Liberty (2-0) will be heading to Winston Salem, North Carolina this weekend for the third time in program history as the Flames prepare to take on No. 18 Wake Forest (2-0). Liberty is looking to start 3-0 for the third consecutive season, something which has never happened previously in program history.
The Flames will be seeking their first-ever win over the Demon Deacons after suffering previous losses in Winston-Salem in 2006 and 2012. Both of those games were played in the first season for a new Liberty head coach.
Danny Rocco and the Flames lost to Wake in 2006, 34-14, and in 2012 Turner Gill’s Flames fell, 20-17, in his Liberty debut. The Flames led the most recent meeting that was a decade ago, 14-7, late in the third quarter before the home-standing Deacons scored two touchdowns to take the lead for good. Liberty outgained the Demon Deacons, 363-293, for the game but were unable to spring the upset.
Both teams are much improved since that last meeting though. Liberty has made the move from the FCS ranks to the FBS where they have won a bowl game in each of the program’s first three seasons of being bowl eligible. Meanwhile, Wake Forest is coming off arguably their best season in school history where they finished 11-3 and won the Gator Bowl after falling in the ACC Championship Game.
Ninth year head coach Dave Clawson welcomes back most of his returning production from that team, and Wake has their sights set on another ACC Championship Game appearance. Clawson, who is 53-48 during his time in Winston Salem, was named the 2021 ACC Coach of the Year.
“Coach Clawson, I’ve had great respect for him, the way he does things,” said Liberty head coach Hugh Freeze. “He’s a winner.”
Wake Forest is led by quarterback Sam Hartman who has thrown for nearly 10,000 yards in his career. Last season, the 6’1″ Hartman completed 299 of 508 passes for 4,228 yards, 39 touchdowns and 14 interceptions while also rushing for 363 yards and 11 more scores. Hartman had a scare late during training camp where he was forced to miss the team’s first game of the year after being diagnosed with a rare condition known as Paget-Schroetter syndrome. He was cleared to play last Saturday at Vanderbilt where he completed 18 of 27 passes for 300 yards and 4 touchdowns while also rushing 6 times for 12 yards.
He has helped guide one of the most explosive offenses in the country over the past couple of seasons. The Demon Deacons utilize an RPO system known as the slow mesh. Whereas the typical RPO lasts about 1 second from the quarterback’s read to decision, Wake Forest’s average RPO lasts closer to 2.5 seconds.
“I’m really intrigued by it truthfully and kind of jealous that I haven’t studied it more to see if it’s something I might want to do some,” said Freeze. “It’s just really odd. Their run game, when they are in that mode, obviously they have other modes too, but man this idea of never blocking linebackers and just really being patient on the line of scrimmage and let your running backs who are really shifty misfit it. Throwing the ball from one yard from where he took the snap. It is a challenge for us. We started working on it this morning. Just to get our service guys to do it the right way is a challenge. No one has stopped them. It’s obviously effective. It’s very difficult. It’s hard for me to feel great sitting here on Monday that we’re going to do a great job in preparing properly for it.”
Hartman has plenty of weapons at his disposal led by wide receivers A.T. Perry and Donavon Greene. The 6’5″ Perry hauled in 5 passes for 142 yards and a touchdown last week in Nashville. He was first-team all-ACC last year after setting the Wake Forest single season record with 15 touchdown receptions and racking up 1,293 receiving yards. The 6’2″ Greene has 9 receptions for 116 yards through the first two games of the season.
“What they do offensively is a little different that you don’t see a lot, which gives you problems, particularly when they’ve got a trigger guy like Sam Hartman and two receivers like (Perry) and (Greene) who are as good as you’re going to see,” Freeze continued. “The running backs are very shifty and a veteran offensive line. Offensively, they are a problem. Their tempo, just everything about it. They are averaging a lot of points against a lot of good defenses. We’re not going to stop them, just got to hopefully be stingy in the red zone and make them settle for some field goals and try not to give up too many explosive plays, but they are creating those against almost everybody they play. It’s going to be difficult.”
With the Wake Forest offense running as many plays and putting up as many points as they have in recent seasons, the defense’s numbers don’t look very impressive but that doesn’t mean that Wake Forest doesn’t have a strong unit on that side of the ball. Coach Clawson brought in a veteran voice as defensive coordinator this year in Brad Lambert. He was defensive coordinator for Wake Forest from 2008-2010 before becoming the first head coach of the Charlotte 49ers. He has been defensive coordinator at Marshall and Purdue over the past three seasons.
“Those two inside guys are difficult,” Freeze said of Wake’s defensive line. “They are a problem, and the depth they have there. I think the ends are very, very solid and talented. They don’t jump off the page quite like those inside guys do, but that doesn’t mean they’re not really, really good Power Five players. I love the way their defense is on the same page. They are in the right spots. They are smart, intelligent, and tackle well. They are not going to make a mistake and blow some coverage and just give you something. The D-Line, it starts with them, for sure.”
Wake Forest has been incredibly difficult to beat on their home field. The Demon Deacons have won 10 straight at Truist Field which seats 31,500 fans. They haven’t lost at home since falling to No. 1 Clemson on Sept. 12, 2020, and Wake is 16-2 at home over the past four seasons.
PREDICTION
Wake Forest 37, Liberty 24
Line: Liberty +16.5
Picks results this year:
Straight-up: 2-0
ATS: 1-1