Wake Forest Falls in Regular Season Finale at Duke

DURHAM, N.C. – Despite three touchdown passes from Sam Hartman, Wake Forest dropped a hard-fought contest at Duke on Saturday in both teams’ regular season finale, 34-31. 

This was the first time since 2017 that the Demon Deacons (7-5, 3-5 ACC) fell to Duke (8-4, 5-3 ACC). Saturday’s contest marked the 102nd meeting in this historic rivalry and Wake Forest still holds a decisive 16-6 advantage in the series against the Blue Devils since the turn of the century.

Offensively, Hartman paced the Deacs as he went 26-of-42 passing for 347 yards and three touchdown passes. His go-to target on Saturday in Durham was A.T. Perry (eight catches for 87 yards and a touchdown), but Taylor Morin and Donavon Greene each caught a touchdown pass.

In his final regular season game of his career, Hartman’s three touchdown passes Saturday afternoon moved him to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference record book as the Charlotte, N.C. native is now tied with Clemson’s Tajh Boyd for the most career touchdown passes (107) in league history.   

Defensively, Jermal Martin, Jr. intercepted the first pass of his Wake Forest career in the fourth quarter. Additionally, in his final regular season game, linebacker Ryan Smenda, Jr. had a team-high 10 tackles, his sixth double-digit tackle performance . He now has 344 career tackles, which is the most by any Demon Deacon since 2000 and ranks ninth in all-time Wake Forest history. 

Next up, the Demon Deacons will await to learn their bowl destination on Sunday, Dec. 4. Fans are encouraged to visit Wake Forest’s Bowl Central webpage and order tickets for the games you want to attend. 

If fans have previously ordered tickets and know their account login, head to My Account at GoDeacs.com/Tickets and click on “Ticket Applications” to reserve bowl tickets now. If fans do not have an existing account, please fill out Wake Forest’s bowl interest form and the Demon Deacons staff will follow up with those specific fans with more information.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Wake Forest won the toss and deferred to the second half as Duke received the ball to open the game. 
• Duke took a 3-0 lead after connecting on a 42-yard field goal on its opening offensive possession.
  • After the Blue Devils drove the ball to Wake Forest’s 30-yard line, the Demon Deacon defense shut down Duke’s offensive attack. After Ryan Smenda, Jr. and Isaiah Wingfield combined for a stop at the line of scrimmage on 1st and 10, Jasheen Davis notched a sack for a loss of seven yards. 
• Wake Forest answered on its ensuing possession as Justice Ellison powered his way into the end zone from six yards out, capturing a 7-3 lead with 2:56 left in the first.
  • The Deacs manufactured an 11-play, 75-yard drive over four minutes of game play on its first possession. 
  • Ellison picked up his fifth touchdown of the year after running the ball five times for 25 yards. 
  • On 3rd and 7, Sam Hartman found Blake Whiteheart down the seam for a 30-yard pick up to keep the drive alive. 
• The Blue Devils took hold of a three-point lead (10-7) after a touchdown pass of their own 44 seconds into the second quarter. 
• After Wake Forest was forced to punt for the first time, Duke extended its lead to 17-7 with a 46-yard touchdown pass with 9:04 remaining in the first half. 
• Hartman capped off a nine-play, 75-yard drive with his first touchdown toss of the game as the redshirt junior found Donavon Greene in the back of the end zone to trim Duke’s lead to 17-14 with just under six minutes remaining in the second.
  • Hartman completed five passes during the drive, highlighted by a 31-yard pass to Taylor Morin on 1st and 10 to move into Duke territory. 
• After Wake Forest’s defense forced a punt on Duke’s next offensive possession, A 32-yard field goal from Matthew Dennis tied the game at 17 with 1:50 left in the second quarter.
  • Hartman connected with Ke’Shawn Williams (20 yards) and A.T. Perry (31 yards) on big plays through the air during Wake Forest’s third scoring drive. 
• Duke connected on a 32-yard field goal to regain a three-point advantage (20-17) heading into the halftime break.
  • The Demon Deacon red zone defense smothered the Blue Devils, forcing back-to-back incompletions after allowing a three-yard pass on Duke’s first play from Wake Forest’s 20-yard line. 
• Both teams traded punts to open the second half before Duke extended its lead to 27-17 with a 30-yard touchdown pass with 5:24 remaining in the third quarter. 
• Undaunted, Wake Forest answered with a passing touchdown of its own as Hartman fired a strike to Taylor Morin, who was wide open in the end zone. This trimmed Duke’s lead to just three points (27-24) with just over two minutes in the third quarter. 
• Pressure from Kendron Wayman and Kobie Turner gave Wake Forest the ball back at its own 16-yard line after Wake Forest’s defense forced Duke’s second punt of the second half. 
• Hartman found Perry in the end zone to give Wake Forest a 31-27 lead with 12:31 left in the game.
  • This marked Hartman’s 107th touchdown pass of his career, which is tied with Tajh Boyd for the most touchdown passes in ACC history. 
  • On 1st and 10 from Duke’s 42-yard line, Hartman connected with Greene for a 33-yard pickup to move Wake Forest into the red zone. 
• Jermal Martin, Jr. intercepted a Duke pass on 4th and 14 in the end zone as the Demon Deacons took over at its own 25-yard line with five minutes remaining.
  • Prior to the interception, a big defensive stop from Tyler Williams as well as a pass breakup from Gavin Holmes forced the 4th-down play.
  • This marked Martin, Jr.’s first interception of the season. 
• 2:08 minutes later, Duke regained possession after a Wake Forest punt. Three plays later, the Blue Devils took a 34-31 lead following a 20-yard touchdown pass with 2:04 left.
• Duke intercepted a Wake Forest pass on 4th and 10 with 1:22 left in the contest to secure a 34-31 win. 

IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Senior linebacker Ryan Smenda, Jr. had another stout game in the middle of the Wake Forest defense as he tallied 10 tackles. The Orange Park, Fla. native inched up on the Wake Forest career tackles list and now sits ninth on the all-time list. He also holds sole possession of the most tackles by a Demon Deacon since 2000. 

Two weeks ago, Smenda, Jr. eclipsed his previous high for tackles in a season. Coming into the week, his 9.6 tackles per game ranked fourth in the ACC. 

STANDOUT STATS
Hartman already holds the program record with 107 career touchdown passes, which he added to with three passing scores on Saturday. With that, Hartman tied Tajh Boyd for the most touchdown passes in ACC history. He is on track to pass Boyd with one guaranteed game remaining this season. 

• 1. Sam Hartman, Wake Forest (2018-Present) – 107
•     Tajh Boyd, Clemson (2010-13) – 107
• 3. Philip Rivers, NC State (2000-03) – 95
• 4. Sam Howell, North Carolina (2019-21) – 92
• 5. Deshaun Watson, Clemson (2014-16) – 90
•     Trevor Lawrence, Clemson (2018-20) – 90
• 7. Kenny Pickett, Pitt (2017-21) – 81
• 8. Chris Weinke, Florida State (1997-00) – 79
• 9. Russell Wilson, NC State (2008-10) – 76
• Additionally, his 107 passing touchdowns ranks 19th in NCAA history. 
  • He was just the 26th QB in FBS history to cross over the 100 touchdown mark for his career.

With 107 career passing touchdowns and 17 career rushing scores, Hartman’s 124 total touchdowns are the second most in conference history: 

• 1. Tajh Boyd, Clemson (2010-13) – 133
• 2 Sam Hartman, Wake Forest (2018-Present) – 124
• 3. Malik Cunningham, Louisville (2018-Pres.) – 120
•     Lamar Jackson, Louisville (2015-17) – 119
• 5. Deshaun Watson, Clemson (2014-16) – 116
• 6. Philip Rivers, NC State (2000-03) – 113
• 7. Sam Howell, North Carolina (2019-21) – 111
• 8. Trevor Lawrence, Clemson (2018-20) – 108
• 9. Kenny Pickett, Pitt (2017-21) – 102
• 10. Marquise Williams, North Carolina (2012-15) – 99 

Finally, Hartman extended his FBS-leading streak of 33-straight games with a touchdown accounted for in the second quarter when he completed a touchdown pass to Donavon Greene. 

FROM COACH CLAWSON
“It was a great college football game. Unfortunately, we have been involved in a lot of these ones and, unfortunately, we have been on the wrong side of the scoreboard at the end. Our guys played their hearts out and competed for four quarters. I wanted to credit Duke and Mike Elko, as he has done a great job this year. Bottom line, they executed better than we did in the fourth quarter. We had a lead and the football, and if we make one first down, we win the game. On a third-and-one-and-a-half, they made a play and we did not. Then, we had a chance to get a stop on defense and it’s been our achilles heel all year. Our inability to defend the deep ball. We have struggled all year defending the deep ball. It’s a disappointing way to end the season, but I am proud of how we competed. We will have a bowl game coming out and we will try to get that one. When you lose close games, and I told the team this, you have to put that on the head coach. We lost a game in overtime to Clemson, we lost a last-second game to North Carolina, a close game in the last two minutes at NC State, and this one in the last two minutes of the game. The job of the head coach is to help his team get over the hump in those close games. If I am going to get credit for our team doing that in the past, then I need to take the blame when we don’t do that this year. The difference between us being 7-5 and 10-2, or 11-1, is all these close games. We just did not get over the hump. Again, we’re disappointed but I am proud of our players for how they competed. All we can ask our guys to do is to play hard and they certainly did that for us and Wake Forest this year.”

UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons will await to learn their bowl destination on Sunday, Dec. 4. Fans are encouraged to visit Wake Forest’s Bowl Central webpage and order tickets for the games you want to attend. 

If fans have previously ordered tickets and know their account login, head to My Account at GoDeacs.com/Tickets and click on “Ticket Applications” to reserve bowl tickets now. If fans do not have an existing account, please fill out Wake Forest’s bowl interest form and the Demon Deacons staff will follow up with those specific fans with more information.