Wake Forest Demon Deacons Preview 2022: Season Prediction, Breakdown, Key Games, Players
Wake Forest Demon Deacons Preview 2022: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the Wake Forest season with what you need to know and keys to the season.
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Wake Forest Demon Deacons Preview
Head Coach: Dave Clawson, 51-48, 9th year at Wake Forest
23rd year overall, 141-127
2021 Preview: Overall: 11-3, Conference: 7-1
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Wake Forest Top 10 Players
Wake Forest Schedule & Analysis
Wake Forest Demon Deacons Preview 2022
Wake Forest shouldn’t be winning a lot of football games.
Everyone gushed a few years ago when Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern managed to get to the Big Ten Championship two times in three seasons. Northwestern is a brilliant school with an enrollment of 21,000 students.
Wake Forest checks in with an enrollment at around 7,600, and it just got to the ACC Championship.
It’s a very small, very good, very beautiful school nestled in among the seemingly gajillion other colleges, and it managed to create a nice niche for itself to be good enough to push past the North Carolinas, NC States, and the other ACC teams to play for the conference title.
The talent is nowhere near the level of several other ACC schools, but Wake Forest has managed to go bowling in each of the last seven years, has put together a slew of offensive powerhouse teams, and it all keeps on rolling.
Last year the offensive system and style were enough to keep up in shootout after shootout, and the result was the first winning record in the league since Clawson took over.
It’s hard to stay consistent in the ACC if you’re not Clemson – or Florida State when things are working right – and this almost certainly won’t be another ACC Championship-caliber campaign.
But Clawson has created what every coach of a very smart, smaller-school football program dreams of.
Wake Forest makes teams worry about what’s coming.
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Wake Forest Top 10 Players
Wake Forest Schedule & Analysis
Wake Forest Demon Deacons Preview 2022: Offense, Defense NEXT
Wake Forest Demon Deacons Preview 2022: Offense
Well that worked out just fine.
Wake Forest was 11th in the nation in total offense, fourth in scoring offense, and the O was the best in the ACC in downfield passing and was the best in the conference on third downs.
The attack might have stalled in the ACC Championship loss to Pitt, and didn’t do enough against the great Clemson defense, but it scored 35 or more 12 times and averaged 41 a game on the season.
And most of the parts are back, with the massive concern over the one who makes it all go.
QB Sam Hartman is out indefinitely with a non-football related condition. He bombed away for close to 4,300 yards with 39 touchdowns, but all that matters is his health – the job will be his if and when he’s able to come back.
Sophomore Michael Kern is the likely next option after serving as the main backup last season, but he only threw five passes for 67 yards. He played more in 2020, though – he threw for 253 yards – and now he’ll battle with sophomore Mitch Griffis to hold down Hartman’s spot.
On the plus side, the targets are there to help all the quarterbacks.
Jaquarii Roberson is gone – he caught 71 passes with eight scores – but AT Perry is back after making 71 grabs for 1,293 yards and 15 scores, and Taylor Morin and Ke’Shawn Williams combined for 70 grabs and eight scores averaging over 14 yards per catch.
The offensive line quietly has the stars, too. Four starters are back around Sean Maginn at guard and Michael Jurgens at center. This group needs to be a bit better at keeping defenses out of the backfield, but it’s good enough.
It has to be strong for the running game, too, pounding for just under four yards per carry. Christian Beal-Smith transferred out, but Justin Ellison and Christian Turner are solid backs who can handled the work – they combined for over 1,000 yards and 12 scores.
List
Wake Forest Demon Deacons Top 10 Players: College Football Preview 2022
Wake Forest Demon Deacons Preview 2022: Defense
The offense was fantastic at an ACC Championship level. The defense … not so much.
It allowed 413 yards and 29 points per game, didn’t do much of anything against the run, and only five teams in America gave up more first downs. However, the Demon Deacons were phenomenal at getting into the backfield and amazing at forcing turnovers.
Defensive coordinator Brad Lambert will try tweaking things a bit with just enough decent parts back to build around, but it all starts with doing a better job against the run.
The linebackers in the 4-2-5 have to hold up. Leading tackler Luke Masterson is done, but second-leading tackler Ryan Smenda is back after coming up with 83 tackles, and in comes Eldrick Robinson from Georgia Southern coming off a 74-stop season.
The secondary helped the D come up with 15 interceptions, and the 218 passing yards allowed weren’t that awful. Most of the main playmakers, though, are gone, with corner Gavin Holmes and safety Nick Anderson two young parts with experience.
The pass rush was okay. There’s a good mix of players returning on the line, but the tackles need to come through around Rondell Bothroyd at one end – he led the team with 16.5 tackles for loss. Landing 290-pound Kobie Turner from Richmond is a help for the interior rotation.
Wake Forest 2020 Preview | Keys To The Season
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Wake Forest Top 10 Players
Wake Forest Schedule & Analysis
Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats NEXT
Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Keys To The Season, Top Game, Top Transfer, Fun Stats
Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Key To The 2022 Offense
Avoid the big turnover games.
