WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Despite rushing touchdowns from junior Ke’Shawn Williams and redshirt freshman Tate Carney, Wake Forest football dropped a 41-16 contest over No. 4 Florida State (8-0, 6-0) on Saturday afternoon inside Allegacy Stadium.
The score on the ground from Williams marked the first of his career and Carney’s rushing touchdown was the second of his young career.
Individually, redshirt sophomore Mitch Griffis returned under-center for the Demon Deacons and completed six of 16 passes for 82 yards. His top target inside Allegacy Stadium on Saturday was junior Jahmal Banks as he tallied four catches on nine targets for 43 yards, averaging 10 yards per catch with 28 yards after the catch.
Defensively, the Deacs were led by senior Chelen Garnes with seven total tackles and five solo tackles. Junior Jasheen Davis had six tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and one sack. As a team, they tallied 52 tackles, five QB hurries four pass break ups
Redshirt sophomore Matthew Dennis continued his great 2023 season as he is now 26-for-30 after going one-for-one against Florida State. He has made 12, 30-plus yard field goals and two 40-plus yard field goals.
Finally, 31,288 fans were on-hand today inside Allegacy Stadium to witness this pivotal ACC matchup between Wake Forest (4-4, 1-3) and FSU. Saturday marked the ninth sellout inside Allegacy Stadium since the start of the 2021 season.
Wake Forest hits the road next week on a short week as the Demon Deacons play at No. 20 Duke on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. inside Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium. The contest will be nationally broadcast on ESPN. The Deacs have won three of the past four meetings against the Blue Devils and the upcoming game will mark the 103rd meeting between the two storied programs.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Wake Forest deferred the coin toss.
- On the first drive of the game, Florida State reached the end zone, going 62 yards in nine plays.
- On the following two drives, Wake and Florida State each reached a first down before the Wake Forest defense forced a three-and-out for the Seminoles.
- After two first downs, the Seminoles scored on a 46-yard field goal to go up 10–0 at the end of the first quarter.
- On the first drive of the second quarter, Wake Forest got on the board with a two-yard rushing touchdown by Ke’Shawn Evans, his first career rushing touchdown.
- The Deacs went 75 yards on seven plays and took 4:05 off the clock.
- Florida State answered with a scoring drive of their own to go up 17-7 with 10 minutes remaining in the half.
- Wake Forest went into halftime down 34-7.
- The Deacs got back on the board to start the third quarter with a 24-yard field goal.
- Wake went 69 yards in 11 plays to take 3:49 off the clock.
- The Wake Forest defense started the third quarter forcing a Florida State punt on their second three-and-out of the game.
- The plays resulted in a loss of eight yards for the Seminoles.
- Wake Forest ended the third quarter with a two-yard rushing touchdown from Tate Carney to cut the deficit 34-16.
- Wake went 80 yards in 10 plays and took 3:48 off the clock.
- The drive was highlighted by a 20-yard completion from Griffis to Carney and a 20-yard rush from Griffis.
- The final score of the game came on the first drive of the fourth quarter. Florida State went 75 yards in 10 plays and took 4:43 off the clock to go up 41-16
- Florida State defeated Wake Forest 41-16.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Junior Jasheen Davis has now recorded at least 1.0 tackles-for-loss in 14 of his last 17 games.
Over his last 12 games dating back to last season, Davis has collected 17.0 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks.
With 5.5 sacks through eight games in 2023, Davis has now tallied 18 sacks in his career and that ranks seventh in program history.
