Wake Forest Opponent Recap: Week 8

The Deacs moved to 6-1 this week after a fairly easy win over the Boston College Eagles. Let’s check in on the rest of the schedule and see how they did.

Opponent Combined Record in Week 8: 5-3

Opponent Combined Overall Record: 53-28

Future Opponents

(4-3) Louisville 24—Pitt 10

The Cards didn’t look particularly great in this one, gaining just 312 total yards and finishing 4-13 on 3rd downs—the Coastal is just so bad that it doesn’t take much to beat them. A 59-yard fumble return for a touchdown for Louisville with 3 minutes left in the game made the score look more impressive than it actually was.

NC State—BYE

North Carolina—BYE

(6-1) Syracuse 21—Clemson 27 (8-0)

The Orange really choked this one away. Syracuse jumped out to a 21-10 lead at the half, and then didn’t score for the rest of the game. Despite outgaining Syracuse 450 to 291, Clemson struggled to score the ball because of 4 turnovers. The difference in this game was the production from the two best running backs in the ACC—Shipley finished with 27 carries for 172 yard and 2 touchdowns, while Tucker only got to run the ball 5 times for 54 yards. I know Clemson was probably game planning around stopping Tucker, but there is no way Syracuse should ever have a game where they only give the ball to their best player 5 times...unless that game happens to be against Wake Forest, in which case 5 carries seems like way too many.

(5-3) Duke 45—Miami 21

The yearly offseason hype was once again misplaced for the Hurricanes, who like Texas, are declared “back” every single season, only to be exactly who we thought they were the whole time. Miami turned the ball over 8 times in this game. EIGHT! Miami only had 6 turnovers the last time they played Duke in basketball. Do you know how many times in the last 20 years a Power 5 team has accumulated 8 turnovers? The answer is 8, and it hasn’t been done since Nebraska in 2009. Duke didn’t even play that well, finishing with just 336 yards of offense and 2 turnovers themselves, but they really didn’t need to do anything because Miami is just so hilariously bad. I’m sure 2023 will be the year Miami is finally back, right?

Previous Opponents

(3-5) Vanderbilt 14—Missouri 17

Probably Vandy’s last chance for a win this season, with 3 ranked teams and Florida still on the schedule. Maybe they can catch South Carolina, but the Commodores are probably going to finish the season with 3 wins.

(7-1) Liberty 41—BYU 14

Looking at their upcoming schedule, Liberty has 1 tough game against Arkansas followed by UConn, VT, and New Mexico State. The Flames realistically could finish the season 11-1, and I don’t see how they could do worse than 10-2. That could end up being Wake’s best win this season.

FSU—BYE

(3-4) Army 48—ULM 24

Army gets their first FBS win of the season in classic Army fashion—440 yards rushing and 35 minutes of possession. They still need 4 more wins to get to bowl eligibility.

The Deacs are in Louisville next for what has kind of turned into a rivalry game against the Cardinals.

Go Deacs!