Utah State Aggies Dispatch Wake Forest Demon Deacons 36-24

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons went out to Logan, Utah looking for meaning. They came back trying to answer the same questions they were asking when they left. Wake lost to the Utah State Aggies 36-24 because they were once again unable to produce offense, and the defense cracked just enough for a couple big plays that decided the game.

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The first quarter was fascinating enough as the teams proceeded to throw pick sixes to each other. The second quarter ramped up the craziness by having the Aggies score on a fumble recovery and a trick play. Finally, with around five minutes to go in the first half, Utah State quarterback Chuckie Keeton threw a six yard pass for a normal enough touchdown. At the half it looked like the Aggies were in good shape at 29-7.

In the second half, Wake put the game in the hands of John Wolford. Wolford responded with two touchdown passes to bring the game to within one score at 29-21. That was as close as it got as the Aggies responded with their own score before the third quarter was over. The fourth quarter saw nothing gained by either side.

Play of the Game

The Aggies’ Ronald Butler pulled off the wide receiver pass down to Jojo Natson for the trick play score that gave Utah State the lead at 14-7. The Aggies would never trail again, or do anything as offensively interesting again.

Were You There When…

Wolford fumbled in the second quarter. It was one of those ‘was his arm going forward’ situations, and even Utah State defensive back Devin Centers was uncertain what to do with the ball when he picked it up. His teammates encouraged him to the end zone, and so the son of former NFL fullback Larry Centers took it to the house. Then the play was reviewed and the call stood. It was definitely one of those ‘What the heck just happened?” moments.

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Canes Warning

I Want Him on My Team

Alex Kinal, P

Kinal, the former Australian rules football kicker, played his part for a Wake Forest offense that could not move the ball any other way for most of the game. He averaged 47 yards per punt with a long of 65 yards. Note: I tried to find defense stats, but they were not up yet. I also wanted to avoid pciking Brandon Chubb every week.

Final Thoughts

Wake Forest learned that it still has work to do. It also learned that it can stage a comeback, and tying to harness that desperation and focus and putting to use early in games will be key to the future. Their division got a lot harder today, with State dumping USF and Boston College beating USC. They get one more game to sort it out, Army, but then conference play will hit like a ton of bricks- red Lousiville Cardinal bricks.