- 1. Mike McCrary (1989-92) 30
- 2. Calvin Pace (1999-02) 29
- 3. Duke Ejiofor (2014-17) 23.5
- 4. Carlos Basham, Jr. (2017-20) 20.5
- 5. Bryan Ray (1997-00) 19
- 6. Nikita Whitlock (2010-13) 18.5
- 7. Jasheen Davis (2020-Present) 18
- 8. Rondell Bothroyd (2018-22) 16.5
- 9. James Parker (1976-79) 15
- Fred Robbins (1996-99) 15
- 11. Kyle Wilber (2008-11) 13.5
- 12. Rudy Thompson (1989-92) 13
- 13. Matt Robinson (2004-05, 07-08) 12.5
- Boo Robinson (2006-09) 12.5
STAGGERING STATISTICS
- During the Dave Clawson era, Wake Forest has been the best team in the nation at converting field goals, connecting on 174-of-208 field goal attempts in the last 10 years (83.6 pct.) with the next closest being Utah at 81.1 percent. That margin has been even highest over the last five seasons since the start of the 2018 season:
- Rk. Team FGM FGA FG PCT
- 1. Wake Forest 106 119 89.0
- 2. UNLV 74 87 85.1
- 3. Washington St. 66 78 84.6
- 4. NC State 106 127 83.5
- 4. Ohio State 79 95 83.2
- Matthew Dennis continued his great start to the 2023 season. He is now 14-for-16 on the season as he went one-for one against Florida State. His misses came on his second attempt in the Deacs win over Vanderbilt on Sept. 9 and at Clemson on Oct. 7.
- 34-Yard FG (Elon, 1st Quarter)
- 29-Yard FG (Elon, 3rd Quarter)
- 29-Yard FG (Elon, 3rd Quarter)
- 25-Yard FG (Vanderbilt, 1st Quarter)
- 44-Yard FG (Vanderbilt, 3rd Quarter)
- 20-Yard FG (Vanderbilt, 4th Quarter)
- 36-Yard FG (ODU, 3rd Quarter)
- 36-Yard FG (ODU, 3rd Quarter)
- 25-Yard FG (Georgia Tech, 1st Quarter)
- 35-Yard FG (Clemson, 1st Quarter)
- 22-Yard FG (Clemson, 3rd Quarter)
- 28-Yard FG (Virginia Tech, 2nd Quarter)
- 34-Yard FG (Virginia Tech, 4th Quarter)
- 24-Yard FG (Florida State, 3rd Quarter)
- Through 21 games in his career after taking over for NCAA record holder Nick Sciba, Matthew Dennis has been nearly perfect. Dennis has gone 26-for-30 on field goal attempts. He finished the 2022 season in the top 25 in field goal percentage. Additionally, he is 71-for-73 in extra point attempts over his career.
- He has made 12, 30-plus yard field goals and two 40-plus yard field goals.
- Dennis goes into week 10th ranking second in the FBS and leading ACC in field goals made per game with 1.86 per game.
- Dennis ranks among the top 50 nationally in multiple categories:
FBS RANKS RK Stat
FG/Game 10 1.86
FG Percentage 31 .867
Scoring/Game 45 7.7
Total Points 53 54
FROM COACH CLAWSON
“What a difference a week makes. First of all credit to Florida State, Coach Norvell, their coaches and their entire staff. That’s the most complete football team that we have played all season. They ran explosive plays, they were stout on defense and really good in the kicking game. That is where they are right now and this is where we are right now. They are clearly ahead of us. Obviously, that is disappointing to me because I thought that was a program that we had caught. Now, they have caught us and gotten ahead of us. So we have a lot of hard work to do to get back to that level. When you lose by 25, that is not competitive. Then, you look at the stats and it is not misleading. They had over 500 yards and we had only 200. I really appreciate all of the fans, the band and the students that came out today, especially all the ones that stayed. They are a much better football team than we are right now. They outcoached us, they out prepared us, they outplayed us, they out executed us and we have to get past this one and get ready to play an in-state rival in five days.”
UP NEXT
Wake Forest hits the road next week on a short week as the Demon Deacons play at No. 20 Duke on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. inside Brooks Field at Wallace Wade Stadium. The contest will be nationally broadcast on ESPN. The Deacs have won three of the past four meetings against the Blue Devils the upcoming game will mark the 103rd meeting between the two storied programs.
Since 2000, Wake Forest holds a 16-6 record against Duke.
Also since the turn of the century, the Demon Deacons boast a record of 32-24 against UNC, NC State and Duke. In addition, during that time, Wake Forest is 47-24 against all in-state opponents. The Deacs lead the Big Four in winning percentage during this stretch.
The Demon Deacons continue Big 4 play just over a week later on Saturday, Nov. 11 in what will be the final home game of the 2023 season for Wake Forest as the Deacs welcome NC State to Allegacy Stadium. Kickoff time for Wake Forest’s Senior Day will be announced on Monday by the Atlantic Coast Conference. Fans can purchase single-game tickets now for that contest.
