Demon Deacons Earn 23-20 Road Win at UConn

By: Will Pantages

Courtesy of GoDeacs.com

EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Behind nearly 400 yards of offense and a defensive effort that limited its opposition to just 40 yards rushing and included a crucial late stop to win the game, the Wake Forest football team captured its second-straight road victory to begin the 2024 season as the Demon Deacons (3-4) handed the UConn Huskies (4-3) their first loss of the season inside Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field on Saturday afternoon, 23-20. The contest marked Wake’s third-straight win over UConn in its series history and head coach Dave Clawson won his eighth-straight game in his career when competing in the New England region. 

Wake Forest has now started 2-0 on the road to begin a season for the sixth time in the Dave Clawson era.

Saturday’s win featured junior Demond Claiborne registering his third multi-rushing touchdown performance of the season as he carried the ball 24 times for 60 yards and two touchdowns. Additionally, he now has eight rushing scores this season, which marks the most by a Demon Deacon in a season since quarterback Sam Hartman tallied 11 in 2021.

Individually, redshirt senior Hank Bachmeier was under-center for the Demon Deacons in his sixth-straight start for Wake and  was 21-of-36 for 274 yards. His top target on Saturday was fellow redshirt senior Taylor as he tallied six catches for 104 yards – the fifth 100-yard receiving game of his career. 

Defensively, the Deacs were led by senior linebacker Branson Combs’ eight tackles (six solo) while senior defensive back Evan Slocum recorded his first interception of the season. As a team, they tallied four tackles for loss, held UConn, who was averaging more than 200 yards rushing per game entering Saturday, to just 40 yards and held the Huskies to just five-of-15 conversions on third down.

Redshirt sophomore Matthew Dennis kicker continued his solid season as he is now 12-for-14 after going three-for-four at UConn. For his career, he is 38-of-46 and moved into the top eight in program history on Saturday in career scoring with 212 points. 

Nex up, the Demon Deacons return to conference action but continue their road trip as Wake Forest travels to Palo Alto, Calif. for a matchup with Stanford on Saturday, Oct. 26 for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on ACC Network. For those attending that game, fan information and unique events surrounding Wake’s trip to the west coast can be found here.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Wake Forest won the coin toss and deferred its choice to the second half. 
• The Wake Forest defense forced a three-and-out on the opening drive of the game, holding the Huskie offense to zero yards on its three snaps. 
• The Deacs got a short field for the start of their second offensive drive, as Evan Slocum recorded his first interception of the season and the second of his career by jumping a route and returning his pick to the UConn 42-yard line. 
• Wake Forest tacked on the first points of the afternoon with a 32-yard field goal by Matthew Dennis.
  • Quarterback Hank Bachmeier connected on two pass attempts on the scoring drive, connecting with Deuce Alexander for 17 yards and Horatio Fields for nine yards. 
• UConn evened the scoreline at 3-3 just before the end of the first quarter, capping off an 11-play, 58-yard drive. 
• Completed by Demond Claiborne seventh rushing touchdown of the season, Wake Forest took back the lead with 13:21 remaining in the second quarter.
  • The seven-play, 75-yard drive was highlighted by a 41-yard connection between Bachmeier and Micah Mays Jr. on 3rd-and-7 one play before Claiborne’s 5-yard touchdown scamper. 
• Wake Forest extended its lead to 13-3 with six minutes remaining in the first half, as Dennis connected on a 31-yard field goal attempt as the Deacs drove70 yards on 13 plays.
  • Bachmeier connected on six pass attempts on the drive while Tate Carney carried the ball three times for 13 yards. 
• UConn cut into the Demon Deacon lead with 1:50 remaining in the second quarter as the Huskies hit on a 56-yard field goal.
• Wake Forest went into the halftime break leading 13-6, as the Deacs’ final drive of the second quarter stalled at the Huskies’ 18-yard line after an interception on 2nd-and-14. 
• The Demon Deacons pushed their lead to 20-6 on the first drive of the third quarter, as a run-heavy drive was punctuated by Claiborne’s second touchdown of the afternoon.
  • This marks the third multi-rushing touchdown performance of the season for the Aylett, Va., native (Virginia and NC State). 
• The Huskies, however, would respond in just 3:04, marching 50 yards for a 20-yard connection to cut the Deacs’ lead to 20-13. 
• Wake Forest looked to extend its lead to 10 in the late stages of the third quarter, but the Huskies blocked a 42-yard field goal try. 
• The Deacs would take a 10-point lead at 23-13 with 11:13 remaining in regulation, as a nine-play, 38-yard drive that started in the third quarter pushed Wake Forest’s advantage to double digits.
  • On the drive, wide receiver Taylor Morin surpassed 100 receiving yards on the day. 
• UConn cut the Wake Forest lead to three points, 23-20, with 2:27 left in the fourth quarter, driving 88 yards down the field before a 25-yard passing touchdown. 
• The Huskies had a late opportunity to put more points on the board, but the Demon Deacon defense held strong and forced incompletions on three-straight UConn attempts. 
• Wake Forest would leave Connecticut with a 23-20 victory. 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Dave Clawson coached teams have now won eight consecutive games in the New England region and has a record of 16-4 all-time with his last loss coming as the head coach at Fordham when the Rams lost at New Hampshire on Oct. 7, 2006 and since 2002 have compiled an impressive 15-1 record:

