Clemson's Offense Falls Flat Against Deacons |
Wake Forest effectively ended Clemson's goal of going to the ACC championship game with a 12-7 win Thursday night.
Clemson's offense managed just one effective drive against Wake Forest, but somehow still found itself in a position to win the game with just nine minutes left in the game.
The Tigers scored its only touchdown on a 10-yard pass from Cullen Harper to Jacoby Ford late in the third quarter to go up 7-6 and had Wake backed up on its
own 8-yard line facing third down-and-24. The Tigers were poised to somehow steal a win from Wake.
Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner stepped back into his own endzone and found D.J. Boldin for a 28-yard pass completion. Twelve plays later Skinner found Boldin again for a 7-yard touchdown pass that gave Wake a win that effectively stopped Clemson's march to the ACC championship game 6 games early.
"We tried everything we had - we tried reverses, face punts, running wide, running up the middle," said Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, who saw his team fall to 3-3. "Everything we had we sure tried."
For most of the game, everything Clemson had Wake had an answer for.
Clemson's offense was ineffective in the first half. The Tigers had -7 yards rushing, mostly on attempts between the tackles that saw James Davis unable to find any holes. The Tigers finished with four first downs. There was 6:42 left in the half when they gained their first first down. It didn't help when C.J. Spiller limped off the field after his second carry and didn't return. He watched the second half in street clothes, finishing the night with 10 yards rushing.
On the final drive of the first half Clemson advanced the ball to the Wake 39, but was forced to punt. Clemson tried a fake punt that didn't fool Wake Forest. It added to the Tigers' negative rushing total during the first half when Wake stopped the play for a loss of 1 yard.
Wake Forest, however, was unable to capitalize. The Demon Deacons' first two drives produced 120 yards, but just three points, a 22-yard fieldgoal by Shane Popham.
Wake gained another 50 yards on its next drive, but it ended with a missed fieldgoal by Popham from 39 yards out. Wake's All-American kicker Sam Swank missed the game due to an injury.
The first half ended with Wake up 3-0.
After the Clemson defense stopped Wake on a fourth down play at the Clemson 30 late in the third quarter, the Clemson offense responded. Cullen Harper found Nelson Farber uncovered for a 35-yard completion on the next play. Suddenly, after controlling the game, the pressure was on Wake. Nine plays later Harper completed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Ford that gave the Tigers a 7-3 lead.
Popham hit a 32-yard fieldgoal after Harper threw an interception deep in Clemson's own territory to make the score 7-6.
Clemson stopped Wake on two straight drives after the fieldgoal and appeared poised to pull the game out when it backed Wake up deep in its own territory before Skinner's completion to Boldin.
"He's been doing that since he was a freshman," Bowden said of Skinner.
Clemson had one more chance after Wake's touchdown but couldn't get the ball past midfield.
Date: Oct 09, 2008 Site: Winston-Salem, N.C. Stadium: BB&T Field
Attendance: 33988
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Clemson............. 0 0 7 0 - 7
Wake Forest......... 3 0 0 9 - 12
Scoring Summary:
1st 01:23 WF - Popham, S 22 yd field goal
14 plays, 62 yards, TOP 6:03, CU 0 - WF 3
3rd 00:07 CU - Ford, J 10 yd pass from Harper, C (Buchholz, M kick)
8 plays, 70 yards, TOP 3:47, CU 7 - WF 3
4th 12:57 WF - Popham, S 32 yd field goal
4 plays, 2 yards, TOP 0:37, CU 7 - WF 6
05:28 WF - Boldin, DJ 7 yd pass from Skinner, R (Skinner, R pass failed)
15 plays, 78 yards, TOP 5:05, CU 7 - WF 12
Kickoff time: 7:45 pm End of Game: 10:55 pm Total elapsed time: 3:10
Officials: Referee: Jeff Flanagan; Umpire: Terrence Ramsey; Linesman: Sam Stephenson;
Line judge: Todd LaPenta; Back judge: Virgil Valdez; Field judge: Frank Overcash;
Side judge: Angie Bartis; Scorer: Scott Wortman;
Temperature: 66 Wind: NE 2mph Weather: Overcast
Team Statistics
CU WF
FIRST DOWNS................... 10 21
Rushing..................... 2 10
Passing..................... 7 9
Penalty..................... 1 2
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 21 156
Rushing Attempts............ 23 46
Average Per Rush............ 0.9 3.4
Rushing Touchdowns.......... 0 0
Yards Gained Rushing........ 53 198
Yards Lost Rushing.......... 32 42
NET YARDS PASSING............. 177 186
Completions-Attempts-Int.... 15-35-1 22-36-0
