USU football week 1: Wake Forest preview
Last season, Wake Forest gave up a lot of points to some not very good teams. Wake Forest also surrendered many points to very good teams. Overall, the Demon Deacons allowed opponents to score an average of 34.4 points per game, which ranked 102nd in the nation. As many already know, Utah State averaged 47.5 points per game last season. Second most in the nation, only behind Oklahoma.
Senior Essang Bassey was a second-team All-ACC defensive back this past season, and will hold down the secondary for the Demon Deacons. However, it is still likely the Aggies will be able to navigate through the coverages presented. As a whole, the team’s defense was one of the worst statistically in the nation last season, in the run game and the pass. Which on paper, hands Utah State’s offense the advantage if the players can replicate its explosive nature from last season.
“Our offense can do the exact same things [as last year], even better. Just with the offense, our tempo and high-speed offense is hard for defenses to stop it, especially when we get going,” junior quarterback Jordan Love said. “The main thing for us is to just get that first play, that initial first down. That’s when we start rolling. That’s one area we just have to keep getting better at is taking the field and getting that initial first down and just letting the offense handle itself and continue to make plays.”
Wake Forest, simply put, was decent on offense last season. The team ran the most plays per game in the nation, put up 31.3 points per game and averaged in the top 30 for yards per game. Somehow, Wake Forest gave up three more points per game than it scored and still managed to win seven games and beat a decent Memphis team in its bowl game. The defense was just as average last season as the offense and that is one of the major flaws that Wake Forest faces. It’s hard to find a bright spot on either side that looks like a potential matchup to exploit against Utah State.
Here’s the positive. Wake Forest has a lot of talent.
“We’ll have our hands full on both sides of the ball. They have a talented quarterback in Jamie Newman. He does a lot of good things, he likes contact, likes to run and he’s a physical, tough-minded guy,” Utah State head coach Gary Andersen said. “The whole football team carries themselves that way, as far as tough guys who love to go out and compete and keep battling, which was evident in the bowl game.”
Photo by the Utah Statesman
Redshirt junior quarterback Jamie Newman was named the starter not too long ago, and could be the most consistent option on the team. Newman took over at the end of last season, when freshman starter Sam Hartman went down with a leg injury. In four games, Newman went 3-1 and threw for over 1,000 yards and nine touchdowns, in addition to 247 yards on the ground and four touchdowns. Wake brings back its leading rusher from last season, senior Cade Carney, who was a 1,000-yard man this past season and one of the consistent bright spots on that side of the ball.
With the loss of leading receiver Greg Dortch, who declared for the NFL draft following last season, the Deacons lack some experience, but have a good amount of upperclassmen to choose from, as well as some uber talented freshman. If Utah State is thin at any position on defense, it would be the secondary, and it could be an area for Wake Forest to exploit.
“This will be a big test, especially with all of the run-pass option plays, and taking those shots down the field,” Andersen said. “They’re going to have a height advantage in that situation when you have those tall wide receivers. They do a nice job of creating some formations that don’t let you disguise much. You have to show your hands and it goes back to the coaches over there. That will be a challenge and I’m excited to see how our guys will match up against them.”
The Aggies this past season allowed more passing yards than most people would probably imagine based on how dominant the team was for most of the season. Even with three all-conference level senior safeties in 2018, Utah State still gave up 249.9 passing yards per game, 93rd worst in the nation. But impressively, juxtaposed with a very low completion percent against (54.76%) and the most takeovers per game in the nation last season, shows just how explosive and instinctive this defense can be.
Two years ago, Utah State went to Winston-Salem and was torn apart on defense. The Aggies lost 46-10 and allowed 588 total yards of offense. Senior defensive lineman Devon Anderson is one a handful of remaining Aggies that played in that game.
“They did a lot of things well that game, and they out-schemed us. When we tried to blitz on the run, the runner would go to the opposite side,” Anderson said. “They did a lot of RPOs; the first play I remember was an RPO for a touchdown. Our safety got his eyes caught in the backfield and they scored. It was a lot of points in a short period of time.”
A different team, a different coaching staff and growth in both programs are just a few things that have changed in the time since the past meeting; the final score is most likely to follow that trend.
Twitter: @dren_sports