Hurricane Matthew brought rain and wind to last year’s Syracuse-Wake Forest game, combining with WFU’s defense that disrupted Syracuse’s offense, holding SU to only nine points in Winston-Salem. Syracuse lost, 28-9, but enters Saturday’s game as a team that’s improved over the past year. SU players have repeatedly said that bowl eligibility has never felt this close with three games to play.

With two more wins, the Orange (4-5, 2-3 Atlantic Coast) can ensure it will play its first bowl game in four years. In its way sits a road game at Louisville, a surging Boston College team at the end of the month and a home game this Saturday against Wake Forest (5-4, 2-3), which is only one victory away from ensuring bowl eligibility of its own.

While Syracuse has made strides this season, WFU is “playing better in every single way,” head coach Dave Clawson said Wednesday afternoon on the ACC coaches’ teleconference.

“We’re better. We’re certainly a lot more competitive against the better teams on our schedule,” Clawson said. “We’re in them. We need to figure out ways to win them … We feel comfortable that when we spread it and when teams spread it with us, we run it. We are a really, really improved unit on offense across the board. Our QBs and receivers are playing better.”

Two of Wake Forest’s four losses have come to defending national champion and No. 4 Clemson, as well as No. 3 Notre Dame. Both came on the road. WFU’s offense, backed by senior quarterback John Wolford, scored more points (37) against Notre Dame last week than any other team has this season. The Irish (8-1) won the game, 48-37.

In Week 2, the Demon Deacons pounded Boston College, 34-10, on the road. WFU lost to Florida State by only one touchdown and Clemson and Georgia Tech by 14 points apiece. Last month, WFU beat Louisville at home. Meanwhile, Syracuse has not lost a game by more two possessions this season, either.

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It is clear, both Clawson and SU head coach Dino Babers said this week, that the Demon Deacons and Orange are considerably better than the teams that matched up last October. Both have faced brutal schedules against top teams on the road, yet neither has gotten blown out all year.

“Syracuse is a much-improved football team,” Clawson said. “They’re playing extremely fast. They have two receivers (Steve Ishmael and Ervin Philips) putting up video game numbers. They’re improved in every aspect of their program.”

Wake Forest went 3-9 in both 2014 and 2015 and lost to SU both years. In 2016, Clawson led the Demon Deacons to a three-possession win over Syracuse and the program’s first bowl game in eight years, beating Temple 34-26 in the Military Bowl. Now, he has the Demon Deacons eyeing a second straight bowl game with a win over Syracuse.

Syracuse kicks off against Wake Forest on Saturday at 3 p.m. inside the Carrier Dome.

Additional notes:

• WFU’s run defense is 108th in the country (205.6 yards allowed per game). Babers said those numbers are inflated because the Demon Deacons recently played quality run teams in Notre Dame and Georgia Tech. “They’re going to stop the run, there’s no doubt about it,” Babers said.
• Babers on backup quarterback Zack Mahoney, who went 7-for-12 with 36 yards passing against Florida State: “Zack has backed up Dungey for maybe the last three to four years, and he’s done a really good job at it.”
• Sophomore defensive lineman Kendall Coleman is not fully recovered from an injury he sustained in Week 4, Babers said. While Coleman played against FSU, “his condition bothered him in that game.”
• Babers on SU’s run defense, which ranks 38th in the country and faces a balanced WFU attack this week: “I think that we’re good in the run. I think we can hold our own.”
• Clawson on Syracuse: “Ishmael and Philips are probably as dynamic as any one-two combination that you see.”
• “We’re going into a very hostile environment,” said WFU redshirt senior tight end Cam Serigne, who caught four passes for 68 yards last year against Syracuse. “They play really fast on offense and they have a solid defense.”

Published on November 8, 2017 at 5:00 pm

Contact Matthew: [email protected] | @MatthewGut21