BSD Staff Predictions for the 2019 Football Season

Wake Forest football kicks off the season Friday night at 8pm against Utah State at BB&T Field.

I asked the Blogger So Dear staff to give their predictions for the season by asking the following questions:

1. What will Wake Forest’s overall record be at the end of the season?
2. What will Wake Forest’s conference record be?
3. Will the Deacs win a fourth straight bowl game?
4. Give me a brief (or long-winded if you so choose) description of how you think the season will go.

Below are the responses I received:

Elijah

Projected overall record: 7-5 regular season, 8-5 overall

Projected conference record: 3-5

The Deacs win their fourth straight bowl game, which unfortunately I believe will be in Shreveport or Detroit.

They will start off the season hot. Utah State will be a great test for them from the get go on my birthday (I mean season opener). After a tough test to start, things ease up a little bit with Rice, UNC (a non conference game), and Elon, which should be very winnable games, giving the Deacs a strong 4-0 start to the season.

The ACC schedule starts off with a good barometer test in Boston against the Eagles and then a winnable game against Louisville. Unfortunately for the Deacs, after that the tough gauntlet begins, with games at home against Florida State and the NC State Wolfpack followed by road trips to Virginia Tech and the defending national champs in Clemson. Duke and Cuse end the schedule and based on the opponents, I believe the Deacs are going to get off to a great start and perhaps could use that momentum to push them to a record better than my prediction. Unfortunately, I just find the back to back roadtrips to Blacksburg and Clemson to be a momentum killer. I think this season will be a continued strong indicator of the program building Clawson has done and perhaps this could be the season Wake Forest flirts with a double digit win possibility.

Adam

Projected overall record: 7-5 regular season, 8-5 overall

Projected conference record: 3-5

The Deacs will win their fourth straight bowl game.

I think the Deacs will start off hot at 4-0 before losing the first conference game of the season at BC. The Deacs beat Louisville, State, and Duke, while losing to BC, FSU, VT, Clemson, and Syracuse to finish the season off 7-5, which will hopefully be good enough to land us in the final Music City Bowl for the ACC.

Samurai

Projected overall record: 7-5 regular season, 8-5 overall

Projected conference record: 3-5

Wake will make a fourth straight bowl game, but will lose.

I honestly think there’s a very real chance the Deacs go 4-0 to start the season. I think the ACC schedule will be tight but not without success, and Wake will make another bowl but lose a close game. This prediction is mostly based on the fact that I’m trying to temper expectations a little bit.

Bart

Projected overall record: 7-5 regular season, 8-5 overall

Projected conference record: 3-5

Wake will make and win a fourth consecutive bowl game.

As others have mentioned, it is critical that Wake gets off to a fast start against a favorable schedule. While Utah State is a very good team, Wake is favored and gets to play the Aggies at home in prime time under the Winston lights. This is a game the Deacs must capitalize on and one that I have them winning in order to get to seven wins.

This projection believes that we hold serve against Rice, Elon, UNC, and Louisville. Ultimately to get back to the vaunted six win mark, the Deacs will then need to take care of business in toss up games, of which they will have several In no particular order, they will have to secure at least one win from Utah State/Boston College and at least two wins from Utah State, BC, Florida State, and Syracuse to help get to this goal.

I also believe Wake gives Virginia Tech a run for their money in Blacksburg and I’ll make the bold prediction that they pull off the upset. If all goes well this season, Wake fans will be nervous about the increasing interest in a red hot Dave Clawson come December and January.

Cam

Projected overall record: 9-3 regular season

Projected conference record: 5-3

Oh 100% they make it to a 4th straight bowl game.

So I went very back and forth between 8-4 and 9-3 here. I am notoriously lower on Utah State. Jordan Love is really good! But losing a good head coach, their entire offense outside of Love, a starting CB, their OLBs and Safeties... it just seems like a spot where Kendall and Sage get theirs and Wake walks away with a win. Rice and Elon are just that. UNC has playmakers but that team is just still a couple of years away from being good. Duke lost Daniel Jones, wide receivers and don’t like getting pressure and letting Jamie Newman have all the time in the world worked very well for them last year! LOL @ Louisville. That’s 6 and a bowl game right there. Clemson is Clemson so just going to be safe and say Clemson gets a win there. VT on the road could be a VERY high-quality football game but I lean the Hokies on the road.

4 straight toss-ups remain: BC/FSU/NC State/Syracuse. While AJ Dillon is who he is, Wake just needs to not let Anthony Brown turn into Lamar Jackson again and I think they win. NC State (we all have jokes) but they have legitimate questions that I don’t know if they can answer and it starts with the offense. FSU still might have the worst OL in the league? Syracuse I wanted to chalk as an auto loss but Wake plays them hard and it’s always a good matchup. I’ll slide Cuse to a loss and BC to a win. I have this feeling that Wake starts out very, very good but that schedule takes a toll on them once the VT game hits. Give me Wake starting out very hot running off 8 in a row and dropping 3 of the last 4.

Edward

Projected overall record: 8-4 regular season, 8-5 overall

Projected conference record: 4-4

Wake will make a fourth consecutive bowl game, but come up short on that fourth consecutive win.

Wake Forest starts out the season 4-0 before losing a close game at Boston College. They go into the game in Blacksburg 7-1 before losing three of their final four games at Virginia Tech, at Clemson, and at Syracuse in a tough end of season slate. The Deacs once again finish closer to the top of the division than the media projected, and end up in the upper half of bowls for the conference. In the end, they lose a close one in the bowl game. I agree with Bart that if Wake exceeds my expectations here Dave Clawson will be a hot commodity, and Wake Forest will have a very hard time keeping him.

Now it’s your turn to weigh in. How many games do you all think the Deacs will win? Do you think they will win a fourth straight bowl game? Comment below with your thoughts.