Wake Forest Opponent Recap: Week 2

The Deacs moved to 2-0 this week after a nice win over Vanderbilt that helped the ACC move to 4-1 against the SEC. This week’s games were a little funky due to the crazy number of weather delays that occurred—from just Wake’s schedule Old Dominion, Georgia Tech, NC State/Notre Dame, and Virginia Tech all had lengthy weather delays.

Old Dominion 38—Louisiana 31

Fordham transfer Grant Wilson completed just 13 passes, but they went for 247 yards and 4 touchdowns (all 4 TDs were 30+ yard completions). Redshirt junior Keshawn Wicks ran for 103 yards and the Monarchs, who were 6-point underdogs, get their first win of the season. Louisiana was picked to finish 3rd in the East Division of the Sun Belt, so this is a quality win for ODU that ends a 7-game losing streak.

Georgia Tech 48—SC State 13

This was GT’s FCS opponent for the year, so not really anything surprising in this one. Haynes King had another big day, throwing for 290 yards and 4 touchdowns to get the Jackets in the win column for the first time this year.

#25 Clemson 66—Charleston Southern 17

Another game with a very expected result. The Tigers actually struggled in the first half and went into the break leading just 24-17. As you might expect, they came out in the second half and blew the Buccaneers out.

Virginia Tech 17—Purdue 24

This game was delayed for so long they were discussing whether or not to even finish it. At the end of a game that spanned almost 9 hours, Purdue outgained VT 427 to 286, held the Hokies to 11 rushing yards, had a +2 turnover margin, and won time of possession by nearly 20 minutes. Despite all that, Virginia Tech lost by just 7 points—I’d guess the 4 inches of rain had something to do with that, as only 7 points were scored in the second half.

Pittsburgh 21—Cincinnati 27

It was a tough day for BC transfer Phil Jurkovec, who completed just 10 of his 32 passes for 179 and 3 touchdowns and was sacked 5 times. The Panthers had no answer for the Bearcats’ rushing attack, allowing Cincy to gain 216 yards on the ground on 42 carries (5.1 ypc). Pitt trailed 27-7 at the start of the 4th quarter but was able to make it into a game with 2 quick touchdowns. Their comeback effort ultimately fell short, and the Panthers dropped their first game of the season.

#4 Florida State 66—Southern Mississippi 13

This was exactly what you would expect from a top 5 team playing a Sun Belt team not named App State. FSU gashed the Golden Eagles on the ground to the tune of 306 yards and 4 touchdowns, and this game was never close.

Duke 42—Lafayette 7

Duke just beat Clemson, so obviously they had no trouble with FCS Lafayette. The Blue Devils’ QB combined for just 1 incompletion in the whole game—a spike in the 2-minute drill at the end of the first half. Hopefully, this week will be the end of these blow out FCS games.

NC State 24—#10 Notre Dame 45

This game was close into the 4th quarter, with Notre Dame leading 24-17, until NC State QB Brennan Armstrong threw 2 of his 3 interceptions in back-to-back drives. That resulted in 14 points for the Irish in a span of about 4 minutes, which more or less ended the game. Armstrong struggled throwing the ball again, completing just 46% of his passes for 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. The Notre Dame offense continues to be incredibly balanced, with Audric Estime running for 134 yards and 2 touchdowns and Sam Hartman throwing for 286 yards and 4 touchdowns. The Irish look like the real deal so far this season.

Syracuse 48—Western Michigan 7

The Broncos scored on a 75-yard run 30 seconds into the game and failed to get on the board for the remaining nearly hour of game time. Syracuse ran for 4 touchdowns and had 1 pick-6 to blow this one out. Vegas had Western Michigan’s win total at 3.5 this season, so I’m not sure this game really means that much in the scheme of ACC play.