Wake Forest beats Texas A&M in 2017 Belk Bowl, 55-52: 3 takeaways

By John Buhler | Dec 29, 2017

CHARLOTTE, NC - DECEMBER 29: John Wolford /

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons beat the Texas A&M Aggies in the 2017 Belk Bowl, 55-52. Here are the three biggest takeaways from this bowl game.

Although it took forever, it was an awesome watch. To get essentially the quintessential Big 12 pillow fight defense football game, all we needed was the Wake Forest Demon Deacons offense and a Texas A&M Aggies team in transition. The 2017 Belk Bowl was a barn-burner, as Wake Forest outlasted Texas A&M 55-52 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

This was a game that could have been a low-scoring affair. Wake Forest is usually strong defensively under head coach Dave Clawson. Texas A&M could have not shown up for this game, as the Aggies are waiting for the Jimbo Fisher era to begin. It was still a great game to watch if you love points. Conversely, it was a horrible game if defense is your cup of tea.

Here are the three biggest takeaways from the 2017 Belk Bowl.

I really hope you had the over … So. Many. Points. Las Vegas had this game at 63 combined points. For a defensive-minded Wake Forest team and a Texas A&M team using its special teams coordinator as the interim head coach, did you really expect there to be 107 combined points?

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Well, me neither, but it was awesome to watch. We saw both the Demon Deacons and the Aggies move the ball at will on each other. It was cool to see great balance with both offenses. While Wake Forest was a tad more dynamic in the ground game with running back Matt Colburn, it wasn’t like Trayveon Williams was all that shabby for Gig ‘Em Nation.

Having 107 combined points was enough to take this 1:00 p.m. ET start time in Charlotte and push it to over a four-hour game. Outside of a few blocked punts, it felt like whoever had the ball was going to score at will. A late stop by the Demon Deacons defense was enough to propel Wake Forest to a bowl victory.

There is no reason for Christian Kirk to play for Jimbo Fisher. Go pro, dude! It was funny. Fisher was in the booth during the game to talk about life as the incoming Texas A&M head coach. While he won a national title at Florida State, he kind of wishes he would get the opportunity to coach a receiving talent like Christian Kirk.

Sadly, Fisher won’t, as Kirk has zero reason to come back to College Station in 2017. Did you see what he did in this bowl game? Unbelievable. It was like watching a great Mike Evans game all over again. Kirk had 13 catches for 189 yards and three touchdowns.

While he has been a first-round talent throughout his junior campaign at Texas A&M, he should be rewarded for not sitting out his final game as a collegiate. He hurt his ankle in this one, but battled through it for his teammates. Here’s to seeing Kirk rip it up in an NFL receiving corps next fall!

We didn’t expect this type of quarterbacking play, but thank you. Outside of Winston-Salem, how many of you had even heard of Wake Forest quarterback John Wolford. Though the senior signal caller may not play at the next level, he had been the best Wake Forest quarterback since Riley Skinner, who won the ACC Championship for the Demon Deacons under Jim Grobe back in 2006.

Walford dominated the Aggies defense on Friday afternoon, as he completed 32 of 49 passes for 400 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. He also had 15 carries for 68 yards in his final college football game. That being said, we might be seeing just the tip of the iceberg for Texas A&M quarterback Nick Starkel, as he was fantastic in his own right.

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Starkel completed 42 of 63 passes for 499 yards, four touchdowns and one atrocious interception. He wasn’t afraid to let it rip on Friday, that’s for sure. Maybe Fisher is very excited about seeing what he can do with Starkel as his starting signal caller going forward? What a game!

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