Wake Forest blows out Oregon State
Chris Barnes only needed three catches to score three touchdowns.
Deshawn Purdie made his first start at Wake Forest and threw those three, plus another one. Demond Claiborne rolled through Oregon State for his third 100-yard game of the season. And Wake’s defense took a shutout into the fourth quarter.
Such was the formula for Wake’s 39-14 victory at Oregon State on Saturday at Reser Stadium.
“Deshawn Purdie gave us an element down the field, that was awesome to see,” coach Jake Dickert said on the post-game radio interview. “Our team just keeps getting better, that’s where I’m proud of these guys.”
Robby Ashford was out with a thumb injury on his right hand. He did not appear to be wearing pads when shown on the TV broadcast.
Purdie completed 14 of 27 passes for 270 yards in his first start for Wake Forest (4-2). Barnes only had those three catches, but they were for 102 yards and three scores. Claiborne racked up 144 yards on 16 carries.
Purdie’s first official pass of the game — there was an incompletion nullified by a penalty on the play before — was a 36-yard touchdown pass to Barnes. It was a dime dropped into the end zone, the speedy Barnes running full speed for the score.
The second touchdown came before the end of the first quarter and was to a more-open receiver.
Micah Mays Jr. got behind the defense on a coverage bust and Purdie hit him for a 52-yard score. That made it a 15-0 lead, as Ty Clark III ran in a 2-point conversion after the first touchdown.
Wake’s third touchdown of the first half was Purdie-to-Barnes again, on an 11-yard slant. That came after Oregon State (0-7) committed pass interference on a third-and-18 to gift the Deacons a first down.
Barnes’ last catch was a 55-yard touchdown behind the defense with 6½ minutes left in the third quarter. That made it 32-0 and effectively put the game on ice.
That was the only third-down conversion of the first three quarters for the Deacons — even though it didn’t go into the official stats as a conversion.
Wake Forest lost its shutout bid when Cornell Hatcher Jr. scored on a 29-yard run with 11:58 left.
If you were concerned about what was a 32-point lead going down to 25 at that point, you had little time to worry. Claiborne cut against the grain for a 66-yard touchdown run on the next snap, scoring Wake’s first fourth-quarter touchdown of the season.
The Beavers added another touchdown with about four minutes left in the game.
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