SMU Let Third Down Become Wake Forest’s Route to a Rout

Third-and-18 is usually where a defense gets a chance to reset the possession. Against Wake Forest, it became a 27-yard touchdown.

Ty Clark III’s 27-yard touchdown run from the SMU 27 turned a long-yardage situation into the opening score. It was the first sign that Saturday would be decided by the downs SMU needed to finish and could not.

Wake Forest went on to beat SMU 49–7 at Gerald J. Ford Stadium, taking a 42–0 lead into halftime. Four first-half touchdowns came on third down. The repeated failures mattered more than any single mistake: SMU had opportunities to force another decision, another kick or another possession change, and Wake kept reaching the end zone instead.

Wake converted 10 of 15 third downs. SMU converted 3 of 14. Those figures describe the afternoon more honestly than a single turnover or a quarterback rating. A defense can give up an occasional explosive play and recover. It cannot keep allowing third down to become the most comfortable part of the opponent’s drive.

Clark’s touchdown came on third-and-18 from the SMU 27 after Wake had been pushed backward. Later in the first half, Jamar Searcy scored on third-and-goal from the SMU 6, gaining the six yards required. Gio Lopez then converted third-and-goal from the SMU 5 with a five-yard rushing touchdown.

Lopez did it again on Wake’s fourth third-down touchdown of the half, scoring from five yards on third-and-goal.

The situations differed, which made the pattern harder to dismiss. The first demanded an answer in space against a long run. The other three came near the goal line, where the field is compressed and every gap becomes more important. Wake found the required yardage each time. SMU did not.

The fourth-down sequence added another layer to the same problem. Wake faced fourth-and-1 at the SMU 39 in the second quarter and gave the ball to Searcy. He broke through for 38 yards, reaching the SMU 1.

Deuce Lawrence scored on the next play. A short-yardage stop would have ended the possession; instead, one missed opportunity moved Wake from a decision point to an almost certain touchdown.

Wake deserves full credit for making those situations hurt. The Demon Deacons finished with 535 yards, including 286 on the ground, and used their running game to keep asking SMU to tackle and communicate under pressure. Clark ran for 77 yards and a touchdown, Searcy added 44 rushing yards and a score, and Lopez accounted for two rushing touchdowns.

The opponent was 9–1 after the victory, and nothing about the performance suggested a fluke built around the opening run.

SMU’s offense gave its defense little margin. The Mustangs managed 275 yards, 66 rushing yards and three turnovers. Christian Rhodes fumbled at the SMU 21 in the second quarter, and Wake turned that short field into a touchdown.

The Mustangs also reached the Wake 2 late in the half after a 73-yard drive, but an incomplete pass on fourth-and-goal ended the possession without points. A team already trailing 42–0 could hardly afford to leave that kind of drive unfinished, though the game had been tilted long before then.

Kevin Jennings should not absorb the entire defeat. He completed 22 of 35 passes for 209 yards, one touchdown and one interception, with much of the passing production coming after Wake had already built its enormous lead. The offense was ineffective early, but making Jennings the sole explanation would ignore the defensive sequence that made the game uncompetitive before halftime.

There was a small response after the break. SMU drove 50 yards in the third quarter and scored on Jennings’ 19-yard pass to Yannick Smith. The Mustangs also moved the ball on a few later possessions, but Wake had already turned the game into a long exercise in damage control. The final totals could not erase the first-half failures.

The loss ended SMU’s 12–0 run in home conference games, leaving that stretch at 12–1. What had been a reliable part of the Mustangs’ identity disappeared in the most direct way possible: Wake kept reaching third down, converting it, and scoring. Until SMU can make those ordinary moments ordinary again, better offensive numbers will remain a footnote to the same problem.

Sources

ESPN — Wake Forest–SMU box score and play-by-play

Associated Press — Wake Forest–SMU report

SMU — postgame report and notes