Wake Forest Opponent Recap: Week 9

Let's, uh, just forget about whatever that was that happened on Saturday and jump right into how the rest of the teams on the schedule did this weekend. A lot of teams had byes this week, so this one is a little shorter than usual.

Opponent Combined Record in Week 9: 4-2

Opponent Combined Overall Record: 57-30

Future Opponents

(6-2) NC State 22—Virginia Tech 22

A 1-point win over a 2-win VT team in Raleigh isn’t all that impressive, but the Pack may have found their quarterback for the future in this one. Freshman MJ Morris looked really good in his first real action at QB, completing 20 of his 29 pass attempts for 265 yards and 3 touchdowns while leading the Pack back from a 21-3 deficit. The NC State defense continues to be one of the best in the conference and held the Hokies to just 293 total yards for the game. Of course, VT has only beaten Wofford and BC this year, so a lot of this could just be contributed to the Hokies being bad.

(7-1) North Carolina 42—Pitt 24

UNC all but clinched the Coastal Division with this one. The Tar Heels are looking like a legitimate threat to win the ACC in a what would likely be a shootout with Clemson in Charlotte. Drake Maye is, in my mind, clearly the best player in the ACC this season. The freshman QB threw for 388 yards and 5 touchdowns in this one, bringing his season totals to 2,700 yards and 29 touchdowns with just 3 interceptions. He is also completing nearly 80% of his passes this season. Maybe that has something to do with playing in the Coastal, but Maye looks like a Heisman candidate so far. I guess we will find out in a couple of weeks.

(6-2) Syracuse 24—Notre Dame 41

I don’t think too many people are going to be shocked by this result because the Orange really benefitted from a weak schedule early in the season. Syracuse started 6-0 for the first time in a long time, but the toughest team they played was probably Purdue and 5 of their first 6 games were at home (and that road game was UConn which shouldn’t even count). The Irish opened the game with a pick 6 and then just ran all over the Orange to the tune of 246 rushing yards to easily win this one. Syracuse is definitely better than they were last season, but they could very easily end up finishing the second half of the season 1-5.

Duke—BYE

Previous Opponents

Vanderbilt—BYE

Liberty—BYE

Clemson—BYE

(5-3) Florida State 41—Georgia Tech 16

Despite winning a couple of games in the Coastal after firing Geoff Collins, Georgia Tech is still not a great football team. Without starting QB Jeff Sims, the Yellow Jackets didn’t really have a chance in this game as they were outgained 264 to 642 by the Seminoles and finished 2-13 on 3rd down. Jordan Travis seemed to get back on track completing 24 of his 38 passes for 400 yards and 3 touchdowns. This one was pretty expected.

Army—BYE

(2-6) Boston College 3—UConn 13

I know UConn is a little bit better this season than they have been (they have more wins than Texas A&M!) but they are still a very bad football team. The offensive line injuries for BC have just completely destroyed what little offense the Eagles had. Jurkovec is getting hit on like every play and left this game with an injury after throwing 2 interceptions. The Boston College ground attack managed just 76 yards on 30 attempts. Scoring 3 points on a UConn team that gives up over 26 points per game is pretty close to rock bottom I would have to think. The win over BC gives UConn their 6th win over a Power 5 school in the last 10 years.

The Deacs are in Raleigh next for a pretty important rivalry game against the Wolfpack. Let’s hope they can bounce back.

Go Deacs!