Sitting at 4-6, with 3 bowl teams left on the schedule and two of them on the road, it looked like Wake Forest’s 2 year bowl streak was coming to an end.
Wake Forest’s defense had given up more than 35 points in seven straight games. Dave Clawson had worked wonders making Wake Forest competitive the last 2 years, and no-one would have regarded a missed bowl game in 2018 as a major setback.
Someone forgot to tell the Wake Forest football team and Dave Clawson all this. They played their best football at the end of the season winning 3 of their final 4 games of the season. First there was an unexpected win at NC State, then a loss to ACC Coastal Champion Pittsburgh, then a stunning 59-7 win at Duke that got Wake Forest Bowl eligible.
Facing Memphis in the Birmingham Bowl, the game was the epitome of Wake Forest’s season. The Deacs gave up 28 points in the first half, and it didn’t appear they had any chance of stopping the Memphis offense.
Wake Forest held Memphis to 6 points in the 2nd half, and won 37-34 with backup QB Jamie Newman leading the way. That was the game and the epitome of the season for Wake Forest – slow start, adversity, resiliency, and strong finish.
That all starts with Clawson who’s rebuilt Wake Forest the last 3 years. That’s 3 straight bowls wins, 3 straight 7+ win seasons. Dave Clawson has changed the football culture at Wake Forest where bowls games and winning seasons are the expectation not exception. When I look at Wake Forest, I question any ACC fanbase that looks at their program and comes in with a laundry list of excuses why they can’t reach and win bowl games.
No ACC school should ever go more than 1 year without reaching a bowl game. If they do, they are inherently doing something wrong either at head coach, resources, or both.
Wake Forest and Dave Clawson don’t use excuses, and they don’t quit. I get more impressed with Dave Clawson each passing year, and several ACC schools can learn a lot from them.
With a young team this year, there isn’t any reason to think Wake Forest won’t reach a bowl game and possibly exceed this year’s 7 win total next year.
