SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Wake Forest football extended its winning streak to four games with a 38-14 victory at Syracuse on Saturday.
This marks the first time since the 2007 season the Demon Deacons have had a perfect month of October. It is the second consecutive season Wake Forest has had a perfect month as the Deacs went 4-0 in September 2019. This is also the first time since 2011 the Deacs have had a three-game winning streak in conference play.
Kenneth Walker III continued to be one of the toughest running backs to stop in the entire country, finishing the day with his third three-touchdown game of the season. He has now scored 11 touchdowns this season, the first Wake player to do so since Josh Adams in 2007.
The Deacs 18 touchdowns over the last five games have equaled their entire output from the 2019 season.
En route to the road victory, Sam Hartman broke the school record for consecutive passes without being intercepted. He finished the game going 19-for-33 for 250 yards, extending his streak to 189 passes without an interception. Additionally, Hartman is 16 attempts away from breaking Taylor Price’s season record (166 in 2012).
In the third quarter of the game, Hartman hooked up with wide receiver Jaquarii Roberson for the longest offensive play of the season, connecting for an 80-yard touchdown.
The completion tied the fourth longest in Wake Forest history and was the longest since Marshall Williams to Chris Givens for 81 yards in 2010. Additionally, it is the longest offensive play since Walker III’s 96-yard touchdown run against Rice in 2019.
For the second time in the last three games, Roberson posted a 100-plus yard game, tying a career-high with seven catches while also totaling a career-best 130 yards through the air.
For the third time in the last four games, Wake Forest had a +3 or better turnover margin including interceptions from Trey Rucker and Gavin Holmes, becoming the eighth and ninth players this season to grab a pick for the Deacs.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
For the third time this season, Kenneth Walker III ran for three touchdowns in a game. Dating back to the NC State game on Sept. 19, Walker III has a rushing touchdown in every game. His 11 on the season put him one shy of cracking the top-five for a single season in Wake Forest history. Brian Piccolo (1964) and Larry Russell (1971) hold the school record with 15 in a single season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
With the help of 42 total yards from Christian Beal-Smith on the opening drive of the game, the Demon Deacons got on the board first with a 33-yard field goal from Nick Sciba.
This is the fourth consecutive game Wake Forest has scored on their opening possession.
Sciba pushed his consecutive made field goal streak to nine straight, finishing 1-for-1 in the game.
After forcing a 3-and-out on Syracuse’s first possession, Sam Hartman connected with Jaquarri Roberson three times to move the ball down to the Syracuse 22-yard line.
Kenneth Walker III took over from there, toting the rock for the final 18 yards of the drive including a one-yard score. It gave the Deacs a 10-0 lead at the 3:37 mark of the first quarter.
Ja’Cquez Williams continued his impressive play in the middle including knifing through for his first sack of the season in the second quarter to halt a Syracuse drive at midfield.
Williams and the Deacs defense nearly pitched a shutout through the first half. The Orange finally got on the board with 4:17 left to play in the first half when Culpepper connected with Johnson for a 21-yard touchdown pass.
With his second rushing touchdown of the game, Kenneth Walker III pushed the lead back to 10 points just before half, scoring from 20 yards out to make it 17-7 at the 1:19 mark in the second quarter.
The Deacs continued to add to their lead to start the second half. On their first possession of the half, Hartman hooked up with Roberson for an 80-yard touchdown, the longest offensive touchdown of the season. The score gave Wake Forest a 24-7 lead at the 12:41 mark of the third.
Just two plays later, Gavin Holmes intercepted his first pass of his career, returning it 32 yards for the score.
The interception returned for touchdown put the Deacs up 24 points in the third quarter. Additionally, it was the third pick six for the Deacs this season.
Walker III finished off his third three-rushing touchdown game of the season later in the quarter, scoring from five yards out to make it a 38-7 game at the 3:09 mark of the third.
