When you are the Alabamas and Clemsons of the world your floor in a season is 10 maybe 11 wins. That is only for the elite of the elite programs.
For 95% of college football if your floor is consistently 8 wins then you are probably one of the top 35 programs in college football, maybe even better than that.
That’s where Dave Clawson and Wake Forest find themselves after an 8-5 season that included Friday night’s bowl 27-17 win over Missouri.
Wake Forest just won 8 games, and it might be considered a down season for the Deacs who got ranked as high as #10 after a 6-1 start.
That speaks to the kind of program Dave Clawson has built. Even after a mid-season 3 game losing streak, Clawson keep looking forward, and he had his team ready against a credible Missouri team that gave Georgia its closest game of the year and beat South Carolina.
QB Sam Hartman ends his Wake Forest’s career on a high note with a 280-yard passing 3 TD performance. Wake Forest’s lines were more than up to the task against Missouri giving Hartman time to throw and getting just enough in the running game. Wake Forest’s defense struggled during ACC play but held Missouri to only 355 total yards.
Dave Clawson has this program on such a solid foundation that one can argue no ACC program has gotten more out of its talent than Wake Forest.
What’s life going to be like at Wake Forest after Sam Hartman? We’ll see, but I don’t think Wake Forest is going anywhere.
They are going to continue to be a tough-out and solid program. That’s the foundation Dave Clawson has built.
The win also has the ACC off to a 2-0 bowl start matching the same number of bowl wins they had the previous two years.
A continued strong bowl season would be a welcome result for the ACC.
