RALEIGH – Behind a standout offensive performance from junior tailback Demond Claiborne and timely defensive plays by redshirt junior Nick Andersen and senior linebacker Branson Combs on Saturday inside Carter-Finley Stadium, Wake Forest football (2-3, 1-1 ACC) earned a come-from-behind 34-30 victory over its Big Four rival NC State (3-3, 0-2 ACC).
Following these aforementioned performances, Wake Forest has won five of its past eight games during this historic rivalry and the Demon Deacons won their first game in Raleigh since 2018 on Saturday. Additionally on the rivalry, Saturday was the 118th meeting between these two storied programs and they have met each year since 1910 – making it the second-longest continuously played series in college football.
It was a game of swings as Wake Forest led by 10 points in the first quarter (10-0) and trailed by 10 in the fourth quarter (30-20), but the Deacs were unphased in their comeback effort.
Coach Dave Clawson‘s team earned their 10th fourth quarter come-from-behind win since 2017, including a memorable 10-point comeback in the aforementioned win in 2018. The two victories over NC State inside Carter-Finley Stadium are the only two double-digit comeback victories in the Clawson era over a Power 5 program.
These are only two known fourth-quarter, double-digit comeback victories in program history against Power 5 teams. With that, the only other occurrence of this magnitude happened in 2023 when the Deacs overcame an 11-point deficit at Old Dominion on Sept. 16.
Individually, Claiborne paced the Wake Forest offense with 136 rushing yards on 20 carries and a pair of rushing touchdowns. Additionally, the Aylett, Va. native caught two passes for eight yards and recorded his first-career receiving touchdown in the opening stanza. Also on offense, redshirt senior Hank Bachmeier was under-center for the Demon Deacons and passed for 154 yards and a pair of touchdown passes.
The other receiving touchdown was made by redshirt junior Horatio Fields on a 23-yard contested catch prior to halftime.
Defensively, the Deacs were led by Andersen’s game-high 11-tackle performance. The Deacs recorded a pair of key turnovers in the game with redshirt junior Quincy Bryant forced fumble leading to an Evan Slocum fumble recovery that he returned 88 yards leading to a Demon Deacons touchdown. Also, Combs recorded his first-career interception at Wake Forest to seal the victory on NC State’s final drive.
Redshirt sophomore Matthew Dennis continued his great 2024 season as he is now nine-for-ten on the season after going a perfect two-for-two at NC State. He has made five 30-plus yard field goals and two 40-plus yard field goals in 2024.
Also with the win, the Deacs now boast a record of 33-25 against North Carolina, NC State and Duke since 2001 where Wake leads the Big Four in winning percentage during this stretch. In addition during that span, Wake Forest is 48-25 against all in-state opponents.
Next up, Wake Forest returns home on Saturday, Oct. 12 to face off with Clemson at Noon ET at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium on ESPN.
HOW IT HAPPENED
NC State won the toss and deferred its option to the second half.
Wake Forest took the opening drive 9-play, 62-yards before Matthew Dennis converted on a 31-yard field goal to give the Deacs an early 3-0 lead.
With NC State inside the Wake Forest redzone, linebacker Quincy Bryant forced a fumble that was picked up by Evan Slocum and returned 88 yards down to the Wolfpack 2-yard line to set up the Deacs in prime field position.
Wake Forest punched it in two plays later with quarterback Hank Bachmeier connecting with junior Demond Claiborne on a three-yard completion to stretch the lead to 10-0 with 8:51 left in the quarter.
The touchdown reception marked the first receiving touchdown of Claiborne’s career.
NC State hit a 35-yard field goal to cut the Wake lead to 10-3 with 3:09 left in the opening quarter.
Wake Forest held a 10-3 advantage after the first quarter.
The Wolfpack tied the game at 10-10 with 11:30 remaining in the second quarter.
NC State took a 13-10 lead on a 35-yard field goal with 2:58 left in the first half.
The Deacs answered with a clinical 7-play, 75-yard drive in 1:30 to regain the lead.
Bachmeier connected with wide receiver Horatio Fields for his second touchdown pass of the half, as Fields made a spectacular grab on a jump ball in the right corner of the end zone for a 23-yard TD grab.
NC State hit their third field goal to trim the Wake Forest lead to 17-16 at the half.
The Wake forest defense held strong, forcing a pair of three-and-outs and a missed field goal to hold the one-point edge early in the second half.
Set up by a 32-yard rush by Claiborne on the opening play of the drive, Dennis connected on a 41-yard field goal to extend the Wake lead to 20-16 with 6:26 left in the third quarter.
NC State grabbed a 23-20 lead with 3:02 remaining in the third.
