Carney paces Wake Forest past Duke

They meet this week in their Atlantic Coast Conference opener after both started their seasons with victories that were nothing alike. This was mostly due to Wake Forest’s defensive pressure and the Duke offense relying on Daniel Jones and the passing game when they were playing from behind.

Carney rushed for 108 yards while becoming the program’s first freshman with a three-TD game since Chris Barclay against Purdue in 2002.

And so here Duke (1-1, 0-1 in the ACC) is, having split a pair of home games and now facing road games on consecutive weekends to Northwestern and Notre Dame. You cannot execute without hard work, but you could also work hard and not execute. The reward for winning a game like this is, the next game becomes more important, ” Clawson said. Cutcliffe commented that the Duke program was at a point where it should be able to play more people and that Duke seemed exhausted at times.

This is all from a Wake Forest offense that failed to gain 200 yards, total, in the win over Tulane. Two of those came against FCS schools and three others were in less-than-inspiring fashion: A 6-3, double-overtime win against Virginia Tech in 2014, a 3-0 win at Boston College a year ago and last week’s 7-3 victory over Tulane.

Durham native Kendall Hinton threw for 133 yards and rushed for 63 more, while Mike Weaver made it a 10-point game by kicking a 34-yard field goal with 3:50 to play.

ABOUT WAKE FOREST (1-0): Winning ugly is nothing new for the Demon Deacons, who finished last in the Bowl Subdivision past year with an average of 216.3 yards per game.

As a team, Duke gained 369 total yards, mostly in the air, and fell 20 yards short of Wake Forest’s 389 (150 passing, 239 rushing). “The result is, it looks a lot like the other games we’ve won here”, head coach Dave Clawson said after the game. Those three empty trips into Wake Forest territory left the score tied at 7-7 at halftime.

“I didn’t think we got into a rhythm quickly enough”, Cutcliffe said. At times they alternated at quarterback, with Wolford even shifting to receiver while Hinton took a snap. So no one could tell him that he was not supposed to run for one hundred and eight yards and three touchdowns.

Across college football, he said, it takes a couple of games for coaching staffs to get a real handle on what their team can do or can’t do.

Duke: An offense that was so efficient last week against an FCS opponent still isn’t anything close to a finished product.

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons (1-0) defeated the Tulane Green Wave, 7-3, last week. “Some of our best players are in the backfield”. His team had the effort necessary to put itself in positions to win, but once the Blue Devils were in those positions, the execution eluded them.

Maybe Wake Forest can start checking out hotel rates and flights for the holidays because in eight of the last 10 years, the victor of the Wake Forest-Duke game has gone to a bowl while the loser stayed home. After forcing Wake Forest’s second punt put the Blue Devils back in business at the Demon Deacons’ 38, but a backward pass turned into a fumble.Duke wasted another chance when AJ Reed’s 30-yard field goal attempt early in the second quarter hit the right upright.

The Blue Devils play their first road game next Saturday against another strong defensive team in Northwestern, and the offensive line will need to improve for Duke to have a chance in what now seems like a must-win game before a September 24 game at No. 18 Notre Dame.