Sports > November 15, 2007

By Martin Rickman | Staff writer

In front of a sold out crowd of over 81,000, the Clemson Tigers dismantled the Demon Deacon football team Nov. 10, winning 44-10. The Deacons, who appeared overmatched from the get-go, were never able to get their offense rolling and saw their defense falter, especially in zone coverage.

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Redshirt senior tight end Zac Selmon is tackled by Clemson defenders. The Deacons lost 44-10 in Death Valley Nov. 10. (Jeff Merski/Old Gold & Black)

Clemson scored right away with a methodical drive reminiscent of those patented Wake drives, which was capped off by a keeper by quarterback Cullen Harper. The Tigers were able to take advantage of the pumped up crowd, holding the Deacons on their opening drive and adding a quick field goal to put Wake down 10-0 just 8 minutes into the game.

Despite an impressive drive by the Deacons to answer back, culminating in a 3-yard touchdown run by redshirt freshman Josh Adams to cut the lead to 10-7, the team never appeared to be in control, letting Clemson score on their next two possessions on touchdown passes to Tyler Grisham and Aaron Kelly. Clemson did not have to punt until close to halftime as the Tigers scored on their first four drives.

With a halftime lead of 27-7, the game seemed out of reach. The Deacons gained a little hope, from a nice return by redshirt senior Kenny Moore on a punt capped off by a 52-yard field goal by redshirt junior Sam Swank, but any momentum was immediately lost when running back C.J. Spiller took the kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown, the first return touchdown the Deacs have allowed since the Northern Illinois game in 2002.

Down 34-10, the Deacons would not be unable to score again the remainder of the game and would give up a field goal with 41 seconds left in the third quarter and another touchdown by Kelly on Clemson’s most impressive drive of the day, a seven-and-a-half minute long, 84-yard drive. Kelly set the Clemson single-season record for touchdowns with 11.

The Tigers got another incredible performance from Harper, who threw for 266 yards and 3 scores and now has 25 touchdowns on the season.

Clemson was also able to run very well against the Deacs, with 145 yards on the ground from some tough yards by James Davis and some tricky moves by the Spiller. Redshirt senior defensive end Matt Robinson, who recorded his first sack this season, said, “It was the whole defense, there wasn’t one part that was doing better than the other. We just couldn’t get it going at any part of the game.”

Deacons redshirt sophomore quarterback Riley Skinner was not so lucky, as he was under pressure constantly by the impressive Clemson front four who had 10 tackles for loss and five sacks on the day.Unable to effectively rush the football with 83 net yards, the Deacons put themselves in too many long yardage situations all day, forcing the Deacs to throw.

The offensive line fought hard, but Skinner was constantly scrambling. He was effective when given time, completing 21 of 30 passes for 170 yards with an interception that saw him throwing on the run, looking for redshirt senior DeAngelo Bryant, into a deceptive zone.

The Deacons were also surprisingly mistake-prone the whole day, giving up a lot of ground on kickoffs, as well as putting themselves in trouble with eight penalties.

“We had too many ‘gotta throw’ situations and they have a really good front, but penalties were our biggest problem today,” Head Coach Jim Grobe said.

“Any time you put yourself in long yardages against a good football team you’re going to be in trouble.”

The Deacons did get another solid game from Adams. Although he rushed for just 46 yards on 2.7 yards per carry, he was able to get tough yards with some bruising runs when the Deacs were still fighting. With just two games remaining against N.C. State and Vanderbilt, the Deacons sit at six wins, disappointed as BC was beaten again by Maryland, but not disheartened.

“I don’t think we need to go off the deep end,” Grobe said.

“I think we just played two good football teams on the road and you can’t make mistakes in these situations and we did. We just didn’t give ourselves a chance today.”

Wake is bowl eligible, but not guaranteed a spot in any bowl.

Winning out would give the Deacons a solid eight-win season, and the team currently has a realistic projection at three bowls: The Emerald Bowl in San Francisco, The Meineke Car Parts Bowl in Charlotte and the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl in Nashville.

The Deacons will have a chance to staunch the bleeding 4:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at BB&T Field against ACC rivals, the N.C. State Wolfpack.

N.C. State is 5-5 on the season.