Average Per Attempt......... 5.1 5.2
Average Per Completion...... 11.8 8.5
Passing Touchdowns.......... 1 1
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 198 342
Total offense plays......... 58 82
Average Gain Per Play....... 3.4 4.2
Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 0-0 1-0
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 7-59 3-17
PUNTS-YARDS................... 7-284 5-173
Average Yards Per Punt...... 40.6 34.6
Net Yards Per Punt.......... 40.3 34.6
Inside 20................... 2 4
50+ Yards................... 1 0
Touchbacks.................. 0 0
Fair catch.................. 3 3
KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 2-138 4-223
Average Yards Per Kickoff... 69.0 55.8
Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 40.5 38.0
Touchbacks.................. 0 0
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 0-0-0 2-2-0
Average Per Return.......... 0.0 1.0
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 4-71-0 2-57-0
Average Per Return.......... 17.8 28.5
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 0-0-0 1-9-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 0-0-0 0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards........... 0 0
Possession Time............... 24:08 35:52
1st Quarter................. 5:19 9:41
2nd Quarter................. 6:43 8:17
3rd Quarter................. 7:02 7:58
4th Quarter................. 5:04 9:56
Third-Down Conversions........ 2 of 14 10 of 21
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 4 0 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 1-1 3-5
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 0-0 4-30
PAT Kicks..................... 1-1 0-0
Field Goals................... 0-0 2-4
Individual Statistics
Clemson
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
--------------------------------------------
Davis, J 12 27 2 25 0 8 2.1
Spiller, C 2 10 0 10 0 10 5.0
Ford, J 1 2 0 2 0 2 2.0
Hamlin, M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0
Harper, C 7 14 30 -16 0 8 -2.3
Totals... 23 53 32 21 0 10 0.9
Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack
--------------------------------------------
Harper, C 35-15-1 177 1 35 4
Totals... 35-15-1 177 1 35 4
Receiving No. Yds TD Long
-----------------------------------
Ford, J 5 43 1 12
Kelly, A 3 9 0 5
Grisham, T 2 38 0 22
Davis, J 2 27 0 20
Faerber, N 1 35 0 35
Dye, X 1 19 0 19
Harper, J 1 6 0 6
Totals... 15 177 1 35
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB
----------------------------------------------
Maners, J 2 92 46.0 47 0 0
Zimmerman, D 5 192 38.4 54 2 0
Totals... 7 284 40.6 54 2 0
Punts Kickoffs Intercept
All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
---------------------------------------------
Ford, J 0 0 0 2 26 18 0 0 0
Kelly, A 0 0 0 1 19 19 0 0 0
Spiller, C 0 0 0 1 26 26 0 0 0
Totals... 0 0 0 4 71 26 0 0 0
Field goal attempts
----------------------------------------
Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg
---------------------------------------
Buchholz, M 2 138 0 0 69.0
Wake Forest
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
--------------------------------------------
Skinner, R 11 74 1 73 0 21 6.6
Adams, J 12 64 8 56 0 23 4.7
Pendergrass, B 12 40 7 33 0 13 2.8
Boldin, DJ 4 19 8 11 0 19 2.8
Harris, K 1 1 0 1 0 1 1.0
TEAM 4 0 4 -4 0 0 -1.0
Brown, D 1 0 5 -5 0 0 -5.0
Williams, Marsh 1 0 9 -9 0 0 -9.0
Totals... 46 198 42 156 0 23 3.4
Passing Att-Cmp-Int Yds TD Long Sack
--------------------------------------------
Skinner, R 34-22-0 186 1 28 0
Williams, J 1-0-0 0 0 0 0
Boldin, DJ 1-0-0 0 0 0 0
Totals... 36-22-0 186 1 28 0
Receiving No. Yds TD Long
-----------------------------------
Wooster, B 5 36 0 12
Pendergrass, B 5 32 0 19
Brinkman, C 4 31 0 9
Boldin, DJ 3 35 1 28
Williams, Marsh 2 34 0 24
Harris, K 1 11 0 11
Adams, J 1 8 0 8
Belton, R 1 -1 0 0
Totals... 22 186 1 28
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB
----------------------------------------------
Popham, S 5 173 34.6 42 4 0
Totals... 5 173 34.6 42 4 0
Punts Kickoffs Intercept
All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
---------------------------------------------
Smith, A 2 2 2 0 0 0 1 9 9
Brown, D 0 0 0 2 57 38 0 0 0
Totals... 2 2 2 2 57 38 1 9 9
Field goal attempts
----------------------------------------
Popham, S 1st 09:07 25 yds - Missed
Popham, S 1st 01:23 22 yds - Good
Popham, S 2nd 01:48 39 yds - Missed
Popham, S 4th 12:57 32 yds - Good
Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg
---------------------------------------
Popham, S 4 223 0 0 55.8
FUMBLES: Clemson-None. Wake Forest-Brown, D 1-0.
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