Wake Forest University
3-0 , 0-0
Old Dominion
1-2 , 1-0
Wake Forest Earns Road Win in Virginia; Deacons Down Monarchs, 27-24
9/16/2023 4:50:00 PM | Football
Saturday’s 27-24 win over ODU clinched Wake Forest’s 12th-straight non-conference victory. That tally ranks second in the country, only trailing Georgia (19).
NORFOLK, VA -- Behind 20 unanswered points in the second half and a program record 10 sacks by the vaunted Demon Deacons defense, head coach Dave Clawson's squad earned Wake Forest football's first road win of the 2023 season on Saturday at Old Dominion, 27-24.
Wake Forest trailed by 17 points in Saturday's win at Old Dominion. With that, the Demon Deacons second-half comeback marked the program's largest since Nov. 11, 2017, at Syracuse. In that contest, Wake Forest also trailed by 17 points and went onto win, 64-43. The 17-point come-from-behind win is tied for sixth in Wake Forest history and tied with the aforementioned 2017 contest at Syracuse for the second-largest in the Dave Clawson era.
The victory marked Wake Forest's 12th-straight win over a non-conference opponent, which is the second longest streak in the country. The Deacs only trail the two-time defending College Football Playoff Champion Georgia Bulldogs who have won 19-straight out-of-conference contests.
Defensively, Wake Forest was led by its starting linebackers on Saturday as redshirt sophomore Dylan Hazen and senior Jacob Roberts combined for 22 tackles, six tackles-for-loss and four sacks. Additionally, junior Evan Slocum recorded his first-career interception in the first half and junior Jasheen Davis tallied three sacks and a fumble recovery.
Offensively, Wake Forest had six players with multiple receptions in the game and redshirt junior Taylor Morin caught a pair of touchdowns passes and tallied 112 receiving yards overall on the day. With his two scores, Morin has now caught 19 touchdown passes in his career, which ranks tied for eighth in Demon Deacons history.
Wake Forest's student-athletes tremendous efforts on Saturday increased the Deacs' record vs. non-ACC teams over the past five years in the league as Wake is 16-2 (.889). That is the top mark in the ACC during that half-decade span, with the next closest team at 11-4 (Duke).
Additionally, head coach Dave Clawson and the Demon Deacons have been dominant over teams in the Commonwealth of Virginia as the Deacs extended their streak to seven-straight victories over teams from the state. This includes at least one win in each of the last four seasons.
Wake Forest's returns to Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium next week on Saturday, Sept. 23 for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff on The CW against Georgia Tech and the contest is sold out. The game will mark the Deacs eighth sellout since the 2021 and it marks the second-straight year that Wake Forest has sold out three-consecutive games in a season.
Additionally, next Saturday will mark the Yellow Jackets first visit to Winston-Salem since 2010.
If fans are interested in standing room only tickets for next Saturday's ACC opener for the Deacs, call the Wake Forest Ticket Office at 336-758-3322 for more information. Additionally, tickets to all games that are sold out can be purchased through our trusted secondary market partner SeatGeek.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Wake Forest won the toss and deferred its choice to the second half.
- Following a touchback on the kickoff off a booming kick by rookie Tyler Black, the Demon Deacons defense forced a punt as Jasheen Davis and Dylan Hazen combined for a third-down sack with 13:25 remaining in the first quarter.
- On the third play of Wake Forest's opening possession, Old Dominion took over its own 39-yard-line after an interception.
- The two teams traded punts before the Monarchs missed a 34-yard field goal wide right with 4:18 to go in the first quarter.
- The first quarter ended with back-to-back three-and-outs as the teams remained scoreless.
- Throughout the first frame, Jacob Roberts had six tackles and his fellow starter recorded 1.5 tackles-for-loss.
- After an Ivan Mora punt to start the second quarter, Old Dominion opened the scoring with a 68-yard touchdown pass at the 13:24 mark.
- Following a Wake Forest three-and-out, Evan Slocum came up with an interception at the Wake Forest 15-yard line and ran it back all the way to the ODU 29 with 10:59 remaining in the first half.
- That INT marked the fifth interception of the season for Wake Forest and the first of Slocum's career.
