Wake Forest crashes and burns in second half in loss to North Carolina

It took Wake Forest 38 minutes to build a three-touchdown lead at North Carolina on Saturday.

It took about half that time for the lead to crumble and eventually become a 59-53 loss.

Wake Forest (4-3, 3-3 ACC) gave up 35 straight points in less than 19 minutes of the second half, with its defense crashing back to reality after making obvious strides in October’s four wins.

“I just feel like us, as a team on defense, started to lay down a little bit. We didn’t defend the way we wanted to,” redshirt sophomore defensive end JaCorey Johns said. “We were starting to lose our edge. We didn’t come out in the second half the way we did in the first half.”

Wake Forest’s defense wasn’t the only unit that lost its edge in this one.

Wake Forest’s lead was 45-24 after Sam Hartman’s 18-yard touchdown pass to Donavon Greene at the 6:56 mark of the third quarter. In the next five possessions, Wake Forest had two first downs — one via penalty — and a combined 13 yards of offense.

Before that stretch, when the Demon Deacons’ offense was rolling up those 45 points, Wake Forest had 13 plays that gained at least 13 yards.

North Carolina (6-2, 6-2) scored touchdowns on five of its next six possessions, with Sam Howell putting up program records for passing yards (550) and touchdowns (six). The Tar Heels’ rushing attack finally broke loose — North Carolina had 77 rushing yards in the first three quarters and had 115 in the fourth quarter.

Wake Forest’s version of that split is illuminating — the Demon Deacons had 188 rushing yards in the first three quarters, and then had negative-11 in the fourth quarter.

“Good football teams bounce back. That’s our job as coaches and that’s the job of the leadership on our football team,” Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said.

It’ll have to be a recovery from a game that was the Demon Deacons’ for the taking.

This was a cataclysm of Wake Forest’s season, from up three touchdowns to down two touchdowns against an in-state rival. From cementing your status in the top one-third of the ACC to tumbling back into the murky middle.

From disruptor to the ACC hierarchy to also-ran status.

“We made a big investment in this game, two weeks. To be up 21 in the third quarter and not find a way to get it home is really disappointing,” Clawson said.

“It was tough; I’m not really sure what happened. Sam took a couple of sacks back there, which was tough and hurt us,” slot receiver Jaquarii Roberson added. “We thought we had it all figured out and thought it was going to work out in the end.”

Wake Forest seemingly solved its post-off-week woes last season and was 2-0 this year with an extra week.

But a familiar issue coming out of off weeks was again a factor: Wake Forest was missing more players for this game than before it had the extra week of rest.

Wake Forest’s offense had been the healthier of the two units and probably still is, but all of a sudden was missing center Michael Jurgens — causing a shuffle on the offensive line. Greene had a career day — eight catches, 170 yards and two touchdowns — but was injured at some point in the second half.

Safeties Nasir Greer, Luke Masterson and Coby Davis all warmed up; none had an impact. Clawson said Greer played but “didn’t feel right.”

“We thought Luke and Nasir were playing,” Clawson said. “Luke isn’t all the way there, and Nasir went in there and didn’t feel right. So it’s just … we thought we’d have all of those guys back by the bye week.

“We’re not ready yet and we’ve got to figure out what we’re going to do.”

In more ways than one.