Wake Forest outschemes, outphysicals Virginia, 37-17

Wake Forest eventually punted. It was 37-17, what turned out to be your final, in the fourth quarter, but they eventually punted.

Otherwise, the Demon Deacons did pretty much what North Carolina did to the Virginia defense last week. Ran the ball through the A and B gaps, got big yards in the passing game through play action.

The Virginia offense was … fine. Brennan Armstrong was over 400 yards passing again, the unit as a whole gained more than 500 on the night.

But where Bronco Mendenhall’s head was with respect to his defense and its shortcomings was clear on the first UVA drive.

After Wake opened with a quick TD drive to go up 7-0 barely two minutes in, Armstrong drove the Cavaliers inside the Deac 5.

That series got to fourth-and-goal. Mendenhall, acknowledging that his defense wasn’t likely to get many stops, went for it, didn’t get it, and that set the ‘Hoos behind the chains from there on.

Two first-half trips inside the 5 netted three points, and Wake led 20-3 at the half.

A pair of Armstrong TD passes got Virginia to 27-17 midway through the third, but that was as close as it would get, on a night that would not reflect well on the program in many respects.

The defense, which gave up 699 yards in the 59-39 loss to UNC a week ago, gave up 473 in this one, though it felt like more, with the Wake running game gashing UVA for 203 yards on the ground.

The offense, again, was … fine, but mistake-prone: the aforementioned two trips inside the 5 that resulted in three points, three failed fourth-down conversions, two fourth-quarter turnovers.

And then there was the lack of fans, again – just over 38,000 showing up for the nationally-televised contest, leaving more than 23,000 empties for the ESPN2 cameras.

The night was a step back for a program that came into the game still with a chance to defend its 2019 Coastal Division title, and left with its second straight 20-point defeat, and the likelihood of more thousands of empties in Scott Stadium for the foreseeable future.

Story by Chris Graham