Clemson rolls past Wake Forest

Wake Forest made another trip to Clemson that took four hours to arrive and four days to get back home.

Or so it seemed after the Tigers beat the Deacons just about every way possible in a 38-3 drubbing in front of 72,000 at Memorial Stadium, all yelling for blood.

"It's a long bus ride -- especially when you play like that," defensive tackle John Russell said.

In hindsight the Deacons should have embarked for home at halftime, and beaten the traffic. Clemson scored two touchdowns and a field goal on its first four possessions, extended the lead to 24-3 on a 66-yard burst by C.J. Spiller and then pushed across a back-breaking touchdown just before halftime for a 31-3 lead.

With Riley Skinner experiencing a rare off game, the Deacons had no answer. Skinner, Wake Forest's all-time leader in passing yards and the ACC's all-time leader in completion percentage, completed 11 of 24 passes for 82 yards, was intercepted twice and sacked five times.

Wake Forest fell to 4-3 and 2-2 in the ACC. Clemson is 3-3 and 2-2.

"We kind of let their momentum build without making enough big plays to slow their momentum down," Skinner said. "It's a disappointing day."

Clemson, which had two weeks to get prepared for a game it desperately needed, outgained the Deacons 382 yards to 178. Spiller rushed nine times for 106 yards and two touchdowns, and Kyle Parker, a freshman quarterback who had struggled through the Tigers' first five games, was 10 of 17 passing for 132 yards and a touchdown and rushed seven times for 31 yards and a touchdown.

The game started badly for the Deacons when Cline Beam popped up the opening kickoff that set the Tigers' up for a short 46-yard touchdown march.

"It was supposed to be a sky kick, but he got under it too much," Coach Jim Grobe said. "It looked to be a surprise on-side, but it surprised all of us."

And the going didn't get much better when Parker hit Jacoby Ford for a 51-yard pass that set up Parker's 3-yard touchdown run for a 17-0 lead.

"We didn't come into the game like they came into the game," cornerback Brandon Ghee said. "They came in like they had to win. We didn't come in like we had to win. We came in passive and they bit us in the butt.

"I ain't got nothing to say about it."

For the Deacons, the game was way too similar to the game here in 2007 when they were blasted 44-10 in what was at the time the second-most lopsided loss Grobe has experienced at Wake Forest. Yesterday's loss eclipsed that game, and it stands as the worst defeat Grobe has had at Wake Forest other than the 52-7 setback at Miami in 2004.

"The last two trips down here we've really been worn out," Grobe said.

Wake Forest had two chances to make a game of it, once when they drove to the Tigers' 25 late in the first quarter and again when they had a second-and-goal at the 1.

Skinner squandered the first opportunity by throwing a pass across the middle that was intercepted by DeAndre McDaniel and returned 26 yards.

"It was definitely a bad decision," Skinner said. "I wish I could have that back."

The drive to the Tigers 1 was stymied when a holding call left Wake Forest with a third-and-11 and Skinner missed a short pass to fullback Mike Rinfrette in the left flat. The Deacons settled for a 28-yard field goal by Jimmy Newman that left them trailing 17-3.

"I'm probably going to lose sleep over that throw," Skinner said. "I going to make that one nine out of 10 times. It was a bad throw."

The rest of the first half wasn't easy for Grobe to watch. Spiller cut through the middle and outraced the pursuit for a 66-yard touchdown and the Tigers needed less than a minute and a half to storm 40 yards for a 3-yard touchdown by Jamie Harper that extended the lead to 31-3.

"I think our players need to understand that we expect good hard, smart play all the time regardless of what the score is," Grobe said. "I think we kind of lost our way a little bit.

"Somewhere there in the second quarter I think we kind of panicked a little bit and we can't do that."

dcollins@wsjournal.com.

727-7323

Wake Forest 0 3 0 0 -- 3
Clemson 10 21 7 0 -- 38

First Quarter

Clemson--Palmer 1 pass from Parker (Jackson kick), 12:26.

Clemson--FG Jackson 22, 3:34.

Second Quarter

Clemson--Parker 3 run (Jackson kick), 12:20.

WFU--FG Newman 28, 3:49.

Clemson--Spiller 66 run (Jackson kick), 3:37.

Clemson--Harper 3 run (Jackson kick), 1:06.

Third Quarter

Clemson--Spiller 14 run (Jackson kick), 6:11.

A--72,000.

TEAM STATISTICS

WFU Clemson

First downs 13 16

Rushes-yards 44-81 33-195

Passing 97 187

Comp-Att-Int 12-26-2 15-24-0

Return Yards 6 38

Punts-Avg. 9-36.9 6-38.3

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-2

Penalties-Yards 6-55 2-20

Time of Possession 35:57 24:03

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Wake Forest, W.Dixon 8-35, Adams 9-26, Pendergrass 7-21, Bohanon 2-11, Rinfrette 5-8, Brown 1-0, Ma.Williams 1-0, McManus 1-(minus 1), Givens 3-(minus 7), Skinner 7-(minus 12). Clemson, Spiller 9-106, Ellington 2-34, Parker 7-31, Harper 3-13, Diehl 2-5, J.Ford 1-4, Taylor 2-3, Korn 6-3, Team 1-(minus 4).

PASSING--Wake Forest, Skinner 11-24-2-82, Ma.Williams 1-1-0-15, McManus 0-1-0-0. Clemson, Parker 10-17-0-132, Korn 4-6-0-23, J.Ford 1-1-0-32.

RECEIVING--Wake Forest, Brown 3-22, Ma.Williams 2-13, Adams 2-11, Givens 1-16, Skinner 1-15, Ford 1-9, Bohanon 1-7, Rinfrette 1-4. Clemson, Palmer 4-49, Ashe 2-16, Harper 2-15, Spiller 2-6, J.Ford 1-51, Dye 1-32, Allen 1-10, Br.Clear 1-6, Jones 1-2.