Wake Forest Falls at Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky.– Wake Forest dropped a road game at Louisville, 48-21, Saturday afternoon at Cardinal Stadium.

In the 10th meeting between the teams, No. 10 Wake Forest (6-2, 2-2 ACC) was led by redshirt sophomore Donavon Greene as he tallied three catches for 75 yards. Additionally, redshirt junior tight end Blake Whiteheart recorded a career-high 52 receiving yards on four catches.

Individually, redshirt sophomore Jahmal Banks caught his team-leading eighth touchdown pass and sophomore Justice Ellison tallied a rushing score for the Deacs. Sophomore tight end Trey Boll reeled in a five-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter from redshirt freshman Mitch Griffis.

Louisville jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter on Saturday, but Wake Forest answered with the aforementioned Banks and Ellison scores to take the lead (14-13) going into halftime.

However, six third quarter turnovers led to 35 unanswered points for the Cardinals and created an insurmountable lead.

Wake Forest will look to bounce back next week at NC State.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Wake Forest won the toss and deferred to the second half as Louisville received the ball to open the game.
Louisville took a 3-0 lead with 11:08 remaining in the first quarter, connecting on a 29-yard field goal.
After Wake Forest punted on its first offensive possession, Louisville added another field goal on its next offensive drive to add to its early lead (6-0) in the first quarter.
A one-yard rushing touchdown increased Louisville's lead to 13-0 with 14:30 left in the first half.
- Louisville entered the red zone thanks to a 39-yard pass on a flea flicker.
Justice Ellison powered his way into the endzone on the ensuing drive. His three-yard touchdown run cut into Louisville's lead (13-7) with 11 minutes remaining in the second.
- On the first play of the drive, a Louisville pass interference call moved the Deacs to their own 40-yard line. On the very next play, Sam Hartman found Blake Whiteheart on a 25-yard pitch and catch to move into Cardinal territory.
- Overall, Wake Forest ran the ball five times for 15 yards on its first scoring drive, highlighted by a 10-yard scamper from Hartman.
The Demon Deacon defense stepped up on Louisville's next drive, forcing a three-and-out.
- Jasheen Davis (loss of two yards) and Ryan Smenda Jr. (loss of four yards) recorded tackles behind the line of scrimmage on back-to-back plays to force the Cardinals' first punt of the contest.
Wake Forest took its first lead (14-13) of the game after a 16-yard touchdown through the air from Hartman to Jahmal Banks.
- Big plays fueled Deacs' nine-play, 73-yard drive as Hartman found Donavon Greene on a 20-yard pass before Christian Turner picked up 21 yards on the ground.
- After another pass interference penalty pushed Wake Forest to Louisville's 23-yard line on 3rd and 10, Hartman found Whitehart on an 11-yard gain to move the chains.
Wake Forest's defense once again forced a punt, highlighted by a pass breakup on 3rd and 9 by Caelen Carson.
- Wake Forest also punted on their next offensive possession.
The Deacs regained possession of the ball with 1:11 left in the first half after a missed field goal from 49 yards. Wake Forest marched all the way down the field to Louisville's 15-yard line before the clock ran out.
A Louisville interception on the fourth play of the second half was returned for a touchdown to give the Cardinals a 20-14 lead early in the third.
After Louisville recovered a fumble at Wake Forest's 29, the Demon Deacon defense forced a failed fourth-down conversion as Chase Jones and Tyler Williams made a big stop to give Wake Forest the ball back with 10:51 remaining in the third quarter.
Louisville added to its lead (27-14) with a 48-yard touchdown rush four minutes later.
- The Cardinals regained possession after forcing a Wake Forest fumble.
Louisville increased its lead to 34-14 with a nine-yard rushing touchdown after intercepting a Wake Forest pass attempt.
A forced fumble by the Cardinals set up a 28-yard touchdown pass, increasing its lead to 41-14 in the third quarter. On the next Wake Forest possession, Louisville returned an interception 90 yards for a touchdown to add to its lead (48-14) before the end of the third quarter.
After both teams traded possession for much of the fourth quarter, Mitch Griffis found Trey Boll on a five-yard touchdown pass with less than a minute remaining.
- It was the first career touchdown reception for Boll.
Louisville fair caught the ensuing kickoff and ran the clock out to earn the ACC victory.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Jahmal Banks recorded his team-leading eighth receiving touchdown in the second quarter on Saturday. That total ranks in a tie for fourth in the country and leads the ACC with stats entering Week 9.

STAGGERING STATISTICS
Following the three-yard rushing touchdown by Justice Ellison in the second quarter on Saturday, the Demon Deacons have now produced a rushing score in 22 of their last 23 games dating back to Dec. 12, 2020 at Louisville. The only game during this run without a rushing score was in Week 4 vs. Clemson.

FROM COACH CLAWSON
"Credit to Louisville, Coach Satterfield, their coaching staff and their players. They completely outplayed us. They won both lines of scrimmage. They won on the perimeter. They deserved to win the game. We have a good football team, but I did not have us ready to go today. We're always a team that has taken care of the football. We started getting loose with it against Army. We were loose with it against BC. When you turnover the ball that much, you don't have any chance of winning the football game. On defense, we hung in there for a while and the turnovers started mounting and we gave up two trick plays for touchdowns. Just overall, a lack of discipline and we just didn't play Wake Forest football. Credit to them. They're good at creating pressure. They're good at getting turnovers. That was going to be the key to the game. We knew it. We talked about it all week. They did it and we didn't stop it. Disappointing but we have a good football team and we didn't play well. I know what our football team is made of. We have to come out next week and prove it."

UP NEXT
The Demon Deacons remain on the road the next week at No. 24 NC State (Nov. 5) for a matchup slated to kickoff at 8 p.m. on ACC Network. Wake Forest's next home game will be on Saturday, Nov. 12 against North Carolina. Fans can purchase tickets now.

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Team Stats

Sam Hartman

Mitch Griffis

Wake Forest Athletics