Wake Forest head coach says he will take last year's Clemson loss to his deathbed

Dave Clawson and the Deacs suffered a tough loss in double overtime to Clemson last year in Winston-Salem. (Photo: Reinhold Matay / USATODAY)

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Oct 04 12:00:10 GMT-04:00 2023

Wake Forest head coach Dave Clawson says there are certain games you never get over, and last season’s double-overtime loss to Clemson is one he will take to his deathbed.

Clemson has won 14 in a row in the series against the Demon Deacons, including a 51-45 shootout into two overtimes in Winston-Salem last season. Sam Hartman threw for 337 yards and six touchdowns to set a program record for Wake Forest.

Wake Forest appeared on the verge of ending its long skid in the series when it pushed near midfield on a potentially winning drive late in regulation. But defensive tackle Tyler Davis stuffed Justice Ellison on a run, then teamed up with linemate Myles Murphy to sack Hartman and eventually force the Demon Deacons to punt for OT. Quarterback DJ Uiagalelei completed a 21-yard touchdown pass to Davis Allen in the second overtime to help secure the win.

Of the previous thirteen games in the series, only one had been decided by less than 14 points, so the game last season was one in which the Demon Deacons thought they had a chance, and Clawson said it’s been painful to watch that game.

“It’s always part of my preparation for games. I always try to watch two whole copies of this year’s game, and I always go back and watch last year’s game if we played the opponent,” Clawson said this week. “I’d say to Dabo, if he’s in pain, then my pain should be worse because they won the game. We hit some big plays on them, but they hit some big plays on us. That was a very good day to be an outside receiver and a very bad day to be a cornerback in press coverage. Their quarterback, DJ (Uiagalelei), played great that day. But we had opportunities to win that game, and we didn’t take advantage of it. We were up eight, and then they tied it up, and then we had the ball with two minutes left. Even in overtime, we went up, and if we get one stop, we win the football game.”

Clawson said it’s a game he will think about right up until the end.

“There are certain games in your career you never, ever get over. That’s one of them,” he said. “When I’m on my deathbed, that game will still bother me. Hopefully, our players feel the same way.”

Wake Forest offensive lineman DeVonte Gordon said the Demon Deacons will enter this Saturday’s fray with a definite chip on their shoulder.

“Oh, yeah, definitely. There's something that we talked about as a unit, just remembering that feeling in the locker room that we left too many things out to chance,” Gordon said. “And yes, it was an offensive shootout, but at the same time, there's some conversions that they made that could have flipped the whole game and just be able to create turnovers in certain situations where we were just trying to make a big hit.

“The point of the game is the ball and the ball only. So something that we have a chip on our shoulder about going into this year. And knowing how it was in 2021 last time we were there, I felt like that we owe it to him and something that everyone's going to be looking forward to this week.”