- Old Dominion extended its lead to 14-0 after an 80-yard fumble return at the 9:38 mark.
- Ivan Mora pinned ODU back inside its own 10-yard line with just over seven minutes remaining in the second quarter.
- The Monarchs were held to a 49-yard field goal after a big third-down sack by Kendron Wayman with 2:34 to go in the half.
- After a Wake Forest punt, Old Dominion missed a 45-yard field goal as time expired as the Deacs went into the locker room down 17-0.
- Dylan Hazen led the team at the break with eight total tackles, two tackles-for-loss and a sack.
- Offensively, Jahmal Banks hauled in five receptions for 59 yards.
- After a touchback to open the second half, the Demon Deacons got on the board with a 27-yard touchdown pass from Mitch Griffis to Taylor Morin at the 11:35 mark.
- Justice Ellison played a major role in the eight-play, 75-yard drive as he used a mix of rushing and receiving to rack up nearly 40 yards.
- A third-down sack from Jacob Roberts forced a quick Old Dominion three-and-out.
- The Monarchs took a 24-7 lead with seven minutes to go in the third quarter following a 66-yard pick-six.
- The Deacs responded with a Matthew Dennis 36-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 14 with 3:50 remaining in the third frame.
- The scoring drive was highlighted by a 40-yard reception from Wesley Grimes.
- After another three-and-out forced by the Wake Forest defense, Taylor Morin put the Deacs in excellent field position with a 34-yard punt return to the ODU 27.
- Matthew Dennis knocked down his second 36-yard field goal of the afternoon with nine seconds remaining in the quarter to make it 24-13.
- The Deacs' seventh sack of the day, courtesy of Bryce Ganious, forced an Old Dominion punt with 13:27 remaining.
- The Demon Deacons pulled within four after a 48-yard touchdown pass from Griffis to Morin with 9:45 to go in the contest.
- Before the score, Griffis picked up a pair of third-and-longs to keep the drive alive.
- The Wake Forest pass rush continued to come up huge, as Jacob Roberts notched back-to-back sacks, including a strip sack to set up the offense at the ODU six-yard-line.
- The Deacs completed the comeback as Griffis found Banks in the end zone for a four-yard score to go up 27-24.
- Wake Forest had scored 20 unanswered points in just over 15 minutes of game time.
- The Demon Deacons forced another three-and-out and took over at the ODU 26 with five minutes remaining.
- For the second time of the afternoon, Mora pushed ODU back into its own 10 yard line with just 2:36 to go.
- With under two minutes remaining, the Wake Forest defense clinched the victory with its program-record 10th sack of the afternoon, this time by Jasheen Davis, his third of the game.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Wake Forest's defense totaled 12 tackles-for-loss and a program record 10 sacks on Saturday at Old Dominion.
- Prior to Saturday's double-digit sack performance, Wake Forest's previous high in a game for total sacks was against Maryland on Oct. 17, 1992 when the Demon Deacons recorded nine.
- Additionally, the Deacs' 12 tackles-for-loss are tied for the third-most in a game in the Dave Clawson era and they are the most since on Oct. 12, 2019 when Wake Forest hosted Louisville and tallied that same amount.
Individually, Wake Forest linebacker Jacob Roberts and Jasheen Davis each recorded three sacks. Those rank them tied for the second most in a game in program history.
- Top Performances in Wake Forest History:
- Name Game (Date) Total
1. Mike McCrary at Maryland (10/17/92) 4.0
2. Jasheen Davis at ODU (9/16/23) 3.0
Jacob Roberts at ODU (9/16/23) 3.0
Duke Ejiofor at Duke (9/10/16) 3.0
Kyle Wilber vs. Presbyterian (9/2/10) 3.0
Fred Robbins vs. Arizona State (12/25/99) 3.0
Mike McCrary vs. Duke (11/9/91) 3.0
- Name Game (Date) Total
STAGGERING STATISTICS
Wake Forest has been dominant over teams in the state of Virginia as the Deacs extended their streak to seven-straight wins over teams from the state with today's victory. This includes at least one win in each of the last four seasons:
- Sept. 16, 2023 at Old Dominion W, 27-24
- Sept. 17, 2022 vs. Liberty W, 37-36
- Sept. 24, 2021 at Virginia W, 37-17
- Sept. 11, 2021 vs. Norfolk State W, 41-16
- Sept. 3, 2021 vs. Old Dominion W, 42-10
- Oct. 24, 2020 vs. No. 19 Virginia Tech W, 23-16
- Oct. 17, 2020 vs. Virginia W, 40-23
- Over this span, the Demon Deacons have outscored Virginia teams, 247-142.
