Opponent Preview: What to know about Wake Forest

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After its final home game of the season, a 38-3 hammering by Florida State, Syracuse heads to its first of two road games to finish off the regular season. With a bowl game clinched following their sixth win a month ago, the Orange have slid to 6-4. Wake Forest, SU’s next opponent, is suffering from a similar late-season decline after an explosive start helped it to No. 10 in the AP Poll.

While Garrett Shrader returned as the starting quarterback against FSU, he was ineffective in an offense that has now gone two straight games without a touchdown. After the FSU loss, head coach Dino Babers said that the team went into “deep meetings,” but reaffirmed that there wouldn’t be a change in Robert Anae’s play calling.

The Demon Deacons are coming off a close loss to No. 13 North Carolina in which Sam Hartman threw for 320 yards and four touchdowns. SU’s defense, which has impressed nationally and throughout the Atlantic Coast Conference, will be tested against one of the best offenses in the conference.

Here’s everything you need to know about Wake Forest:

All-time series

Syracuse leads 6-5.

Last time they played

Last year, Syracuse welcomed an undefeated No. 19 Wake Forest team to the Dome in hopes of rebounding from a three-point loss to Florida State. After the Demon Deacons converted on a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter, they stood ahead of the Orange by a touchdown. Then, with 2:21 left and beginning at its own 6-yard line, Syracuse orchestrated a drive down the field that culminated with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Garrett Shrader to Sean Tucker.

Though Syracuse scored first in overtime, it was by a 38-yard field goal, giving Wake Forest the ball on the 25-yard line. On the second play of the possession, quarterback Sam Hartman rifled a 22-yard pass to the back of the endzone that found A.T. Perry for the win. Despite totaling 514 yards of total offense and Sean Tucker rushing for 153 yards and two touchdowns, Syracuse dropped its second straight game by just three points.

Helped by Shrader, SU ran for 353 yards, its most since 2014. But Hartman tossed for 330 yards and four total touchdowns — one rushing — that led Wake Forest to the win. It was the third-most points Syracuse allowed on the season.

The Demon Deacons report

Wake Forest weathered through Sam Hartman’s month-long absence due to a blood clot at the beginning of the season en route to a 6-1 start. The Demon Deacons burst into the top 10 as their only loss was in double-overtime to Clemson. But three weeks ago at Louisville, Wake Forest turned the ball over six times in the third quarter and allowed the Cardinals to rack up 35 points in just 15 minutes. After that, the Demon Deacons allowed 13 second half points in a road loss to then-No. 21 NC State and dropped a thrilling game against then-No. 15 North Carolina.

While recording 29 total touchdowns and 2,788 total yards, Hartman has also thrown 10 interceptions. The Demon Deacons have the second-best offensive efficiency in the ACC, the second-most passing touchdowns in the league and three receivers with at least 499 yards.

Defensively, Wake Forest is struggling under first-year defensive coordinator Brad Lambert. The unit allows 394 yards per game (252.6 from the air) and has given up at least 30 points five times this season. They have 24 sacks for a total loss of 169 yards and have recorded five interceptions, but the defense hasn’t really had consistent success since its first three games.

How Syracuse beats Wake Forest

If the Orange can get back to their success from the air that they had throughout the first six games of the season, they might be able to take down the Demon Deacons in Winston-Salem. Shrader said on Tuesday that he’s felt better physically than he has in a while, but he looked abysmal in the loss against then-No. 25 Florida State. Receivers, specifically Oronde Gadsden III, have faded from their shooting-star starts to the season, rendered ineffective despite a flurry of targets.

The offense has seemed stagnant, and the playcalling lacks the creativity it did when SU was rolling to 6-0. Babers has said over the last few weeks that Syracuse needs to get back to what its strengths were — Sean Tucker, Gadsden and a healthy Shrader. So if the Orange want to overcome a seemingly daunting task on the road against a team also in the midst of a breakdown, they need to be successful from the air.

This is a bait game for Anae, however, who historically leans away from the run game throughout the season. If Shrader isn’t working and the offense isn’t humming like it should, Tucker needs to be an integral part of in-game adjustments.

Stat to know: 50

Wake Forest is manned by Dave Clawson, who’s been a head coach at Bowling Green and with the Demon Deacons since 2014. His team is one of the least-penalized teams in the country, having committed only 50 penalties thus far. Averaging just five penalties a game has allowed Wake Forest to eke out close wins.

In contrast, Syracuse, who set the program record for number of penalties in a single game with 18 against Louisville, has 84, one of the worst marks in the nation. At first, the excuse was that the offensive line was getting used to new positions and more pre-snap motion. But the Orange committed 10 penalties for a total of 72 penalty yards against Florida State.

Megan Thompson | Digital Design Director

Player to watch: Ryan Smenda Jr., Linebacker, No. 5

The senior has become a staple of the second level of Wake Forest’s defense over the last four years. He was second on the team in total tackles last year and has 329 in his career. Currently, he leads a struggling defensive unit with 91 total tackles, six quarterback hurries and two pass breakups.

The Orange are going to have to avoid Smenda, the 6-foot-2, 235 lb linebacker. Players like Devaughn Cooper and Trebor Pena have made a living this year off short passes across the middle of the field, and Shrader has relied on check-down passes to them and Tucker in the flat. Smenda proves to be a formidable matchup for a skill position group that is quickly losing its footing.