Wake Forest Honors 70 Students in Home Finale; Deacs Fall Against NC State

Saturday, November 11

Winston-Salem, NC

2 PM

Wake Forest University

4-6 , 1-6

NC State

7-3 , 4-2

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final F
NC State	7	14	0	5	26
Wake Forest	0	0	0	6	6

Wake Forest Honors 70 Students in Home Finale; Deacs Fall Against NC State

11/11/2023 6:02:00 PM | Football

Box Score

Saturday’s home game inside Allegacy Stadium concluded the home portion of Wake Forest’s 2023 season. Deacon Nation showed out this fall with four sellouts and an average of 30,499 fans in attendance per contest.

By: Will Pantages

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- On a day when Wake Forest honored 32 student-athletes prior to the game on Saturday afternoon and members of the Spirit of the Old Gold & Black (14), Spirit Squads (19) and student staffers (five) were recognized at halftime, Wake Forest football dropped its home finale 26-6 contest against NC State (7-3, 4-2 ACC) on Saturday afternoon inside Allegacy Stadium.

Saturday was the 117th meeting between these two storied programs and they have met each year since 1910 - making it the second-longest continuous played series in college football.

Junior defensive end Jasheen Davis was a bright spot for the Demon Deacons on defense on Saturday as he tallied four tackles, including two for loss. With his first sack in the first quarter, Davis moved into fifth place in the Wake Forest record books with his 20th career sack.

Also on defense, redshirt sophomore linebacker Dylan Hazen recorded a team-high 14 tackles while senior defensive back Chelen Garnes registered nine tackles, one sack and a fumble recovery.

Offensively, Wake Forest played both redshirt sophomore Mitch Griffis and redshirt junior Michael Kern at quarterback. The Demon Deacons top wideout on Saturday was Ke'shawn Williams, as he led the team in receptions with five for 25 yards.

In the fourth quarter, Kern found freshman Deuce Alexander for a 19-yard touchdown on his first-career reception. It also marked Kern's first passing touchdown since Sept. 21, 2019.

Looking ahead to next week, the Demon Deacons head back on the road for their penultimate regular season contest of the 2023 season on Saturday, Nov. 18 at Notre Dame on NBC. Kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m.

HOW IT HAPPENED

NC State won the opening coin toss and deferred its option to the second half. After forcing a three-and-out, the Wolfpack went on to score first in the contest, driving 84 yards for a touchdown.
On the defense's second appearance of the afternoon, the Deacs forced a Wolfpack punt as the drive was highlighted by Jasheen Davis' 20th career sack, moving him into sole possession of fifth all-time in program history.
NC State extended its lead to 14-0 with 12:09 remaining in the second quarter, driving 65 yards in 12 plays.
The Wolfpack pushed their lead to 21-0 with 8:07 remaining in the second quarter.
Wake Forest tallied its first turnover of the afternoon with 4:17 left in the second quarter, as Aiden Hall forced a fumble that would be recovered by Chelen Garnes at the NC State 36-yard line.
Jacob Roberts recorded his sixth sack of the season on NC State's final drive of the opening half.
On a drive late in the third quarter, Chalen Garnes recorded a sack for a six-yard loss on a 2nd-and-10 play for NC State that pushed the Wolfpack back before missing a 38-yard field goal.
NC State extended its lead to 24-0 with 11:25 to play in the fourth quarter.
The Deacs would get their first points of the afternoon with 7:15 remaining in the fourth quarter, as Michael Kern found Deuce Alexander for a 19-yard touchdown reception. The catch was the first of Alexander's collegiate career.
- During the 11-play, 75-yard drive, Kern completed 7-of-8 attempts for 72 yards.
NC State recorded the last offensive possession of the night before the game ended 26-6.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Overall for the 2023 season, Jasheen Davis has recorded 42 tackles, ranking 18th nationally with 14.0 tackle-for-loss and ranking 25th nationally with 7.5 sacks.
- Davis has now recorded at least 1.0 tackles-for-loss in the 18 of his last 19 games.
- Over his last 15 games dating back to last season, Davis has collected 26.5 tackles for loss and 12.5 sacks.
- With 7.5 sacks through 10 games in 2023, Davis has now tallied 20 sacks in his career and that ranks fifth 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. Jasheen Davis (2020-Present) 20
  - 6. Bryan Ray (1997-00) 19
  - 7. Nikita Whitlock (2010-13) 18.5
  - 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
- Additionally, Davis is tied for 10th in the FBS and third in the ACC with 28 QB hurries.
  - T-1. Ashton Gillote (Louisville) - 35
  - T-1. Bralen Trice (Washington) - 35
  - 3. Caiden Woullard (Miami OH) - 34
  - 4. Kaimon Rucker (North Carolina) - 32
  - T-5. Jalen Green (James Madison) - 31
  - T-5. Brian Ugwu (Miami OH) - 31
  - T-7. B.J. Green II (Arizona State) - 30
  - T-7. Elijah Roberts (SMU) - 30
  - T-7. Gabriel Murphy (UCLA) - 30
  - T-10. Jasheen Davis (Wake) - 28

STAGGERING STATISTICS

Since the turn of the century, the Demon Deacons boast a record of 32-26 against North Carolina, NC State and Duke. In addition, during that time, Wake Forest is 47-26 against all in-state opponents.

FROM COACH CLAWSON
"I just want to apologize to our fan base and students. That was just an awful performance. We were flat, we had no energy and that is 100 percent on me. I've got to do some soul searching and look at our team. This is two games in a row, against Florida State and NC State. They are both two teams we've had a lot of success against the last few years. We were basically non-competitive against those two programs. That was not even a competitive football game. It's my job to field a more competitive team. Clearly, I'm failing this season and in this game and I'm just not getting the job done right now. It's Game 10 and to show up like that is really disappointing. They outcoached us. I thought they were more physical on both sides of the line of scrimmage, their defensive backs I thought out-played our receivers. We had chances to make contested catches and I don't think we made one of them other than Deuce (Alexander) for the touchdown. Their skill on offense made our secondary miss. We missed a lot of tackles. On offense, we had a lot of false starts and three turnovers. On defense, we had missed tackles and a few personal fouls. Right now, we've lost our way. Again, our defensive effort was good. On offense, right now we're broken. This isn't anything like the offense that was put out there the last six years. I think we have good players, but they're not playing well and it all boils down to coaching. Credit to NC State – they just completely outplayed us and outcoached us. Even at the end of the game, I thought they could have scored there, and they took a knee or it would have been even uglier. So I thought they showed a lot of sportsmanship in class by doing that. I'm really not happy, but I take full responsibility for it. I'm going to try to get it fixed as much as we can in the next two weeks."

UP NEXT
Wake Forest heads back on the road for their penultimate regular season contest of the 2023 season on Saturday, Nov. 18 at Notre Dame on NBC. Kickoff is slated for 3:30 p.m.