Wake Forest continued their hot start to the season today with a 38-14 win over rival NC State. With the win, the Deacs move to 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the ACC through the first half of the season—that is their best start since starting 6-1 in 2022.
The Deacs could not have asked for a better start to this game. Just 3 plays in, NC State QB CJ Bailey fumbled the ball, and Wake Forest DB Braylon Johnson scooped it up and returned it 28 yards to the 2 yard line. Two plays later, Gio Lopez found tight end/fullback Matt Lusardi for a 2 yard touchdown to take a 7-0 lead.
Unfortunately, that was about the last thing to go right for the Deacs in the 1st half. CJ Bailey and the Wolfpack offense locked in and started moving the ball with ease—Bailey was getting all day to throw, and he was slinging it around to a bunch of receivers who were, for the most part, wide open. Bailey completed his first 16 passes of the game, and the Deacs didn't force an incompletion until under 5 minutes to play in the 2nd quarter. The Wolfpack marched right down the field on back-to-back drives of 75 yards and 96 yards to score 2 touchdowns and take a 14-7 lead.
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The Deacs finally responded right at the end of the half with a 16 play, 89 yard drive that got within 1 yard of the endzone, but ended with a field goal. Before that drive, Wake was getting outgained 195 to 33 yards by the Wolfpack in the game, so that was a crucial drive to build a little momentum and stop the bleeding right before the half. Redshirt freshman Jack Foley was a big part of that drive, catching 3 passes for 43 yards.
I don't know what was said at halftime or what adjustment the Deacs made, but Wake came out of the locker room and put together one of the best quarters of football they have played all season. The Deacs took the ball and immediately scored on an 11-play, 73 yard drive that ended with an 6 yard touchdown pass from Lopez to Carlos Hernandez.
After forcing a 3 and out, the Deacs scored again in just 4 plays, this time on a 10 yard pass from Lopez to Foley. Foley finished the game leading Wake Forest in receiving with 8 catches for 156 yards and 1 touchdown.
The hot quarter continued when Wake forced a turnover on downs on the next NC State possession, breaking up CJ Bailey's pass to Victor Snow on 4th and 5. Gio Lopez took the ball and ran it into the endzone for Wake's 3rd touchdown of the quarter just less than 3 minutes later. Lopez finished the day with another impressive stat line, finishing 26-33 for 303 yards and 3 touchdowns. It would be difficult to find many quarterbacks playing better tham Gio Lopez is right now.
After spending most of the 1st half being unable to find the endzone and unable to stop CJ Bailey from torching the secondary, the 3rd quarter was a complete 180. Wake Forest outscored the Pack 21-0, outgained them 195 to 18 yards, and held Bailey to completing just 4 of his 11 pass attempts in the quarter. The Deacs were suddenly getting plenty of pressure on Bailey, and the DBs were close enough to the receivers to break up passes. The Wolfpack finished the quarter 0-4 on 3rd down and 0-1 on 4th down. Maybe the rain helped a little, but credit the Wake Forest defense for stepping up big time in the 2nd half.
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Wake scored 1 more time in the 4th quarter on a Deuce Lawrence 17 yard touchdown run, pushing the run to 31 unanswered points to end the game. Scoring 31 in a row on a rival's home field and stopping them from scoring at all in the 2nd half is a pretty impressive thing to pull off, and it just goes to show that this Wake Forest team is not just one of the best in the conference, but they are one of the best teams in the country. There is no way that the Deacs will not be ranked in the top 25 this week.
This is now the 3rd game this season where the opposing offense has looked really good in the first half, just for Dickert and the rest of the staff to adjust and completely shut them down in the 2nd half. In the 3 games against Miami, Louisville, and NC State, the Deacs allowed an average of 19.6 points and 246 yards in the first half—after halftime, those numbers drop to 4.3 points and 99 yards per game in the 2nd halves. In the past 4 games, Wake has only allowed 1 2nd half touchdown, coming on Miami's first possession of the 2nd half back on September 18th. That means the Deacs have played almost 115 minutes of 2nd half football, 60 of them coming on the road against Louisville and NC State, without allowing a touchdown. That is an incredibly impressive feat, and Jake Dickert just continues to prove why he is one of the best up-and-coming coaches in college football.
Halfway through the season, the Deacs are 5-1 and look like they should be favored in almost every game the rest of the way. I don't want to get caught looking too far ahead, but double-digit wins and a trip to Charlotte for the ACC Championship game are still very much in play for Wake Forest this season. If the Deacs continue taking care of business, this could be another very special season.
Go Deacs!
