Duke puts up 49 points on mistake-prone Wake Forest
DURHAM – Duke kept alive its chances for an ACC championship game berth. Wake Forest played its worst defensive game of the season and committed four turnovers.
That’s how the Blue Devils came away with a 49-32 win against visiting Wake Forest on Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium.
Duke (7-5, 6-2 ACC) can reach the ACC championship game if either Virginia Tech beats Virginia, or if California beats SMU. Both games had nighttime starts Saturday.
Wake Forest (8-4, 5-3) is headed to a bowl game, obviously, with a great first season under coach Jake Dickert. But it ended with the Deacons giving up 42 points, matching a season high (at Florida State), and losing the turnover battle 4-0. Wake Forest also had eight penalties for 97 yards.
There wasn’t a first down in the second half until Darian Mensah’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Sahmir Hagans. That was after Wake Forest went three-and-out twice and Duke did once.
Duke was able to get separation on the scoreboard because on Wake’s ensuing possession, Robby Ashford was intercepted by DaShawn Stone. The Blue Devils drove it 66 yards in eight plays, capped by Anderson Castle’s second touchdown run of the game, to go up 35-17.
That was the first of four touchdowns scored in less than 10 minutes of game time, spanning the third and fourth quarters. Wake Forest kept coming with a 10-yard touchdown by Ashford and a 1-yard touchdown by Ty Clark III.
In between those was an 80-yard kickoff return by Sahmir Hagans, followed by Nate Sheppard’s 13-yard touchdown.
Clark’s touchdown occurred with 11:13 left in the game and were the last points scored until Jeremiah Hasley’s 11-yard touchdown pass on fourth down with 26 seconds left.
In between those touchdowns, Demond Claiborne lost a fumble — his second of the game — and Ashford lost a strip-sack.
These teams scored on each of their first two possessions — the 14-10 difference was because Wake Forest stalled for a 42-yard field goal on its first drive.
Duke’s first two drives went 75 yards for touchdowns. They were aided by 58 yards of penalties against Wake’s defense. Nate Sheppard pinballed behind the line of scrimmage and broke through a 5-yard run on the first touchdown; Mensah scrambled and scored on a third-and-goal from the 4-yard line for the second touchdown.
Wake’s first touchdown was a 23-yard strike from Ashford to Sawyer Racanelli on a third-and-9.
Duke pushed the lead to 21-10 inside the 2-minute break, Anderson Castle punching in a 1-yard touchdown. That was set up by a 16-yard catch by Que’Sean Brown on third-and-7. It was a 34-yard touchdown drive after the Blue Devils stuffed a fourth-down run by Ashford.
The Deacons answered with an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to narrow the halftime score to 21-17. The key play on that drive was a 13-yard pass to Racanelli on fourth-and-3 from near midfield. A few plays later, Ashford found Karate Brenson for a 20-yard touchdown pass.
At halftime, both teams had run 36 plays. Wake Forest had a 225-175 advantage in yards of offense. The difference on the scoreboard could be explained by the 58 yards of penalties early, plus the turnover and failed fourth down attempt.
