Although the month of November has yet to present Duke with much to be thankful for, the Blue Devils can at least take solace in the fact that they are not alone.
Wake Forest will host Duke Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at BB&T Field in a matchup between two teams that have not tasted victory since October. With the Blue Devils in the midst of their worst losing streak since 2012 and the Demon Deacons three wins shy of bowl eligibility, Saturday’s game will not be high on pre-game hype or postseason implications. But even so, the game will carry weight for players on both sidelines with in-state bragging rights in mind.
“We’re playing a team that is in a similar situation,” Duke head coach David Cutcliffe said. “They know exactly what they’re doing and why they’re doing it. That’s typical of a Dave Clawson team. They’ve continued to get better because they’re youthful in certain areas…. It’s going to be a challenge on our part to play extremely well. It’s a matchup that I’m sure means a bunch to both teams.”
The Demon Deacons have struggled on the offensive side of the ball this year since their season-opening 41-3 win against Elon. In the subsequent weeks, Wake Forest has score more than 20 points just once—a Sept. 26 loss to Indiana—and has mustered just 17.1 points per game on the year, marking the fourth consecutive year that the Demon Deacons have failed to average more than 20 points per game.
Wake Forest's offensive shortcomings are due in part to a unit that has been forced to rely on rookies throughout the season.
“We start at times seven freshmen,” Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson told reporters this week. “We have to get better, and we will get better. We play three freshmen O-linemen. We start a freshman tailback, two freshmen receivers, at times a freshman quarterback and at times a sophomore quarterback.”
Luckily for the Demon Deacons, they are running into a Duke defense that has allowed 42.4 points per game in its past five games, in which the Blue Devils are 1-4.
Quarterbacks John Wolford—1,453 yards, seven touchdowns and nine interceptions—and dual-threat Kendall Hinton—929 yards, four touchdowns and five interceptions and 390 yards and seven scores on the ground—have split time under center this season. Neither quarterback has formulated any sort of consistsent explosiveness in their time at the helm of the offense, though, as the duo have combined for just two performances in which they threw touchdowns than interceptions.
Still, Wake Forest still has a pair of weapons in the passing game that Duke—which has allowed 381.0 yards per game through the air in the past three weeks—must keep an eye on. Wide receivers K.J. Brent and Cortez Lewis have combined for 1,093 yards and four touchdowns this season, combining with tight end Cam Serigne to help the passing game improve on last year’s anemic output.
“Every measure of our offense is better than a year ago. We have, I think, almost 1,000 more yards than we had a year ago,” Clawson said. “We're going to end up close to tripling or more than twice as much rushing yards. Our red zone offense hasn't been effective, and we still don't make enough explosive plays. We're moving the ball better this year. Our yardage totals are up. But when you don't make explosive plays, it's hard to score a lot of points.”
When it comes to defense, the Demon Deacons have been nearly as disappointing as their offensive counterparts. Wake Forest allows 24.4 points per game—good for 48th in the nation—against the 27th toughest schedule in the nation.
That being said, the Demon Deacons have allowed at least 28 points in four of their past five contests and will take on a Duke team that enters averaging 30.8 points per game. If Wake Forest hopes to turn things around in the season finale, it will need to look to, and play like, its veteran leader.
Senior linebacker Brandon Chubb is the clear and established leader of the squad, leading the team with 83.0 tackles and 8.0 tackles for loss on the year. With the Demon Deacons eliminated from postseason play, Chubb will be playing his final game in a Wake Forest uniform Saturday.
“He's been tremendous for our program,” Clawson said. “He's an exceptional player. If he's not first team All ACC, something's wrong. He just never, ever stops working and rises up and plays his best games against the best teams. [I] absolutely love Brandon and what he stands for and the type of football player he is.”
Ryan Hoerger contributed reporting.
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