By Ed McGranahan.

If Clemson runs the table and lands in a New Year’s Day bowl game, few will remember how tedious the past four games have been and how
precarious this season has been since the outset.

In many respects Thursday night was a microcosm of Clemson’s worst fears and the team survived.

Playing without Deshaun Watson for a month has been an adventure. Cole Stoudt has handled what was thrust upon him with dignity, and though he’s contributed to the angst he has not been the only problem.

For a half Thursday night it seemed that despite all the misery the offensive line has endured it was about to buckle under the weight of
adversity. Reid Webster, who has played above his pay grade all season, had a lousy night at center so Ryan Norton, who’ll battle Jay Guillermo
for the job next week, was pressed back into duty. And guard David Beasley has been playing hurt and it was costly a couple of times early.

Stoudt wasn’t helped by dropped passes and flat out laziness by a couple of his receivers/tight ends (no names, please), but the pass Wake
intercepted to set up a touchdown need not have been thrown.

Stoudt doesn’t have a big arm, and his confidence seems fragile, so it would seem logical to call plays that emphasize his best skills. Again
it took nearly a half to adjust, but by then Wake Forest had come to believe it could play with these guys.

Tommy Bowden would complain about the absence of energy and the difficulty generating it in this stadium where the crowds are small and
polite and the noise level not particularly unnerving. For a while Clemson seemed slow to adapt, but when it was apparent Wake Forest
intended to find a way to make this a game, the defense came alive.

Strangely, the game’s pace and the ferocity of the Clemson defense seemed to catch the game officials flatfooted and flummoxed. Suddenly
flags were flying at phantom penalties. Clemson was penalized eight times for 75 yards, big numbers for a generally sparingly penalized
team, second this season only to the N.C. State game.

Meanwhile, Clemson defenders would try to shake a cloying, clingy Wake line, yet the Deacons were penalized twice for 29 yards.

The two most egregious calls were a pass interference in which the ball was so high it nearly reached the stands behind the Clemson bench, and
the targeting penalty on senior safety Robert Smith, a smart, savvy player who intentionally kept his head low and nailed tight end Cam
Serigne in the chest with his shoulder.

Swinney was livid after the first call and he didn’t mind making a nuisance of himself. We’ll never know for sure, and I’ve rarely been
critical of officials in print, but it seemed as if some of the subsequent penalties including the targeting call were a reaction to his
rant.

A less experienced team and staff might have spiraled out of control, but Clemson regrouped. Instead of getting mad, it got even.

Suddenly the offensive line was giving Stoudt time to throw the kinds of passes that seem second nature to him and he completed 27 of 42. Wayne
Gallman continued to be a dependable second half fire starter. After 26 rushing yards in the first half, Clemson finished with 145.

The defense kept pushing Wake into a deeper hole. Wake totaled 40 yards in the second half, yet the score was 20-20 with 11:08 to play.

Artavis Scott’s 68-yard run on that inside pitch they call a “pass” was huge. Gallman’s 30-yard touchdown was run bigger, capping his second
straight 100-yard game.

Wake had nothing in response, its bullets spent after the two quarters.

Despite the 20 points it had been another marvelous job by the defense, and Stoudt, Gallman, Scott and Mike Williams had given Clemson just
enough to escape with their sixth straight win.

If, in fact, Watson can return next week for the Georgia Tech game, the stage should be set for a grand finish. Tyshon Dye had his first handful
of carries, which could give Clemson an additional weapon. And the defense should be dialed in with the tools to counter Tech’s option
scheme.

But since nothing has come easy for Clemson this season, patience might be the wiser course.