Dave Clawson, down at Wake Forest, is one of my favorite coaches, because he goes to these places with no resources, and he just wins.
Another big fan of Clawson: UVA Football coach Tony Elliott.
“Since I stepped into this role, I tell you, Dave Clawson has been awesome, just to watch his leadership at the coach’s level in the ACC, with the way he conducts himself, the way he leads meetings,” Elliott told reporters at his weekly presser on Tuesday, in advance of the UVA-Wake game on Saturday night in Winston-Salem.
Clawson got his first job as a head coach at Fordham, which he took from an 0-11 record in 1999 to 10 wins and an FCS playoff berth in 2002, his Year 4 there.
His next stop was Richmond, which went 3-8 in his first season, in 2004, and by Year 4, in 2007, he had the Spiders at 11 wins and an FCS playoff appearance.
Then it was off to Bowling Green, which was still at two wins in his Year 2, in 2010, before he had the program at 10 wins in his final season, in 2013.
Clawson’s first two teams at Wake won three games; his next six played in bowls, and his 2021 squad won 11 games, played in the ACC title game, and won the Gator Bowl.
“You look at what he’s been able to do with that program, the amount of wins in this conference, is up at the top in terms of the last 10 years or so, so for us, I think it’s a program-type of game, because we get to evaluate where we are because they play extremely hard,” Elliott said.
“They’re very, very well-coached. The guys have a lot of confidence. They understand the identity of who they are. And those are all things that we’re trying to establish here,” Elliott said.
Unique option attack poses problems
Wake Forest put up 193 yards on the ground on North Carolina A&T in the 45-13 season-opening win last week.
Clawson and offensive coordinator Warren Ruggerio are using a tough-to-defend zone-read option attack built around grad transfer QB Hank Bachmeier and tailback Demond Claiborne, who rushed for 135 yards on 17 carries in the season opener.
“It’s definitely unique, and they’ve done a really, really good job over the years of being able to create their own niche. It’s built off of a lot of option principles, and then the way that they, their style of play, you’ve got to figure out how to attack it,” Elliott said.
Bachmeier, most recently of Boise State, passed for 263 yards and three TDs in last week’s win.
Bachmeier only ran the ball twice, but in the Wake system, it’s almost like the QB is more a point guard, deciding whether to stuff the ball in the belly of the fullback on a dive, handing off to a tailback, pitching to a wide receiver in motion across the formation, or pulling the ball down and looking downfield at his receivers.
“Really, you want to force the quarterback to become a runner. That’s probably the option that you want the most, because the backs, they do a really good job, they’re slow, slow, once they get the ball, pump, they’re gone, and they can find the creases. They hide in between those big offensive linemen, you can’t find them, and they spit out,” Elliott said.
“Yes, you have to stop the run, but you also have to account for the quarterback, and you’ve got to be in position on the back end so they can’t expose you with big windows for the explosive plays downfield.”
Video: UVA Football Notebook
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Chris Graham
