard touchdown run. The next series, Pickett only need four plays for another score, registering three straight passes of 18 yards or more, the last being a 22-yard touchdown strike to Rodney Hammond Jr.
Starting linebacker Luke Masterson said the group responded with focus, allowing them to find their footing.
“We started tackling better, we ended up covering well. We got some pressure on third down,” Masterson said. “And when we got the third down, we were all right. When we didn't get to third down, we let him drive on us. That's when they scored.”
Wake Forest forced Pitt into a missed field goal, a punt and a turnover on downs in the next three drives before the Panthers scored their next touchdown. In that time, the Deacons had taken the lead. That, however, was where the Wake Forest offense really stalled. Three straight forced punts by the Deacons to start the third quarter were offset by Wake Forest's scoreless second half that featured three interceptions tossed by Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman.
“The defense stepped up today, man, in so many ways,” Wake Forest wide receiver Jaquarii Roberson said. “There were times where we went three-and-out, and I’m like ‘we need points on the board.’
“That was tough. It was 21-24 (Pitt leading) for a good while. We went three-and-out a few times.”
Pitt’s last three touchdowns came on short fields. A deep punt return became a 4-yard touchdown pass for Kenny Pickett in the second quarter. All three of Hartman’s second-half picks turned into Panthers’ points: the end of third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter featured two Pitt rushing touchdowns from Israel Abanikanda. Those scoring drives went for 45 yards and 3 yards, respectively.
The last from Hartman turned into a pick-six score from safety Erick Hallett, the game’s MVP with two interceptions.
Those issues don’t fall on the defense, but defensive tackle Miles Fox said he takes no solace in that. Short field or not, Fox said the defense should have held them out.
“Just control what you can control,” Fox said. “Try to keep them out and hold them to a field goal. At the end of the day, if they don’t score, they don’t win. They kept on scoring.”
Clawson said the loss stings, for sure. What’s been accomplished by the Deacons (10-3) is not discredited by a loss in the ACC title game. The defense made its stride forward on Saturday. In a team game, though, too much went haywire for the unit to overcome.
“Sometimes you leave a game and you're mad and you feel you lost to a lesser football team,” Clawson said. “I thought Pitt outplayed us today. If we had won that game, we had stolen it.
“They outplayed us at the line of scrimmage. They executed better than we did. They deserved to win that game.”