It's been 791 days since Boston College last faced Wake Forest, an Atlantic Division series that's seen the visitor win each of the last six meetings.
The No. 21 Demon Deacons hit the road this week to play a BC team that could play spoiler. After all, Wake Forest needs a win to clinch a spot in the conference title game.
BC head coach Jeff Hafley heaped praise on Wake Forest's Dave Clawson this week, and, likewise, Clawson gave glowing remarks about Hafley.
Clawson also spoke about BC's improvement on defense and offensive playmakers.
Here's a recap of what he said regarding the Eagles during his weekly press conference.
INTRO
“I certainly have a lot of respect for Coach Hafley. I’ve known him for years. He was a GA at Albany after I was. So there’s a little bit of a connection there with where he started his career. But he’s a very good football coach. He’s done a great job there.”
“You can see his impact on the defense. They’re one of the top defenses in the ACC in terms of total defense, scoring defense. They’re giving up less than 340 yards a game, and they’ve got a number of really good players.”
“On offense, they got their quarterback back. And when Jurkovec starts for them, they’re 5-1. They started out 4-0 and then they won a game with the backup and they got in their meat of the schedule, and since [Jurkovec’s] back, he’s only lost one game.”
“Garwo, their back, is about to go over 1,000 yards. Zay Flowers is one of the most dynamic, explosive receivers in the ACC. The amount of explosive plays and deep balls that he makes is incredible. And BC’s always got a big, physical O-Line, and it’s no different this year.”
“So we’ve gotta go on the road. We know it’s we win one game, and we’re in. And we’re excited to head up there.”
Q: Looking at BC, what are you guys going to have to do to go up there and get the win?
A: “We can’t turn the football over. We’ve gotta execute better in the red zone on offense. We gotta have good balance. And, on defense, we gotta find ways to get stops. We gotta defend the run. We gotta defend the deep ball.” “They’re a team that can run the football extremely well. They’re big, they’re physical. They’ve got good backs. They’ve got a great play-action game. Zay Flowers, and they’ve got some other receivers that can get the ball deep on ya. So we’re going to have to play really well.”
Q: It’s fair to say it’ll be a pretty packed house at BC. How do you feel your team has grown this season playing on the road? “Well, I’d be surprised if it’s a packed house up there. Any time you play on Thanksgiving weekend—when we’re home, on the road—usually these crowds are a little bit less because you don’t have any of the students there. But hopefully there’s a good crowd. We’d love a lot of Wake Forest people to show up.”
A: “We’ve been solid on the road this year, but we haven’t won our last two. And probably the last two games have been the loudest crowds we’ve played in.”
