Wake Forest Hoping For a Palate Cleanser

Jake Dickert gets his first experience with Lane Stadium and the home stadium advantage that Virginia Tech has this weekend. And not a moment too soon. After missed calls and missed plays in last week’s overtime loss to Georgia Tech, Wake Forest is hoping for a palate cleanser and its first ACC win of the season.

Wake Forest Hoping For a Palate Cleanser

Wake goes into Blacksburg 2-2 on the season but 0-2 in conference play. Virginia Tech is 2-3 overall. But the Hokies are 2-0 under interim head coach Philip Montgomery. He took over after Brent Pry was fired following a blowout loss to Old Dominion. They have beaten Wofford and North Carolina State over the last weeks. In the win over North Carolina State, VA Tech quarterback Kyron Drones threw for 177 yards and two touchdowns. The real difference in the game was the rushing of running back Terion Stewart, who had 174 yards on just 15 carries. The Hokies’ defense held NC State to just 299 yards of total offense.

Dickert can empathize with Montgomery’s interim status. Dickert took over as interim coach at Washington State when Nick Rolovich was fired in October of 2021. A month later, he was given the job on a permanent basis. He stayed in Pullman until last December, when he took the Wake Forest job.

Dickert and Montgomery have crossed paths before. Dickert was an assistant at Wyoming when the Cowboys traveled to Tulsa in 2019 to play the Golden Hurricane, coached by Montgomery. “Situations like this can either bond or break your team,” Dickert said earlier this week. “Virginia Tech right now has been galvanized.”

Following the firing of Pry, VA Tech lost EDGE rusher Keyshawn Burgos. He opted to shut down his season in order to save his redshirt year and eligibility.

Looking For a Complete Game

Wake is still looking for a full four quarters of quality play. The Deacs have yet to score a touchdown in the fourth quarter this season. And in the two ACC games, they have been 34-6 in the second half. That Wake is +40 in first half scoring margin, but is only 2-2 says all there is about the second half of the games.

Are teams making better halftime adjustments than Wake is? Or are they executing those adjustments better? Dickert said in this day and age, that is an overblown concept. The adjustments need to come with immediacy, and they need to be correct. “The halftime adjustment thing is a little overrated,” he said. “You’ve got the iPads [on the sidelines throughout the game]. You’d better be adjusting for 60 minutes. He said Wake has been lacking the knockout punch. The Deacs had a 20-3 lead early in the third quarter against Georgia Tech, but could not put the Yellow Jackets away.

After being dealt physical blows last week, Wake Forest running back Demond Claiborne and quarterback Robby Ashford are both listed as probable for this game.

Montgomery and Ashford

Montgomery is more than familiar with the Deacs quarterback. He was Ashford’s quarterback coach and offensive coordinator at Auburn in 2023. “He’s very, very talented,” Montgomery said. “In and out of cuts, and he’s had a lot of explosive runs up to this point. And so we’ve got to do a good job of not only getting a lot of hats to the ball, but making sure we’re getting him on the ground.”

With the VA Tech schedule to this point in the season, the Hokies have a lot of experience against mobile quarterbacks. They played South Carolina and LaNorris Sellers, Vanderbilt and Diego Pavia, and North Carolina State with CJ Bailey.

Bailey had the biggest passing numbers of the three against VA Tech. The NC State quarterback was 26 of 34 for 240 yards and two touchdowns. Pavia had good numbers on the ground against VA Tech with 11 rushes for 61 yards.

Ashford is only completing passes at a 59% rate. He has just under 1,000 yards with one touchdown pass and three interceptions. But he does have 211 rushing yards with four touchdowns on the ground. “With Robby, he’s got such a burst about him,” Montgomery said this week. “He can go from standing still to 100 miles an hour pretty quick.” Montgomery said quarterbacks like Ashford are at their most dangerous when they get outside of containment in order to extend plays.

Personnel

With both schools having to send their player availability reports to the conference office on Thursday, there is little news to be made from Wake Forest other than Claiborne and Ashford being listed as probable.

Claiborne had to leave the game after his overtime touchdown run, clearly favoring the left side of his upper body, where he previously suffered bruised ribs in week one. Ashford injured his knee on the first drive of the third quarter. He came back into the game but was clearly favoring the right leg.

VA Tech gets back a player who Wake fans know all so well. Receiver Donavon Greene had to leave the NC State game after suffering an undisclosed injury. He is on this week’s list as probable. The fifth-year senior has 12 catches on the season for the Hokies for 222 yards and two touchdowns.