After not playing in a month, Wake Forest football slogs through game against Louisville

It’s fair to reflect on Dave Clawson’s statement from earlier in the week and see the ominous tone it set.

“We’re not in game shape right now,” Clawson said Tuesday. “We’ll see how it goes.”

It went to the tune of a 45-21 loss at Louisville on Saturday, with the Demon Deacons’ offense and defense misfiring and never finding rhythm, with key players missing on both units and with the team playing for the first time in a month wearing down quickly.

Wake Forest (4-4, 3-4 ACC) started with a burst of energy before fading fast in the middle stages of its first game since Nov. 14. A rally to get within a touchdown of Louisville’s lead in the fourth quarter was stamped out, and the Cardinals (4-7, 3-7) closed out their season comfortably against a beleaguered Wake Forest team.

Afterward it was receiver Jaquarii Roberson — again, a shining light regardless of results with nine catches for 138 yards and a touchdown — who put the appropriate appraisal on the game and on the past month.

“Not playing a game in a whole month, it kind of knocks you off and you think you have a few practices and you think it’s back to normal,” Roberson said. “From practice to a whole football game, it’s a lot different.”

The Demon Deacons actually scored first, taking advantage of a short field and scoring on Sam Hartman’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Taylor Morin.

Louisville scored 28 of the game’s next 31 points despite its offense recording one first down on its first five possessions. The Cardinals scored touchdowns on four straight full possessions — three in the first half and one impressive 12-play drive to start the second half.

“I wish I had an answer for you,” defensive tackle Miles Fox said when asked what opened the floodgates. “We just have to keep our foot on the gas. We can’t, after we get four three-and-outs, we have to keep going.

“We’ve got to adjust to what they’re doing.”

The Demon Deacons’ defense never seemed to make those adjustments. When it mattered most, after Roberson’s 37-yard catch-and-run touchdown and 2-point conversion made it a 28-21 game, Wake Forest’s defense gave up two third-and-long conversions before a 23-yard touchdown on a reverse restored the Cardinals’ two-touchdown lead.

“I thought our guys looked tired. When we had any extended drive, once we got past the sixth or seventh play, we just looked tired,” Clawson said. “We didn’t look like we had our legs and how can you?”

He answered his own question with what came next:

“You haven’t played in a month and we went about two weeks there without practicing. So we’re just, we’re not in — we fell out of football shape and that’s just the battle with COVID.”

Star defensive end Boogie Basham is still in his battle with COVID — he warmed up before the game but was unavailable, and tweeted after the game that he’s still recovering from the virus. Other missing starters on defense were Traveon Redd and Sulaiman Kamara, while the offense was without wide receiver Donavon Greene because of a leg injury.

Hartman started the game completing 7-of-11 passes, but was 3-for-17 in the second quarter. That coincided with Wake Forest’s offense going into a shell, reminiscent of the bulk of the second half in its last game against North Carolina.

“I mean, starts with me. That’s really it. Just gotta hit throws, point blank, period. … The same (expletive) — sorry, the same stuff as UNC,” Hartman said, his frustration seen on TV during the game carrying into the postgame interview. “I missed a throw here, I missed a throw there, and just getting the defense in crappy situations.”

He finished 17 of 41 — his lowest completion rate by 10% this season — and threw his first interception of the season.

Hartman and the rest of this team will attempt to bounce back in next week’s regular-season finale against Florida State — again, with the caveat attached of whether the game is actually played.

“We’re going to try to get after Syracuse,” Roberson said before correcting himself. “Sorry. We’re going to try to get after Florida State.

“I’m all over the place.”

With one, perhaps two games left, Wake Forest’s “all over the place” isn’t unique — but it doesn’t remove that ominous feeling from earlier in the week.

This story was originally published December 12, 2020 at 3:37 PM with the headline "After not playing in a month, Wake Forest football slogs through game against Louisville."