Additionally, the Demon Deacons also have the best record vs. non-ACC teams over the past five years with a record of 16-2 (.889) with the next closest team holding a record of 11-4 in that timespan. Saturday's win over ODU also clinched Wake Forest's 12th-straight non-conference victory. That tally ranks second in the country, only trailing Georgia (19).
FROM COACH CLAWSON
"This was definitely a hard-fought win. It was probably technically and execution-wise, on offense, one of the poorer games we've played in the last few years, but I've just got to give a lot of credit to our defense. Our defense played their tails off. Other than the one play and the double move that we gave up in the first half, I thought our defense played great the whole game. On offense, we just had to keep plugging away. What I told our team at halftime was that we had a football team in 2017 that went up to Syracuse and played really poorly and we were down 17 points at halftime. That team made a decision that they were just going to play the next play and that we just had to get into it play-by-play-by-play and not panic. If we did that, we'd give ourselves a chance to get back into the football game and fortunately, that happened. So again, I just can't say enough about the performance of our defense. Jacob Roberts, Dylan Hazen and the defensive line. They were difference makers. We made enough plays on offense in the second half. Mitch certainly didn't play his cleanest game, but he's an inexperienced quarterback and this is a growth process. The bottom line is he made plays at the end of the game to help us win the game. We have a lot to work on, but it's always easier to do that after you find a way to win. We'll enjoy this one and get to work for a big home game next week against Georgia Tech."
UP NEXT
Wake Forest's returns to Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium next week on Saturday, Sept. 23 for a 6:30 p.m. kickoff on The CW against Georgia Tech and the contest is sold out! The game will mark the Deacs eighth sellout since the 2021 and it marks the second-straight year that Wake Forest has sold out three-consecutive games in a season.
Additionally, next Saturday will mark the Yellow Jackets first visit to Winston-Salem since 2010.
Wake Forest is an astounding 22-4 inside the friendly confines of Allegacy Stadium since the start of the 2019 season. That winning percentage (.846) ranks second in the ACC during that span, trailing just Clemson.
If you are interested in standing room only tickets for next Saturday's ACC opener for the Deacs, call the Wake Forest Ticket Office at 336-758-3322 for more information. Additionally, tickets to all games that are sold out can be purchased through our trusted secondary market partner SeatGeek.
Team Stats
WFU 0, ODU 7
ODU - Harvey,Javon 68 yd pass from Wilson,Grant (Sanchez,Ethan kick) 2 plays, 61 yards, TOP 00:36
WFU 0, ODU 14
ODU - James,LaMareon 80 yd fumble recovery (Sanchez,Ethan kick)
WFU 0, ODU 17
ODU - Sanchez,Ethan 49 yd field goal 9 plays, 58 yards, TOP 04:44
WFU 7, ODU 17
WFU - Morin,Taylor 27 yd pass from Griffis,Mitch (Dennis,Matthew kick) 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 03:25
WFU 7, ODU 24
ODU - James,LaMareon 66 yd interception (Sanchez,Ethan kick)
WFU 10, ODU 24
WFU - Dennis,Matthew 36 yd field goal 9 plays, 62 yards, TOP 03:03
WFU 13, ODU 24
WFU - Dennis,Matthew 36 yd field goal 5 plays, 9 yards, TOP 02:30
WFU 20, ODU 24
WFU - Morin,Taylor 48 yd pass from Griffis,Mitch (Dennis,Matthew kick) 8 plays, 86 yards, TOP 03:42
WFU 27, ODU 24
WFU - Banks,Jahmal 4 yd pass from Griffis,Mitch (Dennis,Matthew kick) 2 plays, 6 yards, TOP 00:36