It capped Wake Forest’s third double-digit play drive of the game as the Deacs went 10 plays and 71 yards over 5:51 minutes.
In the fourth, Trey Rucker became the ninth Demon Deacon to intercept a pass this season.
Last season, the Deacs had 10 players intercept a pass, one of just six FBS schools to do so.
With just 3:11 in the game, Syracuse scored on a three-yard pass completion.
It was just the third touchdown the Deacs had allowed in the last 10 quarters of play.
STAGGERING STATISTICS
Following the forced fumble in the second quarter by Ryan Smenda, Wake Forest has now forced a turnover in 15-straight games, dating back to Boston College September 28, 2019.
Entering Saturday, the Deacs nine interceptions this season are tied for second in FBS.
Gavin Holmes and Trey Rucker added to that total on Saturday with his third quarter pick six.
Wake Forest has three interceptions returned for touchdowns this season
Holmes at Syracuse (32 yards)
Zion Keith vs Campbell (45 yards)
Ja’Sir Taylor at NC State (45 yards)
This marks the first time since the 2007 season the Deacs have had three or more interceptions returned for touchdowns. That season, Wake Forest set a school record with six pick sixes.
Wake Forest now has 11 interceptions on the season. Coming into the game, only Arkansas (10) had double-digit interceptions in the country this season.
Nine different players have an interception this season.
Last season, Wake Forest was one of six FBS teams with 10 or more players intercept a pass.
Kenneth Walker III has rushed for a touchdown in every game except Clemson this season
For the third time this season, the sophomore had three touchdowns in a single game and now has 11 rushing touchdowns on the season.
He is just the second player in the Dave Clawson era with double-digit rushing touchdowns in a single season (John Wolford, 10 in 2017). His total is the most since Josh Adams had 11 rushing scores in 2007.
He needs just five more this season to set the all-time Wake Forest record of 15 touchdowns held by Brian Piccolo (1964) and Larry Russell (1971).
Sam Hartman’s 80-yard touchdown completion to Jaquarri Roberson in the third quarter was the longest offensive play of the season for the Demon Deacons and the second longest play overall of the season (Donavon Greene 96-yard kick return touchdown vs. Campbell on Oct. 2)
The 80-yard completion is tied for the fourth longest pass completion in Wake Forest history
This is the third time in the last four games the Demon Deacons have had a +3 or better turnover margin. Additionally, it marks the fourth straight game and the fifth time overall this season Wake Forest did not turnover the ball.
The Demon Deacons +14 turnover margin this season ranks first nationally and leads the ACC.
The Deacs entered the game with the only double-digit turnover margin in the country.
Wake Forest is now 10-0 under head coach Dave Clawson when the Deacs have a +3 or better turnover margin.
FROM COACH CLAWSON
“First off, just another great team win. We’re not winning on offense, we’re not winning on defense, we are winning collectively as a team right now. Offensively, I thought the play of the offensive line has been great for us. We ran the ball for almost 200 yards and we threw the ball well. Jaquarii Roberson had a big game for us, Kenneth Walker III played well and I thought Sam Hartman played really well. Defensively, we created turnovers and we limited the rushing attack. Again, Nick Sciba and Jack Crane continue to do a great job kicking for us. Winning the turnover battle really took this from a close game to not a close game. The pick six gave us a nice little lead there, and I really liked the way that we handled time of possession today. That’s not usually a forte of ours, but to be able to get a lead and change how we play and keep our defense off the field was a good thing. I certainly give credit to Syracuse, I don’t think those kids have any quit in them and they continued to play hard and battle and score at the end. We are proud of our team, the way we handled the travel, the protocol and the first flight. Now, we get a chance to heal up, get healthy and recharge the batteries. We finish with a tough stretch starting in Chapel Hill in two weeks.”
UP NEXT
Wake Forest is off until Nov. 14 when the Deacs travel to North Carolina for the second Big 4 game of the season. The game time and network will be released by the ACC on Monday.
