Boston College @ Wake Forest preview
Truist Field
Last Meeting ( Nov 27, 2021 ) Wake Forest 41, Boston College 10
Two rested teams resume Atlantic Coast Conference play as No. 13 Wake Forest and Boston College come off their bye weeks to meet on Saturday afternoon in Winston-Salem, N.C.
Neither side has played since Oct. 8 when Wake Forest (5-1, 1-1 ACC) beat Army 45-10 while Clemson used three second-half touchdowns to pull away from Boston College (2-4, 1-3) for a 31-3 win.
A Saturday win would mark Wake Forest's 12th straight during the month of October and give it three straight against Boston College for the first time in series history. The Demon Deacons have scored 247 points this season, a program record through six games.
"I don't know if it was a good time or not (for a bye week)," Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said. "In some ways I felt like the last three weeks, we played really good football. And when you're playing well, you don't necessarily want a break."
Before beating Army, the Demon Deacons won at Florida State and took Clemson to double overtime before losing 51-45.
Redshirt junior Sam Hartman, who is the active FBS leader with 88 career touchdown passes, completed 13 of 19 passes for 246 yards and a score against Army. Also accounting for touchdowns were three different rushers (Christian Turner had two TDs), and backup quarterback Mitch Griffis tossed a scoring pass.
"I thought we were really efficient on offense ... and were able to run the football," Clawson said. "That's the key to our offense -- to be balanced and be able to run it against looks at the numbers that run it. When you get outnumbered, you've got to be able to throw it efficiently. We did both of those things."
After the Clemson game, Boston College coach Jeff Hafley estimated that his team's bye week may have come a week too late given the number of injuries that riddled the locker room.
Four of the team's five starting offensive linemen still didn't practice on Tuesday, though Hafley was "hopeful" center Drew Kendall would be able to play this week.
"(The bye week) wasn't as productive as you'd want it to be because we're so banged up," Hafley said. "We got as much work in as we could, then I think we took care of the guys and rested them. ... I believe we're getting better up front, but you'd like to play the same guys every week."
Boston College leads the all-time series 14-12-2 (9-6 since joining the ACC) although Wake Forest captured the past two meetings. Last season, the Demon Deacons won the Atlantic Division title with a 41-10 win in the regular-season finale in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
The Eagles look to continue a trend of the road team winning seven straight meetings in the series. The last game in Winston-Salem was a 41-34 Boston College win in 2018.
"I am proud of the way the guys are fighting," Hafley said. "All we can do is get better and I think we have been, especially in the last two games. We're playing good teams, but we have to go out and take some shots."
--Field Level Media