It’s part of the cost of doing business in the Wake Forest offense. It usually isn’t bad when it comes to turning gate ball over, but when it does, it does it up big.
The 2020 Demon Deacons only turned it over once in the first seven games, and then gave away two in a loss to Louisville and turned what looked like a blowout into a disaster with four interceptions in the bowl loss to Wisconsin.
Last year’s offense gave it up 20 times in 14 games. That’s not all that bad, but four of the giveaways were in the ACC Championship loss to Pitt, three were in the loss to Clemson, and two were in the 58-55 thriller of a defeat to North Carolina.
The O turned it over 14 times during the final six are stretch before the bowl game, and the program is now 1-6 in its last seven since the beginning of 2018 when it gave the ball up three or more times.
Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Key To The 2022 Defense
Just keep the run defense from getting gashed.
Army ran for 416 yards and five scores. That’s fine, that’s what Army does – and it was fine because Wake Forest won 70-56.
Clemson – even with last year’s offense – is Clemson. The 333 yards and four yards on the ground will happen, and North Carolina had a game with 330 rushing yards and six scores.
That’s all fine. Wake Forest doesn’t have Georgia’s run defense, and that’s okay. However, keeping offenses to under five yards per carry is a big deal.
Wake Forest moves fast, works fast, plays fast. Time of possession doesn’t matter to this bunch, so to a certain extent, it’s okay to let teams keep pounding the rock as long as they’re not busting off the big runs.
The Demon Deacon D allowed more than 4.1 yards per carry in each of the last eight regular season games, and gave up 4.9 on the year.
That’s why …
Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Key Player To The 2022 Season
DT Dion Bergan, Sr.
Of course the quarterback situation is now front and center with Michael Kern and Mitch Griffis the main men battling to try filling in for Sam Hartman while he’s out, but the offense will be fine. The defensive interior needs a boost, and it’s up to Bergan and fellow senior Tyler Williams to make that happen.
The Demon Deacons will get into the backfield, and it would be nice if it came from all four spots. More than that, run defense, run defense, run defense.
The 6-1, 294-pound Bergan made 25 tackles and got into the backfield enough to register 5.5 tackles for loss. He’s a big, quick veteran who can make a whole lot of big things happen with his experience inside – at least that’s the hope.
And …
Wake Forest Demon Deacons: Key Transfer
DT Kobie Turner, Sr.
There’s a chance the former Richmond Spider rises up and instantly becomes the main man in the interior.
The 6-3, 290-pounder was a superstar in the FCS, earning All-Colonial Athletic Association honors three times with 158 tackles, 15 sacks, and 33.5 tackles for loss. If he’s the transfer he’s expected to be, the defensive front might instantly be a whole lot better.
Wake Forest Key Game To The 2022 Season
Clemson, Sept. 24
Okay, let’s just do this and get it out of the way.
Wake Forest lost to Clemson last season and still managed to work its way into the ACC Championship. It’ll make things a whole lot easier if the Demon Deacons can pull off a home win in the ACC opener.
2008 was the last time Wake Forest was able to get past the Tigers – 13 years ago. It might seem like a tall task, but considering what’s coming later in the ACC schedule, there almost certainly won’t be a repeat trip to the title game with a loss here.
Wake Forest Demon Deacons: 2021 Fun Stats
– Fumbles: Opponents 29 (lost 14) – Wake Forest 9 (lost 4)
– Penalties: Opponents 106 for 938 yards – Wake Forest 81 for 737 yards
– Field Goals: Wake Forest 23-of-25 – Opponents 16-of-21
Wake Forest 2020 Preview
Offense, Defense Breakdown
Season Prediction, What Will Happen
Wake Forest Top 10 Players
Wake Forest Schedule & Analysis
Wake Forest Demon Deacons Season Prediction, What Will Happen NEXT
Wake Forest Demon Deacons Season Prediction, What Will Happen
There’s a whole lot to like about the 2022 Wake Forest team if you enjoyed the 2021 version.
The Demon Deacons have the talent on offense returning to keep all the fun going, but will that be enough? Will they be able to get the good performances in the big moments to pull off the giant wins like they did last season?
You win 11 games, get to the ACC Championship, and dominate your bowl game, you had a good season no matter what.
However, they didn’t play an FBS team that finished with a winning season until October 23rd against Army, and there were just two victories all season against FBS teams that finished with a winning record.
They’re going to need a lot more than that this season.
Set The Wake Forest Demon Deacons Regular Season Win Total At … 7.5
Starting 3-0 against VMI, at Vanderbilt, and Liberty is a must with Clemson coming up right after.
Florida State was a shockingly easy win last year – that’s probably not going to be the case this time around in Tallahassee.
Army will always put up a fight, Boston College is better, and going to Louisville and NC State will be tough moments.
Wake Forest will win its share of battles and go bowling without much of a problem, but the ACC is better, there are a slew of tough road games, and getting to eight wins would be a great season even if the program is used to doing a whole lot more.
Wake Forest 2020 Preview
Offense, Defense Breakdown | Keys To The Season
Wake Forest Top 10 Players
Wake Forest Schedule & Analysis
