Heel Tough Blog: Wake Forest Recap

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The Tar Heels came into Saturday’s game with a chance to get on the doorstep of making a bowl game and extend their win streak over Wake Forest to five games. Despite getting across the Wake 40 six times, the team was only able to come away with 12 points and the defense wasn’t able to win the way they had in the previous three games for the team. As a result, the Tar Heels fell 28-12, meaning they will have to win out to make the postseason in Year 1 of the Bill Belichick era. Here are our biggest takeaways from the loss to the Demon Deacons which drops the team to 4-6.

Weird First Half Touchdowns Were a Huge Difference in This Game

The first half produced two touchdowns for Wake Forest and both of them could be considered unorthodox because of what happened around them. The first touchdown came on the first drive of the game on a play where Gavin Gibson punched the ball out of Wake quarterback Robby Ashford’s hands, the ball would squirt to Wake wide receiver Carlos Hernandez who would take the ball 51 yards to the house for the touchdown. Later in the half, the Demon Deacons would find the endzone on a 12-yard run up the middle by Demond Claiborne after a controversial conversion on 4th down earlier in the drive that looked like a clear stop for Melkart Abou-Jaoude and this Tar Heel defense. These two touchdowns were huge because it gave Wake control of this game early and they never really relinquished that.

Tar Heels Inability to Score Touchdowns Did Them In

Offensively, the Tar Heels moved the football relatively well in their own territory, but hit a wall once they crossed the Wake 40 yard line. Six of the team’s drives made it to at least that spot on the field, but not a single one resulted in a touchdown. Instead, the team would settle for six field goal attempts, two of which were blocked. The inability to score touchdowns has been an issue at times this season, but the hope was that the team had put those struggles behind them. Instead, it’s one of the biggest reasons why the Tar Heels lost a game that felt winnable coming in.

Run Defense Fails Big Test

Wake Forest presented the Tar Heels run defense with one of their biggest tests of the entire season and the Tar Heels failed miserably. The interior of the defensive line was pushed around all night long and that was where the bulk of the success came for Wake’s running game. Running back Demond Claiborne had his best performance in over a month, running for 98 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries, but it was the success that Ashford had carrying the ball that really did the Tar Heels in. Ashford carried the ball just 10 times but turned that into 52 yards and made timely play with his legs all afternoon. The fact that Hernandez’s fumble recovery touchdown was labeled as a rushing play may make the numbers feel a little worse than they were, the fact of the matter is Wake made plays on the ground when they needed to, something teams hadn’t been able to do since that Clemson game.

Tackling Issues Return

After some tremendous tackling performances in the previous three games, the Tar Heels had some issues getting guys on the ground on Saturday. It started early in the game with Khmori House missing two big tackle opportunities early and while they were only credited with 11 missed tackles by Pro Football Focus, it felt like every missed tackle was fairly significant and led to big plays. The Wake wide receivers were the ones who benefited the most from the Tar Heels struggles, as they had 166 of their 191 receiving yards come after the catch. If the Tar Heels are going to find a way to win the next two games, they are going to have to tackle better, especially on important plays than they did on Saturday.

Gio Lopez Leaves a Lot to Be Desired

If you just looked at the box score, you might think the Tar Heels got good play from their quarterback, but the fact of the matter is they didn’t. Lopez had moments where he made plays for this team, however he again missed some important throws, especially in the downfield passing game. I get that this offense has not exactly been tailored to his strengths, but at some point you simply have to be able to stand in and make the throws that are there for you and he can’t do that, especially down the field. He might be the guy that gives the Tar Heels the best chance to win these next two games, but he should not be the team’s quarterback next season no matter what they do at offensive coordinator.

Lack of a Run Game Continues to Hurt This Offense

Lopez might be having his struggles, but this offense is relying on this passing game to carry them because the running game simply can’t do much. You could argue that the team should have tried to run the ball early, but it’s tough to dispute the fact that the team is not gaining a lot of yards when they are running it. After averaging just 1.8 yards per carry a week ago, the team was only able to muster 2.3 yards per carry this week on 24 carries. The run blocking continues to be an issue as does the lack of continuity at the running back position, rendering this one of the least effective running games in the country in the last two weeks. If this team is going to make a bowl game, they have to find a way to run the football successfully because this passing game simply isn’t good enough to win games themselves against the type of competition that the team is playing down the stretch here.

Touchdown at the End Was Petty But Deserved

Look, I’m as big a Tar Heel fan as anyone, but that Wake Forest touchdown was deserved. For some reason the Tar Heel defense was talking trash to the Wake offense after stopping them a couple of times in the run game in the waning minutes of a loss. For some reason, Bill Belichick made the situation worse by calling timeout with :27 on the clock and the Demon Deacons decided they would run the ball in for a touchdown. After the game, Belichick did the quick blow by of Wake head coach Jake Dickert and players refused to leave the field while jawing with Wake players. Honestly, it makes no sense why this team was talking the way it was late in the game and the only people they should be blaming for what happened is themselves.