Additionally with today’s win, Dave Clawson is now 66-65 in his 11-year tenure with the Demon Deacons. He is one just five head coaches in program history to have a winning record in his coaching career at Wake Forest:

• D.C. “Peahead” Walker, 77-51-6 (1937-50, 14 seasons)
• Hank Garrity, 19-7-1 (1923-25, 3 seasons)
• W.E. Sikes, 6-2-1 (1891-93, 3 seasons)
• W.C. Dowd, 1-0 (1888, 1 season)
• Peahead Walker and Jim Grobe (2001-13) amassed the most wins as the leader of the Demon Deacons football program with 77 victories each, respectively.

Also with Saturday’s road win over the Huskies and the victory at NC State earlier this season, the Demon Deacons are 2-0 on the road for the sixth time under Dave Clawson: 

• 2024
  • 34-30 at NC State
  • 23-20 at UConn
• 2022
  • 45-25 at Vanderbilt
  • 31-21 at Florida State
• 2021
  • 37-17 at Virginia
  • 40-37 (OT) at Syracuse
• 2019
  • 41-21 at Rice
  • 27-24 at Boston College
• 2017
  • 34-10 at Boston College
  • 20-19 at App State
• 2016
  • 24-14 at Duke 
  • 33-28 at Indiana 

STAGGERING STATISTICS

Redshirt senior wideout Taylor Morin finished Saturday’s game at UConn with 158 all-purpose yards (104 receiving, 45 return, four rush) marking his second game this season over the century mark. Additionally, it was his fifth-career game with over 100 receiving yards. Additionally, with his six catches on Saturday, he passed his former teammate A.T. Perry is third on Wake Forest’s career receiving yards leader at 2,676 and he is now the leading receiver in the Dave Clawson era.

CAREER RECEIVING YARDS LEADERS  

FROM COACH CLAWSON
“We have been in a number of these one-score games, which we kind of predicted at the beginning of the season and it is good to get back to even with them. I think that was a really good team win. We did just enough on offense, we came up with a really good play on defense and I am extremely proud to hold them to 40 yards rushing. That was a team that was averaging 220 (yards per game). I thought we did a great job on third down of getting off the field. I thought our offense played well enough. The opening drive of the second half was big to give us a two-score lead. And, you know, it got a little tight at the end but we really played the rest of the game with a lead. We moved the ball and had some big plays. 

, Micah Mays, Jr. and I thought our special teams, other than the one kickoff return, was solid. I thought our punt coverage was really good. Connecticut is a good football team. They have done a hell of a job from a year ago to now. To me, we have played two top-10 teams, an FCS team and all those other teams we have played are at a really similar talent level. We are going to be in a lot of these tight games. I am glad we got a second one. We have a lot of things to clean up before we head to the west coast next week.”

UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons continue their road trip as Wake Forest travels to Palo Alto, Calif. for a matchup with Stanford on Saturday, Oct. 26 for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff on ACC Network. For those attending that game, fan information and unique events surrounding Wake’s trip to the west coast can be found here.

Wake Forest’s next home game will be on Friday, Nov. 8 against new ACC member California with kickoff set for 8 p.m. on the ACC Network. Tickets for the matchup with the Golden Bears can be purchased by clicking HERE. For questions or assistance, please contact the Wake Forest Ticket Office at 336-758-3322 ext. 1 or [email protected]. Regular office hours are Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p