Wake Forest Football 2019 Opponent Preview: Duke

Game Date: November 23rf

Opponent: Duke

Conference: ACC

Head Coach: David Cutcliffe, 11th season

2018-19 record: 8–5 (3–5 ACC)

Bowl Game: Independence Bowl, def. Temple, 56-27

Wins: Army, @Northwestern, @Baylor, North Carolina Central, @Georgia Tech, @Miami, UNC, Temple

Losses: Virginia Tech, Virginia, @Pitt, @Clemson, Wake Forest

Yards per Game: 405.7 (65th in NCAA)

Yards Allowed per Game: 408.8 (63rd in NCAA)

Points per Game: 29.4 (63rd in NCAA)

Points Allowed per Game: 27.4 (72nd in NCAA)

S&P+ Rankings (2018-19 season):

• Overall: 51
• Offense: 52
• Defense: 46
• Special Teams: 87
• SOS: 52

Projected S&P+ Rankings (2019-2020 season):

• Overall: 65
• Offense: 89
• Defense: 38

These projections mostly make sense to me. As much as everyone dunked on the Giants for drafting him where they did (and I get it), the loss of Daniel Jones is a gigantic blow to the Duke offense on paper, not to mention they lost three senior receivers and a senior running back. They had an extremely young defense, though, so I'm assuming the fact that it's almost the same exact defense with more experience helps explain the bullish defensive projections.

I like to think this will be another good matchup on which Wake has a very real chance to come out on top, but what do you all think? Leave your thoughts in the comment section. As always, thanks for reading, and Go Deacs.

--SF