The Wolfpack pushed their advantage to 30-20 with 13:08 left in the contest.
Wake Forest answered with a 9-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to cut the deficit to 30-27 with 8:43 remaining.
Claiborne put the Deacs on his shoulders with 59 of Wake Forest’s 75 yards coming from the junior running back, including a 32-yard touchdown scamper.
The Deacs defense forced their third three-and-out of the game to give Wake the ball back trailing by three midway through the final quarter.
With the game on the line, Wake Forest was methodically on offense, driving 65-yard over 13 plays to grab a 34-30 lead with just 1:01 remaining.
The Deacs converted on a pair of fourth-down attempts as Bachmeier found Deuce Alexander on both to keep the drive alive.
Claiborne punched it in from 3 yards out for his third touchdown of the game, running off the right end to give Wake Forest the late lead.
Graduate transfer Branson Combs sealed the game with his first interception in a Wake Forest uniform on the first play of the ensuing NC State as Wake Forest completed the comeback, grabbing a 34-30 victory.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Junior tailback
Demond Claiborne spearheaded the Demon Deacons comeback as he totaled a season-high 136 rushing yards on 20 carries and a pair of rushing touchdowns. Additionally, the Aylett, Va. native caught two passes for eight yards and recorded his first-career receiving touchdown in the opening frame.
Saturday marked the eighth time in the last 13 games that he has gone for 100 or more all-purpose yard and it was his second time in 2024 with over 100 yards on the ground.
STAGGERING STATISTICS Wake Forest earned the 10th fourth quarter come-from-behind victory in the Dave Clawson era on Saturday.
Date
Opponent
Deficit
Time
Final Score
Oct. 5, 2024
NC State
30-20
8:43
34-30
Sept. 16, 2023
Old Dominion
24-13
6:48
27-24
Sept. 17, 2022
Liberty
23-20
12:39
37-36
Oct. 19, 2019
Florida State
20-19
4:18
22-20
Aug. 30, 2019
Utah State
35-31
1:08
38-35
Dec. 22, 2018
Memphis
34-30
0:35
37-34
Nov. 8, 2018
NC State
23-13
6:08
27-23
Dec. 29, 2017
Texas A&M
52-48
2:18
55-52
Nov. 11, 2017
Syracuse
43-40
11:48
64-43
Sept. 23, 2017
App. State
19-17
7:22
20-19
Saturday was just the second double-digit fourth quarter comeback over a Power 5 team in program history as well.
FROM COACH CLAWSON “Before we get going, I just want to let the whole NC State family know, regarding Grayson McCall and his family, that we’re really thinking and praying for him. That is one of the worst things to ever see in college sports is to see someone get taken out on a stretcher board. It was really scary and I hope and pray that he’s okay. Certainly, our thoughts and prayers are with him, his family and all of NC State. It’s a competitive game. At times, it’s a physical and violent game, and you hate to ever see that happen.
“I’m just really proud of our team. I don’t know what our record will end up being this year. We have a lot of football ahead, but that’s one of the best wins that we’ve ever had because of everything that’s happened up until this point. A lot of times early in the year when you lose some of those close games there can be a bit of discouragement. We had a good week of practice. I thought we had good preparation. I didn’t have any sense at all that our guys weren’t going to give great effort. To come back from 10 points in the fourth quarter against a – I think that’s a really good football team, and we just kept battling. Dave [Doeren] and I have been at this a long time and it’s just amazing how many of these games have come down to three or four points. As excited as I am for our win, Dave is someone I really like and respect, I know how he feels right now and that’s a hard feeling as a coach. I’ve certainly felt that a couple of times this year. It’s a great rivalry. I’m glad we still play it and I’m glad we found a way to win. It’s a good team win. I thought our defense played well at times. The big thing is, we didn’t have any of those big busts. You didn’t see a guy wide open down the middle of the field or the sideline. I thought Jamare Glasker made some really good plays. Hopefully, we’re growing up a little bit. Some of our young receivers, Micah Mays and Deuce Alexander, those guys really stepped up in that last drive. Those are two redshirt freshmen that with Donny [Greene] out we needed to step up and they did. I’ll relax and enjoy this one and then I think we have a pretty good team coming to Allegacy Stadium next week so I’ll try not to think about that for the next 12 hours and kind of savor this win. I’m tired. I’m shot. But I’m really, really proud of our football team. That was special.”
UP NEXT Wake Forest will face off with Clemson on Saturday, Oct. 12 at Noon ET at Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium on ESPN, the first time this season Wake Forest will play on the network. This means that the Demon Deacons will have three straight Noon kickoffs as well as the previously announced Noon kickoff on CBS Sports Network against UConn.
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