Following Wake Forest’s abysmal 42-7 loss to the Florida State Seminoles, head coach Jake Dickert said it was the first week the team had not gotten better. From penalties to chunk plays to an inefficient offense, nothing went right for the Demon Deacons.
Wake Forest struggled to combat the crowd at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee on Saturday night. All night long, the Deacons were unable to create any sort of momentum and were further suffocated by penalties.
Eleven penalties for 93 yards killed Wake Forest. Dickert said, “It just killed our momentum. We had some big plays and some big runs, but we were constantly behind the chains.”
Defensive lineman Jayden Loving said, “We had a lack of focus. We’re just more disciplined than that.”
Dickert discussed how the team had a good week of practice leading up to the game, but the team was simply unable to get on the same page come Saturday night. He said, “I’m proud of their fight, but obviously we didn’t play the way we’re capable of playing… We’ve got to do better in all phases of the game.”
While Dickert was critical of the performance against Florida State, he admitted that these moments are necessary for programs to learn and take steps forward.
He said, “There’s no such thing as too much adversity. We’ve got to play better complementary football. The offense, the past two weeks, has not met the standard of what we’re capable of. We’ve got better players than we’ve shown in the last two offensive performances, and we’ve got to execute.”
Not just offensively, but defensively as well. The Deacons surrendered too many chunk plays against a talented team like Florida State. But once again, Dickert remains optimistic for next week.
“This is a culture test. It’s a test of who we are and what we’re about,” he said. “I know the way our team’s going to respond to this; there is not a single person that worked throughout the course of the week for this result. We have to be a better football team, and it starts with me.”
Wake Forest (5-3, 2-3 ACC) will now turn its focus to next week’s contest against No. 15 Virginia (8-1, 5-0 ACC). The Cavaliers have won seven straight games and just beat the University of California, Berkley 31-21. The game is set for Saturday, Nov. 8, at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia, with kickoff at 6:00 p.m. ET on The ACC Network.