While prognosticators wonder who might be the next school to make an Indiana-like leap into the big leagues, with some already crowning UCLA as the most likely successor, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons have gradually grown into something of a budding juggernaut. Those are big words for an ACC program that has put together 4-8 consecutive seasons in 2023 and 2024, but I don’t think they’re entirely inaccurate.
In Jake Dickert’s first year at the helm of Wake Forest, they went 9-4 with a Mayo Bowl victory over Mississippi State. In its second year, they are currently 9-1, with their only loss coming against championship favorite Miami. Although they haven’t faced much of a challenge, they have dominated most of their games, especially over the last six weeks, outscoring their opponents 313-38.
That casualty list was added to SMU on Saturday when the Demon Deacons crushed the Mustangs 49-7, with 42 points scored in the first half. It was a spanking! Quarterback Gio Lopez totaled 201 yards and a touchdown through the air, plus 34 yards and two more touchdowns on the ground, while the running backs added 252 yards and 4 more touchdowns. SMU, which is a good team with a solid record, couldn’t do absolutely anything against these guys. They committed three turnovers and couldn’t score until garbage time in the fourth quarter.
Wake Forest was ranked 13th in the CFP before this game, which put them out of the playoffs – at least for one final year – but they will almost certainly receive a boost after this performance. They are in position to potentially see Miami back in the ACC Championship, and win or lose, they should have a chance to make the playoffs if they beat everyone else they face. Wake may not be ready to win it all, but they’re definitely ready to play the role of agent of chaos in the bracket. In one of those ESPN stats that both mean something and seem arbitrary at the same time, the Demon Deacons are now the first team since 2013 Alabama to score 20-plus points while shutting out opponents in the first half of four straight games.
The fact is that Wake Forest is really good and should be taken seriously. Dickert, who just signed an extension to stay at Wake Forest, put it very succinctly. “People don’t know what to think of us because they don’t understand how we do it,” he said after the match. “We keep making statement after statement. Eventually they will have to say we are a very good team.” Eventually might be here sooner than he thinks.
Gn sports
